MY Bake Off bun fight with Paul

Bake Off winner John Whaite reveals an astonishing backstage bust-up – and weighs up this year’s hopefuls

Four years after he took part in The Great British Bake Off John Whaite can still remember all too well the feeling generated by the prospect of taking his lovingly made creations to be placed under the scrutiny of its steely-eyed judges.

‘We all used to call it the sacrificial gingham altar,’ he recalls. ‘Approaching it is terrifying.’ As this year’s contestants can doubtless testify – what with those Jaffa cakes, collapsing gingerbread creations and all manner of baking challenges causing raised temperatures with the series barely under way.

‘It is stressful,’ John remembers. ‘But I thrive in that environment. It was great fun.’ Even if, as he confesses, he came close to what he jokingly calls ‘fisticuffs’ with judge Paul Hollywood. ‘We had our moments,’ he says.

I’m all ears: it turns out that in a moment that wasn’t captured on camera, John had a bit of a set-to with Mr Hollywood after Paul criticised his Chelsea buns for being bland.

‘I was exhausted – I’d cut my finger the week before so I couldn’t knead the dough properly,’ John recalls. ‘I felt like Paul didn’t give any constructive criticism, so after the cameras rolled I approached him outside the tent and almost squared up to him.’

Oooh! What happened? ‘He actually spoke to me very kindly like I was his teenage son and told me not to worry about it, which at the time riled me even more,’ John says.

‘I did walk away but I overheard Mary Berry say “I’ve marked his card” and I wasn’t sure she was joking.’

Obviously they didn’t bear a grudge: John went on to win Bake Off at the tender age of 23, but it’s a reminder of how feelings run high in the tent. ‘You’re running through a maelstrom of emotions – stress, excitement, invigoration. It’s a melting pot,’ says John.

Oh and that great enemy of good decisions, panic. ‘When you’re panicking you make rash decisions,’ he affirms. ‘I was thinking that watching the first episode of this year’s series, when Candice overdid the flour for her Genoese sponge. You have to take a step back, but we’ve all been there.’

In his case, it was while making a Torte Noir With Boozy Cream, which Paul Hollywood described as a ‘chocolate breeze block’. ‘It tasted lovely but it was so inelegant. I’d got in a bit of a state and piled on the ganache. It’s easily done,’ he says.

John says it’s too early in the current series for him to predict a winner, ‘but I’ve already got a soft spot for Andrew, who I think may prove to be the dark horse of the competition. I just feel sorry for Lee,’ he says of the church minister who left after a disap- pointing performance in the opening episode. ‘It’s really tough to be the first contestant sent home.’

John has flourished since winning the coveted trophy: he’s become a regular chef on ITV’s Lorraine and written three cookbooks, including his latest, Perfect Plates, recipes from which we’re featuring in Weekend today.

Not bad for a former law student who not long before Bake Off genuinely thought his career arc, in his own downbeat assessment, was ‘become a solicitor, work, die’. Really? ‘Honestly,’ he smiles. ‘I didn’t see much else on the horizon, but Bake Off came along and threw a spanner in the works.’

And then some: these days John, still only 27, even has his own cookery school, established in a converted barn alongside his family home near Wigan, Lancashire, where he holds classes on everything from beginners’ bread to high- end patisserie (soon after winning Bake Off, John went to train as a pastry chef at London’s prestigious Cordon Bleu cookery school).

‘It’s not Michelin nonsense though,’ he emphasises. ‘I love going to those restaurants as a treat, but day to day no one eats or cooks like that. For me the Far left: John with Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry on Bake Off key phrase is “rustic sentiment”. The school’s about learning fundamental skills with food that’s easy and cost-effective to prepare.’

It’s a philosophy that underpins Perfect Plates, in which each recipe uses just five main ingredients, plus store- cupboard essentials such as salt, pepper and oil. ‘It should be called Imperfect Plates really because the idea of perfection these days is towering stacks of beautiful food when actually the food that we grow up with, like your mother’s wobbly corned beef hash, is perfect food,’ he reflects. ‘The problem with a lot of modern recipes is that you have a great list of ingredients and you only need a tiny bit of each one so the rest perishes in the fridge. I wanted a more pared- back approach, the happy side effect of which is that it helps reduce food waste. But there’s no sacrifice on flavour either.’

They do sound delicious, with dishes including coconut macaroon and lime cheesecake and apple crisp cake. ‘I think there’s something for everyone,’ says John. ‘There’s a chapter of posh plates but it’s so basic that people who’ve never cooked will know what to do. Hopefully this will encourage people to cook rather than eat a ready meal.’

John’s mindful of his health – he was 18st before he took part in Bake Off, as well as suffering from bouts of depression that he’s talked about in the past – and he’s now on a more ‘even keel’ emotionally. His partner Paul, a graphic designer, must take some credit for that too. The couple have been together for eight years after being introduced through mutual friends in Manchester, where John had reapplied to pursue a law degree following a brief stint at Oxford studying Italian and Spanish.

It’s a long way from a career in food, but Paul has remained a constant. ‘We’re best mates,’ says John. ‘During Bake Off people said, “You’re going to become a celebrity and leave your boyfriend,” but I knew it would never happen. My career could go up in smoke and as long as I’ve got my health and my family then nothing else matters.’

It’s a heartfelt sentiment, but he doesn’t have much to worry about on the career front just yet. In fact, he probably needs to do less. ‘I’ve definitely got another couple of books in me but I’d like to have a break and travel for a few months,’ he confesses.

In the meantime he’ll be glued to this latest series of Bake Off like the rest of us. ‘Just the theme music brings it all back,’ he smiles.