Dame Prue Leith is always learning new kitchen skills from Paul Hollywood.
The Great British Bake Off judge Dame Prue Leith is always learning new kitchen skills from Paul Hollywood
The 84-year-old TV star has been baking on and off screen for decades, but Prue has now admitted that she still learns more about different techniques from her fellow ‘Great British Bake Off’ judge, 58.
During an interview with the Daily Mirror newspaper, she said: “I've learnt a lot from Paul. Mostly from listening to him judging. I mean, it’s easy for me because I’m there, too.
“What always surprised me is he would often say of a soggy cake: ‘This is overbaked…’ And I’d say: ‘But it’s not, it’s underbaked, because it’s soft. It’s too soft.’ And he’d say: ‘No, it’s got too much liquid in it and it hasn't been able to escape, but it’s actually overbaked.’ And I’d say: ‘How do you tell?’ He’d say: ‘Well, the cake is not crumbling as it should.’ You know how he scratches it with a fork? If it's well-baked, it will still crumble like that even if it’s too wet.”
Prue added watching the TV baker at work with dough was “absolute magic”.
She continued: “I do learn stuff all the time from him. And to watch Paul kneading something or plaiting bread, for example, is absolute magic.
“It’s like watching a Chinese noodle chef knitting noodles. It’s magic to watch because he's so fast and he's so good. So, yeah, I’ve learned a lot.”
The TV star also revealed she sometimes “nicks” some of the more impressive recipes that have appeared on the Channel 4 UK programme and its US counterpart, ‘The Great American Baking Show’.
She said: “I quite often nick other people's recipes. I mean, some of the recipes are mine. You know the technicals are either Paul’s or mine.
“But the signature ones I quite often nick the recipe because it’s so good.
“And, the other day, we had a chocolate cake [on ‘The Great American Baking Show’] – it was unbelievably good – so I nicked the recipe.
“I said to the home economist, the girl who bakes these things, and she said: ‘This is the best chocolate cake I’ve ever met.’”
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