Richard Burr
I'm Richard Burr, the Builder turned Baker who reached the final of the Great British Bake Off in 2014, earning a record five Star Baker awards in the process. My first recipe book, B.I.Y. Bake It Yourself, was published in 2015 and I write a weekly blog with recipes at www.richardburr.london. I bake for three main reasons. Firstly, I really enjoy the process of baking and find it really relaxing. Secondly, I really enjoy giving bakes to other people - there's nothing like seeing those happy smiles when you present someone with a box of fresh doughnuts. Thirdly, I'm really greedy!
I use Homepride flour because I get through kilos of flour every week so always need a lot of it to hand. Their easy-seal boxes mean I can stack them in the cupboard without worrying about ripped bags and spilt flour. The boxes also make them really easy to transport for the many cooking demos I undertake around the country.
I'm quite a faddy baker and will spend a couple of weeks making variations of the same bake until I've perfected it, then move on to the next. At the moment, I'm really into making fancy breads, but next week it could just as easily be cronuts! There isn't a type of baking I don't enjoy making so I keep it varied between bread, cakes, biscuits, pastry, puddings. It's a good job I'm still a builder as well as it means I can work it all off too!