I’m going to take up bread making.

A couple of factors have persuaded me to start kneading, knotting and baking.

First, I’ve belatedly become hooked on the Great British Bake Off.

Second, I was given a copy of Paul Hollywood’s Bread book for my birthday.

Soon there will be nothing stopping me.

All I’ll need is some flour, water, salt and yeast and I will rise to the challenge. Or at least I hope my bread will. I’ll prove my worth and maybe I’ll make a little dough on the side.

OK, enough with the bread puns. Oh, go on, one last one because I need to use my loaf to finish this column.

I’ve always loved the smell of freshly baked bread. As a child I used to walk past a bakery near my school and the smell would send me into paroxysms of delight.

Later a shop named the Staff of Life opened and I used to marvel at the variety of ingredients, shapes, sizes, consistencies and colours of the breads there were. This was nearly 20 years ago, long before Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry became TV’s best loved personalities and we all went Bake Off mad.

Now, of course, we’re all more familiar with our ryes, sourdoughs, ciabattas and brioches and the wonderful little extras we find folded into our crusts.

I still love the humble French stick, slipped into its cellophane sheaf and carried home wedged under your arm as you struggle with your shopping bags.

My love of bread seems to have been passed on to my children. They descend on me when I’m sawing off a few slices of the aforementioned French stick like sharks sensing a kill. There’s not much chance of it going stale because they consume it, smeared with butter, with relish.

As I said, I’ve come to the Great British Bake Off party rather late. I’d heard people at work raving about it for years but never bothered with it. But on holiday recently I got hooked on watching it with my family. There’s something rather soothing watching all that kneading and pulling.

I’ll admit I’m not as interested in the cakes and biscuits. For me it’s the bread all the way.

Along with water, meat, fruit and veg, bread is one of the absolute staples of life. Historians believe they can trace the earliest breadmaking back 30,000 years. That’s a fair number of farmhouses, tiger loaves and baguettes in between.

I love all the varieties of bread too. Pitta, tortilla wraps, naan, bagels, croissants – all are welcome at my table.

Right, I’m off to switch my oven on and get out my ingredients.