Celebrity baker Paul Hollywood, was today talking to Wendy Austin on BBC Talkback, a local radio show on Radio Ulster about baking bread and in the course of conversation Wendy mentioned the problem that Coeliacs have with bread.
Paul started his response by saying that he is “sceptical about the whole Coeliac thing”.
He went on to suggest that it is often “misdiagnosed” and that people should try different breads citing Sourdough bread as an example.
Surprisingly, he also suggested that “what goes into bread is the problem” and that if you pay more for your loaf you will get better bread! True, but this will be irrelevant to “diagnosed” Coeliacs!
Bearing in mind that Coeliacs had been mentioned specifically by Wendy Austin it sounded like Paul Hollywood had found the cure for Coeliac Disease – buy a better class of loaf and you will be OK!
That, of course, is nonsense but will be misleading to some Coeliac listeners who are not yet fully up to speed with the whole “Coeliac thing”!
Disappointing comments from a Chef and a judge on the Great British Bake Off!
You can hear Paul’s comments on the show here for seven days after it was broadcast (17th October 2013):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03d4zj6
Paul Hollywood’s remarks regarding Coeliac Disease on Radio Ulster yesterday caused quite a stir on Facebook and Twitter last night and it seems we were not the only people to be surprised by his comments!
However, the activity has raised the Gluten Free profile somewhat and also resulted in Mr Hollywood tweeting as follows:
Paul Hollywood @PaulHollywood
I’m pushing for bake off to do more gluten free for next year… Watch this space
And
I may ask a few of the gluten free friends on twitter down to my baking school to play with some recipes.. Who’s in?
If these two ideas yield results the discussions will have been worthwhile!!