Earlier on this year we got the amazing opportunity to learn how to bake from one of the stars of one of our favourite food shows. The Great British Bake Off is an iconic show and the franchise is now happily cropping up across the world. So when an opportunity cropped up to bake with Paul Hollywood – a man who is at the top of his game and one of the best in the business to learn from – we both jumped at the chance.
We got into contact with production company Spungold TV at the beginning of this year, who were planning on filming a series of baking demonstrations starring Paul where he shows amateur bakers and baking enthusiasts how to perfect their skills and pass on his prowess of the prove. We didn’t know the full details at the time, as they were still being worked out, but we had a number of telephone calls, emails and Skype interviews and then we were invited down to Tunbridge Wells to spend the day filming with Paul.
At ridiculous o’clock on a chilly, but bright March morning we travelled the hour or so on the train and arrived at Rosemary Shrager’s Cookery School which was due to be the location of the filming, which was being shot for Waitrose TV – the video arm of the British supermarket’s digital presence.
We met the team and then got introduced to our other co-stars, two lovely women – a couple of close-friends from the South-West – Kate Allnutt and Kim Vernon. Kate owns and operates Daisy Bakes café and bakery in Torquay and Kim is a planner and producer, notably organising the recent Big Cake Show in Exeter, which was a resounding success in it’s very first year!
We spent the guts of eight hours in front of the camera being shown three different recipes from Paul – a classic bloomer loaf, a thyme and potato foccacia and wholemeal pitta breads. For four people who had never been in front of a camera like that before it was pretty intimidating, and because there was only five people in shot for the duration, it was hard to shy away from the camera’s eye at any time – but we all settled in quite quickly.
The idea of the clips was to show how simple it is to be taught a straightforward recipe and then run with it yourself, plus showing the differences in how people respond to and replicate recipes. We were encouraged to ask as many questions as possible and interact, stop and even interrupt Paul in order to learn the most from the recipe. Unfortunately not all of our questions and repartee with Paul could be included, as the clips were split into three standalone episodes, each under ten minutes in length.
It was a fantastic experience and, though daunting and nerve-wracking, we were thrilled to be included and it’s something that we can look back on for life! We definitely took those skills back home and put them straight to use, making our own version of foccacia – caramelised onion flavour – and then the pitta breads recipe popped up in our Eurovision post too, inspired by Greece and filled with spinach, onion and feta.
What an exciting and amazing opportunity for us both, and we’ve been so happy with the reaction from our followers and fans (and of course our families)! It inspired us to bake our own breads more often and also inspired us to keep diversifying the blog. Who knows, we may end up making our own videos sometime soon! Watch this space…
GastroGays 