The Hairy Bikers’ Brilliant Bakes

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When Myers began his treatment, did King consider shaving his head in sympathy? “Er, no. I mean, if he’d asked us, I probably would have.” It’s easy to imagine the evening unspooling as they discovered their common ground – there is so much of it. Both were bullied as children: King for his weight, Myers for alopecia. Both came from families of “grafters” – King’s dad working on ships, Myers’ at the paper mill in Barrow-in-Furness. Both had much older siblings, and seriously ill parents: King was eight when his father died, while Myers’ mother was diagnosed with MS when he was seven. But, no, they say, they didn’t talk about any of this. That was the great thing about writing their 2015 autobiography, Blood, Sweat and Tyres, King says. “We found out quite a lot about each other.” To assemble, spread the pastry base with the mustard. Top with the sausage meat, pressing it down to compact it, then spread the apple mixture on top. Roll out the remaining pastry and use it to make a lid. Brush the edges with beaten egg and crimp them together. Brush the top of the pie with egg and cut a couple of vents in the centre to release steam. Myers butts in. “My wife said the same thing. ‘I’ll shave mine out of support.’ I said: ‘Don’t do that because, then, you do realise, we can’t go out together?’ Not being sexist, but I think [baldness] is easier for a bloke.”

Selling in excess of 6 million copies of their books, Si and Dave continue to entertain and inspire with their innovative publishing and heartwarming TV shows. For the Hairy Bikers, nothing says love and home like the smell of a cake in the oven, a homemade loaf or a freshly baked pie. For King and Myers, there is no such thing as on- and off-camera selves. “As Dave often says, we’re not complicated enough to be anyone else,” King says.The Hairy Bikers are having a tough time. David Myers has no hair and Si King has no bike. It sounds like an existential crisis. King’s problem is easily fixed because he is “in between motorcycles” and can’t wait to get his leg over the saddle again. But Myers is 14 sessions into a course of chemotherapy, with six to go, and his year “hasn’t been normal” to say the least. He prefers not to specify the type of cancer “because everybody then goes Googling, everybody becomes an amateur doctor … And I don’t want to be judged – yet,” he adds. “A huge inconvenience,” he says ceremoniously, “is the best way to describe it.”

Dust your work surface with flour. Take two-thirds of the dough and roll it out to fill a 20cm round cake or pie tin. Put the pastry-lined tin and the remaining dough in the fridge to chill until ready to fill. Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured work surface and knead very briefly until smooth. Divide it in half and roll each piece into a log of about 4cm in diameter. Wrap and chill in the fridge for an hour. Roll out the remaining pastry and use it to top your pie. Trim and crimp the edges together and cut a couple of steam holes in the top. Brush the pie with the reserved egg.

I usually avoid celebrity cookbooks, but The Hairy Bikers’ Brilliant Bakes is an all-round winner. A perfect Christmas gift, but buy two. You will want to keep one. The Hairy Bikers’ Brilliant Bakes has a lovely selection of breads too. There is a simple Sourdough loaf; Cheese and Chorizo Tear-and-Share Buns are perfect for lunch; Cinnamon Rolls make a great breakfast and especially when one has weekend guests; Lahmacun is a topped flatbread so a meal in itself.