Top 50 Paul Hollywood Quotes

For me, it is always part of my holiday to go and work my way along the shelf in the local artisan bakery with its breads, savoury tartlets, pastries and cakes. It is soul food: one of those things that tells you about a place and the history of a place and its people.

I think baking’s far easier than cooking, and because of that, it’s more approachable.

I lived in Cyprus for six years where I learnt all about flatbreads.

Dad was a baker, and we lived above the bakery, so I was always popping down to have an apple pie or a doughnut or a custard or gypsy tart: I had a very sweet tooth, and I think that that was what got me into doing what I do now.

I have gone through some bad times with my own business. At one point, I was working my socks off, driving, delivering, baking. It was hard, hard work. But I worked through it. Running your own bakery is hard. I never came close to bankruptcy, but I had to cut back on staff.

I’m quite shy, really. The figure you see on TV, that’s just a persona. I like getting home, putting my feet up, getting into my slippers and dressing gown.

When my career in hotels was taking off in the Nineties, I went to work as a head baker in Cyprus, where I was making Danish pastries every day. I can remember that the head chef was always on my back to put more seasonal fruits in with the creme patissiere. I’d even make them with rhubarb.

My first job at the bakery was jamming doughnuts.

Wherever you go in Europe, you’ll find each country has particular flavours in their baked goods. It is one of the big differences between Europe and the United States.

Making cake is one of the easiest things in the world.

A sponge is quite simple. You weigh ingredients, mix, and put it in the oven. With pastry, you manhandle it, shape it, fold it. You have to be involved with it; there is more jeopardy, more risk. But it’s like making a casserole. There’s a flurry of activity to begin with; then it’s about leaving it to rest.

Anything that has more buttercream than it does cake is going to be a no-no for me.

I love the sensation of being out in the open air, far away from all the distractions of modern life. I will usually disappear for a couple of hours, and that time on my bike is quite sacred, as it’s when I do all my serious thinking. Sometimes I will stop off at bikers’ cafe and have a bacon sandwich.

Baking can be done with a few simple ingredients, so it’s about simplicity and nostalgia – people are reminded of their childhood.

I get embarrassed on the red carpet at awards ceremonies. The whole celebrity thing is embarrassing.

My dad made these dough balls and covered them up with a cloth in front of a gas fire, which was stuck on a wall. They were rising. In my head, I think they were the best rolls I’ve ever had. If there was a starting point for me, that was it.

I love Rome for their calzones and New York City for the variety of quality eateries, but I absolutely fell in love with Miami for the stone crabs at Joe’s just off Ocean Drive – the best I’ve ever had, and the Cajun food. The steaks out there are colossal – it’s like having a shark and a cow on your plate.

Years ago, I saw a job for head baker for The Dorchester Hotel in London, and I didn’t want to move away from the North West. But then I thought, ‘I’ve got to do this for my career,’ because I was very ambitious. So I went for it and got the job.

Civilisation was built around wheat, around people settling down and not being nomadic. Baking is one of the oldest professions.

It’s the polar opposite of most people, but I absolutely hate carrying a ton of stuff onto a plane. I check in all my luggage and literally go through security with nothing other than my coat, in which I have my iPhone and iPad.

I’ve seen so many kids walking to school with these massive high energy drinks, and they are nine or 10. I’m like, ‘What?’ It was a treat for me. It is still a treat for my family.

I can’t go to sleep on a train anymore because people take photos of me. You know, dribbling. It’s a bit embarrassing. I go to sleep with my collar up.

Before I was ever a baker, I was a teacher. Or, at least, that is what I thought I was going to be. After O-levels, I went to art school in Wallasey on the Wirral, and my mate Cavan and I did a teacher training course.

Baking is therapy.

Even I don’t always come up to my own standards of perfection.

Everyone has a favourite cake, pastry, pudding or pie from when they were kids.

Crumpets I make myself. I love crumpets. You can’t beat a good home-made crumpet.

I’ve never been on a diet and never will.

I will never, ever go on a carb-free diet.

I can be a romantic. The way to every woman’s heart is through her stomach. Food is at the core of everything.

My own preferred fitness regime is to use my bicycle.

I like to remind the contestants where they are by playing the ‘Bake Off’ theme tune on my phone as they walk into the tent. They freak out, as it suddenly dawns on them that they’re on the show.

Ironically, when I was in Dubai with the BBC ‘Good Food Show,’ even though it’s an urban area, when you see the vast panorama from the top of the Burj Khalifa, it feels remote, as if it’s just sprung up out of the desert. I like Dubai. I didn’t think I would, but the food and the people were great.

‘The Great British Bake Off’ has brought baking to the nation, and we’ve seen people from all walks of life and backgrounds experience the highs and lows of competition and, more importantly, helping each other.

I still pinch myself that I have a second-hand Aston Martin DBS Volante, the convertible model of James Bond’s car from ‘Quantum of Solace’ and ‘Casino Royale.’

I may demonstrate the various stages of making a loaf on stage, but they don’t end up in the final product I lift out of the oven at the end. If it were real food preparation, I’d wear a hair net, a hat, and rubber gloves – not a pretty sight.

I have always said I would love to go to America, and with a name like Hollywood, it’s perfect isn’t it?

I find dealing with tempered chocolate a bit tricky, but that’s a chocolatier’s job. So I dabble, but I wouldn’t profess to be good at it.

When I get home at night, I always have a soak in the tub before changing into my dressing gown and slippers.

Some people seem to think their oven self-cleans, but you need to clean it to stop things getting blocked up so you get a good rotation of air and heat inside. Get a probe to test the oven is reaching what it says it’s reaching too.

I was filming in Roscrea in Co Tipperary. I had great fun watching monks in the monastery there making bread. They even offered me a job as their main baker. One of them said I would make a good monk, but I told him there was a slight problem because I was married.

I have been a baker for more than 30 years now, and in terms of equipment, all I really need is flour. It still amazes me what a versatile commodity it is, as you can do so many different things with it, and I never tire of trying new blends and recipes.

The key thing is to educate not just kids but adults about what goes into food. You do that in any way you can, bread machine or not.

I do love my full English breakfast, but not every day. What I can’t do without first thing in the morning, though, is my Danish pastry or a croissant – anything with a laminated dough, enriched with butter to make it beautifully golden and flaky.

In recent years, I’ve begun the year by driving across France to the Alps, abandoning the January gloom for Alpine winter sun, even if the ski-goggles do give you panda marks when you get a tan. As a child, I was always a bit of a billygoat when I’d go camping with my mates in North Wales, around Snowdonia.

I love evangelising about baking and passing the word on, and I will carry on doing that.

Since I was a kid, baking has been part of my life.

Get digital scales because, for baking, balance scales just aren’t accurate enough: it’s all in the weighing up.

I love France. It’s got the sun down at the bottom, the Alps for skiing, and all that wine and food.

I went to Naples to work with one of the best pizza-makers in the world, and guess how long he bakes his pizzas for? He bakes them for 45 seconds. In and out. And they’re incredible. Any more than that, and it’s no longer considered a pizza. I’ve been spouting off to people for years – six minutes in an oven.