People in the News Paul Hollywood

If Paul Hollywood needed any evidence that he and “The Great British Bake Off” have become pop culture icons, he just needs to turn on Netflix.

There last year, in the starry heist film “Red Notice” starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson,

Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot, was a snippet of Hollywood’s show, an unlikely hit on both sides of the Atlantic.

In one scene, Gadot, after a double- or triple-cross, is shown relaxing in front of a TV as she waits for a trap to spring on one of her costars. “She sits down and watches me on the ‘Bake Off’ and I’m going ‘What? That’s Wonder Woman!’” says Hollywood, still amazed.

Hollywood may have gone full Hollywood but he’s not forgetting where the magic happens. The English baking specialist has returned to the basics this summer, offering ultimate versions of recipes that have been adjusted and updated for the modern world in the new cookbook “Bake” from

Bloomsbury Publishing.

“There were certain things I thought were too sweet and you didn’t need to have that much sugar in them. I think our palates have changed over the last 20, 30, 40, 50 years,” he says. “I thought, ‘Well, if you can reduce sugar and still enjoy a fantastic cake, then surely that’s a good thing.’”

The book is divided into six parts — cakes, cookies and scones, breads and flatbreads, pizzas and doughnuts, pastry and pies, and desserts. There are finetuned versions of everything from chocolate orange banana bread and cheese and onion soda bread to quattro formaggi pizza and fish pot pies.

Each recipe aims to capture the essence of the dish, and Hollywood hopes home cooks learn the basics. “Once you’ve mastered it, then you can tweak it and alter it and change it and make it your own. You need to master it first — walk before you can run,” he says.