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Who is Great British Bake Off 2017 contestant Peter Abatan?

Who is Great British Bake Off 2017 contestant Peter Abatan?

Peter puts coconut in everything and hates shop-bought bread

Great British Bake Off contestant Peter

Eleanor Bley Griffiths

Published: Tuesday, 29 August 2017 at 5:10 pm

The Great British Bake Off 2017 bakers: Peter Abatan

Age: 52

From: Lives in Essex, raised in Brixton and Nigeria

Day job: IT Programme Manager

Twitter: @ToBoldlyBake

What do you need to know about Peter?

Born in Brixton in South London, young Peter moved to Nigeria with his parents at the age of seven. He moved back tothe UK when he was 24, and now lives in Essex with his wife Tito and kids Temi and Toni.

Peter started baking eight years ago after feeling unwell. He decided his health issues were down to eating shop-bought bread, and so he started making his own from scratch instead. The amateur baker explains: “I felt ill eating the shop bought bread and I started to then notice that I fell ill whenever I ate the bread. It wasn’t a gluten thing because I ate other things with flour in. I decided to make my own bread and soon I was hooked."

Great British Bake Off contestant Peter

Great British Bake Off contestant Peter (Channel 4)

This also isn't Peter's first Bake Off attempt. He actually applied in series four, but only got as far as a phone call.

This health-conscious baker also enjoys running on the beach, badminton, spinning, chess and science.

What is Peter's baking style?

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Expect a lot of coconut. In everything.

Inspired by his time in Nigeria, Peter loves to add coconut to his bakes and tends to use a lot of savoury flavours. On his website he writes: "Coconut is my favourite baking ingredient and I always try to incorporate it into everything I bake, injecting a versatile, tropical burst of flavour."

How is he approaching the Bake Off?

Great British Bake Off 2017 contestant Peter

Great British Bake Off 2017 contestant Peter (Channel 4)

“I am such a huge fan of Bake Off and to get a place really is such an amazing thing for me,” he says. “Whenever I have watched it in previous seasons, I’ve found myself shouting at the TV screen telling the other bakers to put more salt or flour in to make their bake better! We love watching the show as a family and so now to have got a place in the tent as one of the 12 bakers is such a special moment for my wife and two children, not to mention me."

But despite his excitement, he was pretty anxious when he first entered the tent.

“The pressure of the tent meant I thought everything was so much harder than it probably was. I over processed the task in my mind as soon as I entered the tent and before I knew it, I was feeling so nervous," he says.