Great British Bake Off's Jane Beedle Shares Her Best Baking Tips - Exclusive
Today, at age 66, Jane Beedle is a regular on the radio, a frequent host of Zoom cooking classes, a guest on television shows, and a rather well-known figure in culinary circles, both in her native England and across the pond. And at first blush, it's easy to attribute all of Beedle's buzz to her appearance on "The Great British Bake Off." During Season 7, Candice Brown was declared the winner, but Beedle took her runner-up status with grace. Then, during the subsequent special, "The Great Christmas Bake Off," Beedle won.
But the "secret" to Beedle's success is the fact that she's an exceptional baker — that's the reason she got on the shows in the first place! So when Beedle shared some tips about baking during an exclusive interview with Mashed, it was wisdom worth heeding.
Her main tip for the home baker looking to take things up a notch? Reconsider some of your most frequently used tools. "If I'm speaking to a U.S. audience," Beedle said, "I would say, ditch your [measuring] cups and buy some scales. It's much more accurate and you're much less likely to have issues if you can weigh things out."
Her next biggest piece of advice? Plan ahead. "It's an expensive thing if it goes wrong because there's no turning back — it's not like a savory dish that you can always add something extra to," Beedle explained. "So take your time, follow a baker that you trust, or have a cookbook that you trust ... It's so easy to leave something out, especially if you get distracted, if the kids are around, or the cat jumps on the work surface or something. So just make sure you have it all organized, all weighed out, and just take a little bit of time in the preparation."
Jane Beedle says stop rushing your bakes
Haste makes waste. When it comes to haste in the kitchen, it can make some truly terrible cakes, breads, and pastries, too. One huge mistake so many bakers tend to make? "It's the rushing," Beedle said. "I think people get nervous about baking and [when] they're not quite sure about the techniques, they will overwork things or under-work things. And I would say nowadays it's so much easier because you can have a look on YouTube and there will be somebody showing you how to do everything from the texture of rubbing in pastry or the texture of your custard. So if in doubt, give it a quick Google."
Not that Beedle and her fellow bakers had that luxury on "Bake Off," which she describes as "huge fun" with "a lot of laughing." She also said the clock always running on the show caused "a certain amount of nerves. So you are going to drop things. You are going to muck up because you've got huge time constraints on you."
But you there in your kitchen? No clock, no cameras, and no charming and witty judges. So take it slow and your baking will come out so much better. And hey, if you're in that much of a rush, maybe switch to stir-fry cooking instead?
"The Great British Bake Off" fans can dig into an all-new season, out now on Netflix. You can keep up with Jane Beedle by following her on Instagram.