Last week I played tutor to two lovely students who won me (or rather a baking lesson with me) in a charity auction. Opting for my TV sweet dough swansong, they asked to bake Peachy Buns and Baumschnecken (the sticky snail-shaped ones flavoured with nuts and maple syrup). Their brioche dough needs an overnight chill, so I came armed with a batch of the dough ready made. We pottered around, chatted, drank tea, chatted some more and three hours later ended up with a dozen of each bun, plus a fresh batch of the dough for them to take home and bake the following day. It was lovely, relaxed and hopefully educational.

Two days later the kitchen tables were turned as I was reunited with a floury handful of Bake Off buddies for a day at Richard Bertinet's cookery school in Bath. Monsieur B turned up the heat and in little more than three hours we had produced focaccia, fougasse, breadsticks, baguettes, pain viennois, flamiche and doughnuts. Which goes to prove (sorry) that when it comes to showing the dough who's boss, I still have a lot to learn.