Oh for crying in the mud. Sometimes, when following instructions and the product is just not coming out right, it is worth it to step back, walk away, and come back to it another day. That happened to me with the 8-strand plait bread. For my last loaf I abandoned the idea of eight strands and went with four. I tried again, this time armed first with eight strands of paracord. When step 6 says to repeat steps 2-5, but you repeat 1-5, things are bound to get wonky. With paracord (or any other rope), you can undo and try again much easier than with dough. After a few attempts, then some more practice, I was ready to give it a go in dough.

For my next attempt I think I need to stretch the strands out more at the beginning and as I go to get a longer, thinner loaf (more crust, yum!) I’m still following Paul Hollywood’s recipe.