Welcome to The Dough Hook: a baking blog penned by me, Ryan.
There’s plenty more of me talking about myself below so grab a biscuit, pull up a seat, and enjoy!
How it started
Feeling rather proud of my newly-acquired 
label as a ‘law student’, back in 2010, I decided I wasn’t nearly busy enough and that it might be a good idea to use my ‘free’ time to write a baking blog. I mean, who wants to drink all night, sleep until noon, and watch daytime television instead of studying?! From that, came my first blog and I felt very fulfilled by it. (I even got a tweet from Nigella and a few from Rachel Allen!)
Unfortunately, my academic life didn’t remain so tranquil and by my third year I found I had little time to bake or to blog. That was until about two years ago when I moved to the big city (Manchester… not London) to be with my partner, the number one taste tester! I found I had rediscovered my love of baking and the urge to blog had begun to bubble and percolate inside of me (you know, like one of those stove-top espresso makers?) It was early in 2018 when I finally broke, deciding to dive back in.
The decider…
I had been asked to bake a cake for a big birthday at work and all was going well. Cakes had been baked, they were stacked and filled, and I’d applied a crumb coat. All I had to do was the final layer of buttercream. Then, my mixer broke! Great… Stiff buttercream! To make matters worse, I had an accident in transit the next day and most of the buttercream ended up on the inside of the cake box! Feeling deflated, I decided I needed a treat and, after much hinting, my partner finally surprised me with a shiny, new stand mixer. I just knew I had to start blogging again.
So, in short, I am Manchester-based food blogger who spends much of his time eating good food (lots of cake!) and developing recipes with which to spoil friends and family.
The Dough Hook is my way to share what I enjoy and to hopefully encourage me to be adventurous in the kitchen. I hope you enjoy the content I share, and especially the recipes I have created.
Ryan x
