Tent Ready
A hobbyist pizzaiolo training to be Bake Off tent ready.
I’ve never worked in a kitchen or been to culinary school. I cook on instinct and make most of it up as I go, which works great for pizza and not so great for cake. So I went through every challenge from 16 series of The Great British Bake Off (the tent is where it’s filmed) to figure out what it actually tests, and now I’m training for it one bake a week. My wife Jana is the judge, and she’s tough. Still waiting to find out what her version of a handshake is.
Latest from the blog
Read it from the startBread · October 6, 2026
Seven-Strand Plaited Wreath
Paul Hollywood’s plaited wreath: a plain olive oil dough, seven strands, one simple move repeated, and the plait joined into a ring.
Bread · October 5, 2026
Floury Baps
Paul Hollywood’s soft white rolls: a lightly sweet, buttery dough, weighed into twelve, rolled flat and dusted with flour.
Bread · October 5, 2026
Rustic Sourdough Bread
A same-day sourdough: ripe starter for flavor plus a little instant yeast, so it rises on a schedule. About three hours, start to finish.
Salads · October 4, 2026
Shaved Fennel Salad
Crunchy, bright and fresh: paper-thin fennel in a lemon and honey dressing with shaved Parmesan, toasted pine nuts and parsley.
Bread · October 4, 2026
Ultimate Focaccia
Paul Hollywood’s focaccia: a wet, oily dough, a 16 hour prove in the tin, and olives, red onion and tomatoes pressed into the top.
Tent Ready · Week 2 · drill · October 3, 2026
Week 2: Biscuits aka Cookies
Prue’s ginger biscuits in my parents’ kitchen, with a toddler, a broken oven and no scale. Well, I did it!