When The Great British Bake Off returns to our screens, it means that summer is officially over. Regardless of what it says on the calendar, even if the weather has decided it still has a few heatwaves left up its billowing, polluted sleeve, when Bake Off comes back, it’s time to hunker down. “In knead of some good news?” tweeted the series’ official account, announcing that it will begin again on Tuesday 13 September. I’m already getting the jumpers out of the loft.
We are in knead of some good news. We’re all in dire knead. For fans of the show, and I am a hopeless fan, even 79 series in, it is the TV equivalent of a weighted blanket. It’s comfort food, it’s a candlelit bath, it’s a friendly hug. In my house, I try to bake something to eat while we watch it, a twee tradition that I am sure I’m not alone in. It’s just one of those little nice things. Not so nice for the people who have to eat it, as I’m an atrocious baker. Seriously shocking. Everything I try comes out with the consistency of a rubbery pancake. Nevertheless, she persisted.
