title: The Great British Bake Off: How to Avoid a Soggy Bottom: And Other Secrets to Achieving a Good Bake
author: Gerard Baker
description: <div><B>Gerard Baker</B> is a chef, food writer, broadcaster and historian. He has written extensively for the <I>Times</I>, Th<I>e Kitchen Garden</I>, and <I>BBC&#160;Good Food Magazine</I>, and has been a specialist food contributor for BBC's national news networks and programs for more than 12 years. He has been nominated for Pick of the Year on BBC Radio 4 's <I>Food Programme</I> and he has made numerous television appearances.</div>
zlib_text: ![cover.jpg](../Images/cover.jpg)
  
  
  THE STORY OF THE GREAT BRITISH BAKE OFF
  
  
  
  
  
  Anita Singh
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [Start Reading](006.html)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [About this Book](003.html)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [About the Author](038.html)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [Table of Contents](004.html)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [ ](039.html)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  [www.readanima.com](http://www.readanima.com)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # [About The Story of The Great British Bake Off](004.html#a4)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![img1.jpg](../Images/img1.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  A Recipe for the Nation’s Most Popular Cookery Show
  
  
  INGREDIENTS
  
  
  1 tent • 12 amateur bakers
  
  
  1 venerable cookery writer • 1 blue-eyed bread maker
  
  
  2 comedy queens with a love of innuendo
  
  
  When The Great British Bake Off made its debut in August 2010, it had the
  makings of a modest hit. But nobody – not the programme-makers and certainly
  not those first contestants – could have predicted what was to come. Here was
  a show in which the biggest weekly drama was whether or not a sponge cake
  would sink in the middle. And oh, 