Speaker 1: This is Later with Lee Matthews the Lee Matthews Podcast
Speaker 1: more what You Hear weekday Afternoon's on the Drive.
Speaker 2: She's a bakery expert and professional author. Nancy Birthwhistle has
Speaker 2: been baking for her whole life, so much so that
Speaker 2: she was the star of the Great British Bakeoff, and
Speaker 2: now she's got a whole new mission traveling across the
Speaker 2: country to help people with their baking problems and the
Speaker 2: debut of the CW The Big Big Over. Nancy, It's
Speaker 2: welcome and it's good to have you along.
Speaker 3: Hi daily, nice to talk to you.
Speaker 2: So the big difference I think between English baking and
Speaker 2: American baking is just what the hell the difference is
Speaker 2: between a pound and a stone?
Speaker 3: Well, they obviously are in coops and states, and that
Speaker 3: I find really really strange because we're in metric weight.
Speaker 3: But you know, there's lots of conversion tables around and
Speaker 3: we're all doing the same thing when you unpick it.
Speaker 3: But yeah, obviously I love baking and it's been a
Speaker 3: fantastic experience to travel around and meet some fantastic bakers
Speaker 3: in the various businesses and help them because obviously they
Speaker 3: reached out because they were having problems, and.
Speaker 2: Well, I was going to say, what I mean, these
Speaker 2: are bakers that are not Are they baking everything, whether
Speaker 2: it's bread or is it all sweets?
Speaker 3: There was certainly a mixture, because I think the six
Speaker 3: bakries that we there's an episode for each one. Each
Speaker 3: bakery was quite different. So one was specialized just in doughnuts.
Speaker 3: There was another one that specialized in very very into
Speaker 3: superbly decorated cookies I call them biscuits. And so each
Speaker 3: bakery was different, and each one some were trying to
Speaker 3: do too much, some were maybe not doing diversifying enough.
Speaker 3: So it was great that the problems were all different.
Speaker 2: Did you ever come across a client in your new
Speaker 2: television show, The Big Bakeover on the CW where you
Speaker 2: just said, yeah, let's just shut things down and call
Speaker 2: a demolition crew.
Speaker 3: Oh no, no, it wasn't. It's not at all brutal.
Speaker 3: It's because these people were without a doubt, they could
Speaker 3: all bake, but where I think they'd lost direction and
Speaker 3: each one there was a sadness around most of it
Speaker 3: because each one had a backstory. And I learned that
Speaker 3: you should never judge anybody's situation until you've understood where
Speaker 3: they're coming from, and without any doubt at all, that
Speaker 3: was the situation with each bakery. So it's a heartwarming series,
Speaker 3: but it's also heart wrenching when you understand what these
Speaker 3: people are trying to do.
Speaker 2: Nancy Birthwhistle may have seen her on The Great British
Speaker 2: Bake Off. She's now in America with The Big Bakeover
Speaker 2: on the CW traveling about the country and trying to
Speaker 2: help people with their baking problems. Is there one distinguishing
Speaker 2: characteristic among all of these bakers? You found.
Speaker 3: One distinguishing characteristic? I would say lee is the passion
Speaker 3: each of these bake and being a baker myself, I
Speaker 3: can understand that they have. Each one has a real
Speaker 3: pride in their craft and they want to do their
Speaker 3: absolute best. Only the best will do so, you know,
Speaker 3: unless something was one hundred percent perfect, they were not
Speaker 3: prepared to put it on the shelf, and they all
Speaker 3: wanted to improve and do improve. You know, there's a
Speaker 3: nice ending to each one.
Speaker 2: The Great Big The Big bake Over CWA Journal with
Speaker 2: Nancy Burtwhistle and what was the biggest challenge you came
Speaker 2: across in producing this series?
Speaker 3: The biggest challenge, I think was I wanted these bakers
Speaker 3: to you know, I didn't have a great deal of
Speaker 3: time to get to know them and and understand their problems.
