The Great British Bake Off star Jürgen Krauss's best baking tips and tricks from the Radio Times archive
The fan-favourite baker shared his expertise with us back in 2023.
The Great British Bake Off is back and better than ever, with a new batch of bakers armed with their own unique takes on baking hoping to impress judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith.
But, as with any entertainment programme, there is a heap of nostalgia that comes with Bake Off, with audiences often reflecting on moments and contestants from the past, particularly fan favourite Jürgen Krauss.
Bake Off audiences got so behind Krauss that his elimination during the semi-finals in 2021 triggered more than 100 Ofcom complaints!
Fast-forward two years and Krauss featured weekly on RadioTimes.com sharing his opinions on the bakes made by the contestants, as well as offering tips and tricks when creating certain sweet treats.
So, if you fancy brushing up on your baking skills or having a bit of extra sway in the kitchen, scroll on for Jürgen Krauss's best tips!
Pastry
"For the perfect pastry with water crust, follow your recipe. There are so many good recipes out there. If it's your first time, stay with ingredients that are safe, that make it creamy, that keep your pie moist enough. Don't risk anything if you've just started off making pies."
Bread
"Watch the dough rather than the clock. The dough will be subject to temperature in your kitchen, etc, and to your working, and that's more important to judge the proving from the dough rather than recipes as one hour. I know that publishers like to put timings in, but those timings when making bread depend hugely on the environment and how you work the dough.
"If you work the dough heavily that will warm up the dough and affect the proving time, especially if you use machines. If you work it by hand, the dough might stay cooler but it will take a bit longer to prove. Similarly if the kitchen is 90 degrees – I found that about Irish kitchens, for example – it will take maybe an hour longer to prove than in the kitchen with 22 degrees."
Chocolate
"You have to keep your cool and you have to keep your mind focused. So the most important thing is to watch the temperature. You need a very good thermometer that responds very quickly or you need to gain the experience to judge at which point chocolate has the right consistency, which can be quite tricky.
"Professional kitchens that work with chocolate will have something like 18 degrees in the kitchen so it's all cooled down. At that temperature, chocolate will mould beautifully, but if it was 25° in the tent, the chocolate will quickly go softer and then just stick to the forms, etc. So most important is watch your temperature and stay cool with whatever you do - in your head as well."
Cake
"I would just make sure to follow the recipes to the dot and watch the temperature and the consistencies. If you heat chocolate too much when you pour it into the dough, that's when the chocolate breaks and at that point, the consistency of the butter won't be that great, and that affects volume in the end.
"So treat all your ingredients with respect - I think that's the main thing."
Dessert
"In terms of desserts, I really like making the Bavarian creams and other creams. And the most important bit is to watch your texture and to respect cooling times.
"So the texture changes with cooling and beating the eggs etc, beating the substances. That's all very important. When you beat up your eggs or your butter, there's often a very subtle change in colour or inconsistency that indicates that your mixture is ready for the next step.
"So that's something to watch out for. But, almost more critical for me, is understanding the timing of things and the cooling, because that determines how it sets – whether it gets grainy to some extent, or whether it stays runny."
Parties
"I don't do many sausage rolls at home, but what they said is to start with a high temperature to set the pastry – that's important so that the product doesn't come out – and then watch the temperature once the baking [starts]. If the bake needs longer, just turn the temperature of the oven a bit down so that your filling doesn't get too dry."
The Great British Bake Off returns to Channel 4 on Tuesday 16th September at 8pm.
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