Lockdown Baking

We love that you’ve turned to baking to bring you comfort in these stressful and anxious times. We’ve put together some of our best hints, tricks and top tips to help

Baking engages all of our senses – we catch the beautiful aromas that waft around the kitchen, then there’s the tactile nature of kneading dough, we get to gaze upon and then eat the final product. It is a fully immersive experience.

Whether you are new to baking or if you have years of experience, we want to be a part of your journey. So find out more about different flour types and what works best in what type of dish; have a look over some photographic step-by-step guides; consult our handy conversions charts; or if things don’t go to plan – Mr Paul Hollywood is on hand to help you understand What Went Wrong.

Which flour is best for the job?

Flour in a wheat scoop

It's not always easy to know whether the flour you have in your cupboards will work for the recipe you want to make. Find out more about the different properties of plain, self-raising and bread flours and then you'll know which to use when

Baking conversion charts

If you've found an internet recipe with American cup measurements; or an old family recipe in imperial measurements - consult our handy conversion charts and the recipe suddenly becomes accessible

Step-by-step guides

Our range of photographic step-by-step guides are designed to increase your skills and confidence along your baking journey. Once you have mastered the basics of cakes, breads and biscuits the world of baking is literally at your finger tips. Our guides are full of photographs showing each stage of the recipe; along with a host of tips and tricks to help you gain success

Victoria sandwich

Get yourself in baking boot camp and follow our step-by-step guide to become grand master cake maker

Bread

Don't let the bread bores bully you - join them. Our step-by-step guide will have you bragging about bread like a boss

Pastry

Our step-by-step guide will give you all the hints and tips you need to harness the power of the pastry

Top 10 baking tips from GBBO stars

  1. Rahul Mandal, Series 9 Winner

    Always use accurate weighing scale to measure your ingredients. Remember that flour, sugar, butter and eggs makes cakes, biscuits and pancakes. The difference is the quantities of each ingredient so it is important to get it right

  2. Sophie Faldo, Series 8 Winner

    When making the dough for cinnamon buns, boil and then cool the milk before using. This process is called scalding – it deactivates the whey in the milk, which helps the dough to rise

  3. Candice Brown, Series 7 Winner

    When making the dough for cinnamon buns, boil and then cool the milk before using. This process is called scalding – it deactivates the whey in the milk, which helps the dough to rise

  4. Nadiya Hussain, Series 6 Winner

    Invest in an oven thermometer – ovens have a tendency to dip in temperature and on oven thermometer is an inexpensive piece of kit that will help ensure that you are baking at the correct heat

  5. Nancy Birtwhistle, Series 5 Winner

    If you’re baking with berries, frozen ones will prevent the them bleeding and discolouring the surrounding cake

  6. Frances Quinn, Series 4 Winner

    Add syrup to melted chocolate to give a glazed sheen to the icing. It also prevents the chocolate from cracking when you cut it

  7. John Whaite, Series 3 Winner

    Bundt cakes are stylish, but can be a pain to remove from the tin. Try John’s foolproof butter, butter, flour method for perfect cake release. Melt the butter, and with a pastry brush wipe the whole inside of the tin. Put the tin in the freezer to harden the butter. Then put another layer of melted butter on top. Then dust with flour

  8. Jo Wheatley, Series 2 Winner

    To achieve the perfect crunchy drizzle on a lemon drizzle cake, make sure that the sugar and the lemon is properly mixed before you add it

  9. Edd Kember, Series 1 Winner

    To achieve a great crunch and appearance to chocolate chip cookies, once the cooking time is complete, remove the tray from the oven and bang it once, firmly, on the work surface

  10. Mary Berry

    To avoid cake rack marks on the top of your sponge cakes, place a tea towel on the cake rack before you turn out the cake

What if it all goes wrong?

Sometimes you may have a bake fail, but don't worry - help is at hand. We asked Paul Hollywood to explain what might be behind that soggy bottom or dense loaf. So take a watch if you want to what went wrong or if you want to avoid it going wrong

Super speedy recipes

Time pressures are a reality for many of us - but we've found a selection of delicious recipes that can be completed in under 30 mins