DOCTOR DOUGH
Bake Off star James Morton shares some of his favourite bread recipes
Baking bread doesn’t get any tastier or easier than this… and it’s just what the doctor ordered.
Great British Bake Off star James Morton might be a medic but his skills as a master baker are just as much in demand.
From sourdough to focaccia, banana bread to flourless treats, making loaves in lockdown has become a national obsession.
And with hundreds asking for help, the bread master is sharing some of his easiest and best recipes to try at home.
The 2012 Bake Off runner-up, whose bread baking books are selling out, said: “I just love that so many people are falling in love with bread-making.
“At a time like this, it’s good for people to have a distraction from everything else that’s going on in the world.
“I’m getting messages from people who have bought my book while living in countries that have been in lockdown all over the world.
“Baking can give you such a wonderful sense of satisfaction when things go well but it can leave you with crushing disappointment when things go badly.
“People have been sending me lots of pictures of the bread they are making and they are doing an amazing job.
“Of course, I get sent pictures of some real disasters too. People want to know what might have happened there and why their bread might have gone so wrong. I have to use my diagnostic skills to try to work it out.”
A doctor at Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital, James had been working in the children’s unit but is now
treating adults, including patients with Covid-19. But when he’s not on the
NHS frontline, he is able to put his other talent to use to help people during this crisis.
The 28-year-old said: “Every day
I’m getting hundreds and hundreds of messages over Instagram and Twitter from people asking me questions to do with making bread and, particularly, sourdough.”
But he takes no responsibility for the national shortage of flour on supermarket shelves.
He said: “Who knew flour was going to become such a valuable commodity? I genuinely traded some for beer and butter the other day.
“I get through so much flour that I buy it in bulk and, just before lockdown happened, I’d placed an order for two 16kg bags of flour so I’ve not run out – yet.
“Thankfully, I’m hearing flour is starting to come back into shops.”
His one sadness is that he can’t share the bread he makes with his NHS friends and colleagues.
He said: “Usually I would take whatever I bake into work but I’m not allowed to share it out in the usual way because of infection control. I just have to keep it for my own use.”
Celebrities such as Pink, Khloe Kardashian and Hugh Jackman have been getting in on the bread baking act, with mixed results.
James added: “It’s so lovely to see so many people taking up bread-making.
“If I can help, then I’m absolutely delighted to do it.”