Great British Bake Off: Nadiya from Luton cannot wait to ‘turn recipes on their head’

A LUTON-born baker competing in the new series of the Great British Bake Off (GBBO) said her food teacher had to ‘push’ her to leave class when she was younger because she was so keen on staying behind to cook.

Nadiya, 30, said her home economics teacher told her she had a ‘spark’ after tasting her food and mentored her because she knew her family did not have an oven at home.

The mother-of-three, who attended Maidenhall Junior School, Challney High School for Girls and Luton Sixth Form College, is one of 12 new bakers trying to impress judges Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry in latest instalment of the popular show.

She said: “I grew up in the heart of Luton with my mum, dad, three sisters, two brothers and granny.

“We lived a fairly quiet life with a massive extended family for entertainment and food-filled fun days.”

Nadiya said she was drawn to the kitchen after watching her home economics teacher prepare for lessons during lunch.

She said: “Once I had made few recipes my food teacher kept saying I had a ‘spark’.

“When she saw that I was always curious about her preparation during lunch hours, she would let me come in during the lunch break and watch her bake.

“She knew we never had an oven at home and so she allowed me to learn how to bake some of the simplest recipes but showed me how to perfect them.

“My food teacher had to push me out of the door when the bell rang because I was that reluctant to leave.”

Nadiya left Luton in 2005 and now lives in Leeds with her husband and children.

She said she prepared for the show by practicing recipes out of her ‘comfort zone’ and learning how to perfect the basics.

She added: “I did think by the end of all my practice my family would have begged me to stop, but they carried on eating and so I carried on baking.

“The thing I enjoy about baking the most would have to be the end result.

“To take time out, buy specific ingredients, put my apron on and bake something special for someone special.

“I enjoy the love that goes into each bake. I love the look on the face of people when they see something sweet and delicious come into the room.

“I love the silence that consumes the room when they lay eyes on that ‘something special’ for afters.”

The first GBBO episode airs on BBC One on August 5 at 8pm and the new contestants will have to make a Madeira cake before moving on Mary’s frosted walnut cake and then finishing with a Black Forest gâteau on day two.

Nadiya said viewers can expect to see her start off nervous before becoming ‘quietly confident’.

She said: “I am quite a nervous person and can be a bit of a ‘deer caught in headlights’ at times.

“But when I overcome the nerves and get myself into the zone, I think I can become quietly confident.

“I think I am an experimental baker and I like to turn recipes on their head.”