Speaker 3: And the biggest challenge was I wanted them to be
Speaker 3: able to trust me. I didn't want them to think
Speaker 3: that I was going to make them look silly or
Speaker 3: make them look inadequate. I wanted to improve that business.
Speaker 3: There surroundings the bakery, you know, the actual physical bakery,
Speaker 3: and will then grow as bakers really.
Speaker 2: Nancy Birth whistles with us the big bake over Fridays
Speaker 2: at eight o'clock on the CW. That's eight Eastern, by
Speaker 2: the way. You know, when I go through my local market,
Speaker 2: down the bakery aisle or down the baked goods of
Speaker 2: the ingredients aisle where all of the flour and the
Speaker 2: sugar is, I'm seeing so many more things available to
Speaker 2: the everyday cook and baker than there were when I
Speaker 2: was a young lad. Different flowers, different textures. Are we
Speaker 2: baking better, not just as a country, but as a world.
Speaker 3: I think we are. I think we are baking better,
Speaker 3: and I think people are now more discerning about the ingredients.
Speaker 3: You know, We've got people I know when I went
Speaker 3: round these bakeries, you know, there were customers, because we
Speaker 3: invite customers in to get their feedback about the bakery
Speaker 3: before we do anything, to say, you know, what would
Speaker 3: you like to see as an improvement, and you get
Speaker 3: the people that want they want vegan, or they want
Speaker 3: dairy free or you know, so that whereas when I
Speaker 3: was growing up, that just wasn't a thing, you know,
Speaker 3: it just didn't exist. Whereas I think people now are
Speaker 3: more discerning about their diet and they want that reflected
Speaker 3: in their baked goods as well.
Speaker 2: Fancy birth whistles with us the big bake over, and
Speaker 2: it is Friday's they eight o'clock on the CW. And
Speaker 2: what is the most difficult for you ingredient with which
Speaker 2: to bake?
Speaker 3: The most difficult ingredient for me to bake with, I
Speaker 3: think is probably I mean, egg white can have its
Speaker 3: moments because if you get any Greece in it in them,
Speaker 3: so if the bowl isn't clean, or if the whisks
Speaker 3: are clean and there's still some maybe some residual cake
Speaker 3: batter on from the last time when you use them,
Speaker 3: you know, you'll wonder why your egg whites don't flop
Speaker 3: up because any fat or great in there will inhibit
Speaker 3: the the you know, the whisking. So egg whites can
Speaker 3: be problematic if you don't understand what's maybe going on,
Speaker 3: and bread can be problematic. Bread was one that was
Speaker 3: the baking discipline that gave me the run around the most.
Speaker 2: I would say, until I started using bottled water or
Speaker 2: spring water, my baking of bread was and it took
Speaker 2: me a long time to figure out all the things
Speaker 2: we put in our central water these days are not
Speaker 2: good for baking necessarily.
Speaker 3: I think you're actually I mean, I would always say
Speaker 3: people say have said to me, you know, I've tried
Speaker 3: to activate my east in warm water and it's just
Speaker 3: not having it. And I do try. I do say
Speaker 3: try bottled water because you know, we don't always know
Speaker 3: what's in the tap water and it may be inhibiting
Speaker 3: the rise of the east. So if anybody struggles with bread,
Speaker 3: I'd say, have a go with bottled water.
Speaker 2: Nancy birth Whistle just one of her many tips and tricks,
Speaker 2: and she goes over more in the Big Bake Over
Speaker 2: Fridays at eight on the CW, and we thank you
Speaker 2: for joining us. Happy baking.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Lee only, it's on the app as well.
Speaker 3: It's on the CW app for free.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Later with Lee Matthews, the Lee
Speaker 1: Matthews Podcast, and remember to listen to The Drive Live
Speaker 1: weekday afternoons from five to seven and iHeartMedia Presentation