Paul Hollywood's 3 simple tips for crunchy and perfectly baked bread at home

Baking bread is a perfect autumn pastime - not only is the process therapeutic but you are left with a delicious aroma and a warm, comforting loaf. However, it isn't always easy, and there are plenty of elements to master if you want to make perfectly golden, crusty bread. If there's one person who knows exactly what you need to be doing, it's Paul Hollywood. The celebrity chef and expert in bread-making has shown his decades of experience on the Great British Bake Off, and has even written multiple books on the technique.

Paul explained that if you want to give your bread a crunchy crust, you should add a light coat of fine semolina flour to your dough prior to baking. However, if you're looking for a lighter crust, a steam bath is the way to go, the chef and presenter said.

To do this, you will need to set your oven to around 220°C/425°F/Gas7 and leave a roasting tray in the bottom of the oven to heat up. When your oven has reached the right temperature and you go to put the bread in to bake, you should also fill the tray with cold water, which creates a steam bath. This helps the bread to have a lighter crust and prevents tearing, Paul said.

The TV personality also shared his tips on kneading, and said that one way to know if your dough has been kneaded enough is to pull a piece between your hands. You know it is right if it can stretch to 20cm without breaking.

While many of us will reach for the flour when kneading to prevent sticking, we should actually give oil a go. This is because oil won't alter the dough's consistency and will prevent what Paul described as "too much sticky-hand syndrome".

But how do you know when your bread is ready to eat? To check if it is ready, you should take it out of the oven and tap the bottom: if it sounds hollow, it's ready. Paul said that bread should be allowed to cool completely on a wire rack before, because it will let out all its steam and finish cooking as it cools.

Paul is currently back on our screens as a Great British Bake Off judge and series 15 is well under way. Ahead of the new series, the TV personality said that the "standard of baking overall since series one has got better and better".

He said that the challenges are a "little more tricky", and teased of this year's contestants: "They've all risen to the challenge and created things that have been really incredible."