In the year of her 90th birthday, Mary Berry has offered more insight into her life than ever before.
She's given fans a look inside her very traditional marriage, and spoken at length about what she believes are her secrets to living longer.
In a further, extremely candid moment, the national treasure has revealed the one kitchen bake that she doesn't feel confident with and didn't like to pass comment on during her time as a Bake Off judge.
In conversation with Radio Times Magazine, Mary shared that during her audition to be a judge on the long-running show in 2010, she had to reveal to the crew that she'd need another judge to offer a second opinion on one thing produced by contestants: Bread.
"I need someone with a second opinion," she told those behind the show at the time, adding, "it's not my forte." The star had previously told The Independent when she was still a part of the series, "it's such a skilled activity, baking bread – I deliberately don't tutor it on The Great British Bake Off as I'm not sure I'm quite up to standard."
For the reason of Mary feeling she lacked confidence in the area of bread, Paul Hollywood was brought on board to assist with the judging. Mary has commented on how Paul brought an entirely different style of commenting to the show, that stood in contrast to her own. "Gosh, he was very different from me," she says.
Mary continues, "I don't want tears. So if something had collapsed in the middle, I'd say to a contestant, 'Do you know what you could do with that? You could just scoop a little bit out, fill it with fruit and cream, and you've got a pudding."
While Mary has shared her thoughts on not feeling confident with judging bread, she is a believer in "cheating" if there are areas in the kitchen people are not particularly self-assured with.
Speaking to Cressida Bonas and Isabella Branson on their Lessons From our Mothers podcast, Mary offered her perspective.
"I'm a great one for cheating," she says, continuing, "if it's the one thing that you don't like doing, go and buy it. If you can't peel a butternut squash, you can buy it all in pieces," she says.
"If you enjoy making bread, make your own bread," she adds. These sentiments echo those she previously made in conversation with The Telegraph, where the baking star advocated for plenty of corner-cutting measures.
If you're having guests over, Mary has no qualms about people buying all the food in from the supermarket. "It’s more important to spend time with you family, with your grandchildren, so if you’re not used to it, if it’s going to stress you, go and buy it," she says of the food prep that occurs when having people over.
"Buy in your gravy," she adds, saying, "Just throw away the packaging so nobody knows you’ve done it. The people are more important than the food." Although for those who do like to make their own, she recommends adding "red wine, red currant jelly and a dash of Worcester Sauce" to homemade gravy.
The star might feel she lacks confidence when it comes to bread, but she definitely enjoys eating it. Revealing her favourite varieties, she says, "I love seeded, sourdough, and olive bread is very nice, too."
