GBBO - Week 4

Last weeks Bake Off episode started with a tone of sadness. Not the episode itself but the viewers who (from what I've read) are all saddened by the recent news. If you have been hiding in a cave you may now have heard that the BBC have lost Bake Off and channel 4 will be it's new home. As a result there will be no more Mel and Sue and who knows what other changes will take place. This is one of those shows (in my humble opinion) which doesn't need changed. Bake Off fans like it the way it is. That's a year away so for now we can enjoy it.

Last week was batter week. Sounds easy but far from it. I've never really worked with batter before. I think helping my mum with pancakes years and years ago doesn't really count.

First up was Yorkshire puddings. Not only did the bakers have to make perfect mini puddings but they had to fill them. Val mentioned that you can be kicked out of Yorkshire for a rubbish pudding (paraphrasing) and another said that there are lots of debate on the perfect recipe. A friend of mine once told me that she judges everyone on whether or not they make their own and it should be perfect. Unfortunately Val and a few others didn't quite manage it. There were a few flat puds about. Selasi did not have that problem as most of his could be described as giants and they were well filled with a Sunday roast. Jane also did well with her Sunday roast filling. However, Salasi received Hollywood approval for his crackling.

The technical challenge involved pancakes. Seems simple for bake off but they bakers had to make sure that they were lace. This has proven to be popular over recent years. Facebook is flooded with these videos of people creating famous characters from pancake mix. A few over cooked their pancakes while others didn't quite manage the lace pattern. Benjamina won with the perfect design and bake. If you want to try your own the recipe is here on the Bake Off website. I am going to have a go this week too. Who doesn't love a pancake. I don't promise that the pattern will look brilliant mind you. Decoration is far from my strong point.

For the show stopper the contestants had to make cheeros which is a spanish sweet dish popularly sold at street vendors. You have no idea how glad I am that this wasn't the technical challenge as I don't do hot oil. Benjamina again made the perfect cheero. She went with a simple design and flavour and put her flavours into the dip. A fab idea as she was the only one who impressed Paul and Mary. Tom and Andrew made the mistake of making the cheeros as is commonly done which involves cutting the batter straight into the oil. This made for lots of uneven cheeros. Rookie error as Paul and Mary like their conformity. In fact poor Tom did not have a good week overall as he succumbed to the curse of star baker.

Benjamina was the clear star baker. There was really no contest. She did well with her Yorkshire puddings and came out on top with the final two. I have always like Benjamina and she seems to do well with most of her bakes. I'm hoping she continues to do so despite winning star baker last week.

Sadly it was the turn of Kate to leave the show. I was actually a little surprised by this. She did have a bad week with all her bakes. However, Tom had a bad week too and Val seems to be scraping by each week. I have a feeling that Val's time on the show is growing short but I can't help but like her.

As always the above images don't belong to me and were courtesy of the Bake Off website.

After humming and hawing for days over whether or not my first bread attempt should be the technical bake (Dampfnudel) I decided to stick with my orignal challenge. I had no expectations as to whether or not I would manage it or even like it. I actually surprised myself. I managed it and they actually tasted good. They aren't as doughy or revolting as I thought they would be. Like Mary said they are a little like a sweet bun without the icing. This is thanks to the lemon zest that is added to the dough.

I confess that while I liked them I don't think the effort that went into them was quite worth it. My favourite was actually the sauces which went with them. The vanilla sauce tasted much like vanilla ice cream and I was impressed with managing to make the plum sauce. All first for me. Anyone else have a go?

GBBO - Week 3

 Yep, it's Bake Off week 3 and not only that it's bread week. Although I have never made bread myself I always liked bread week. It's the filled breads I liked. Mainly because I liked to see the fillings the bakers come up with. Another reason is that I have yet to have the guts to bake bread never mind bake bread with lots of fillings.

They started off with soda bread this week. Now, I have heard that soda is one of the easiest breads to make. I remember working with a girl from Ireland who often made soda bread and said anyone could make it. However, to see this weeks Bake Off maybe this is not the case. Mind you this wasn't your basic soda bread. There were lots of different flavours there. My favourite being the ones with cheese. Love cheese.

The challenge this week was baguettes which have never been made before on Bake Off. I was a little disappointed when this was revealed. It just seems so boring. In this I was proved wrong yet again. It may not be the most exciting of breads to look at or eat. However, there is a little more to it when it comes to baking. It involves proving (which I love) and a french linen for a second proving. Who knew! As usual the challenge is part of the Bake along and you can find the recipe for it here.

The show stopper was as impressive as always. This year it involved bread sculptures using different types of bread. It also had to include a filled bread. I was pretty impress with most of them. I honestly don't know how people come up with these things and then put their plans into practise. This week was so impressive that it led to a Bake Off first. Paul got a special commendation for his bread Lion. I had my doubts that this would work but look how good this is. Apparently it tasted good too.

Ian was once again star baker. He won it for his flower pot bread sculpture. I personally was more impressed by the breadcycle by Tamal. How can you not be impress by the fact that he managed to construct a bike from different breads and it even stood up. It even had a loaf in it's basket.

Sadly we said goodby to Dorret. I think it was clear that she was going as she didn't have a very good week for any of her bakes. It was a shame though as she was probably the sweetest contestant. There still isn't the camaraderie from last year. Dorret was one of the warmest contestants and I think the group won't be the same without her. The lesson to be learned from this though is to always practise your show stopper.

As usual all the photo's are from the Bake Off website.

Before I go though I think I should mention one of the unsung heroes of Bake Off. We all know the people in front of the camera but what about the artist behind those magnificent illustrations? They belong to artist and illustrator Tom Hovey. He has his own website which you can find here as well as on my blogs list. He even sells his prints. I can see myself picking up one for my future kitchen. You can also find him on twitter. I had quite a geekout moment when I discovered that last year.

GBBO #5

The above image came courtesy of the Great British Bake Off website which I have linked to the image itself. That can only mean one thing! I am going to talk about GBBO. Like last year I am once again addicted. I am even guilty of watching each episode more than once on iPlayer. You might wonder at that but I don't seem to ever get bored of it. Perhaps because my own creativity is limited to the time I can spend on it.

Regardless, I am loving it this year and I think this year is even better than last year. Not just because there has been no site of custard (which was prolific last year or at least it seemed to be). Not just because I would actually like to try my hand at most of this years bakes (so far). But also because there is an abundance of talent. Let's not forget that these are amateur bakers (however are also significantly less amateur) although this years seeem to be slightly more talented than last years. I don't think I could even pick out a winner at this point. Nor do I have a favourite to win.

I couldn't even point out a favourite at this point (although there are a few stars there). I do have a soft spot for Norman and not just cause he is a fellow Scot. However, his refusal to move from safety means that I don't see him winning. I also have a soft spot for Martha who is the youngest contestant so far and has a great deal of talent. I also like Nancy and her attitude to her baking. I have to say poor Jordan was my least favourite and he seemed to have less skill and knowledge than the others. Perhaps, he would have been better after a few more years of practise.

Thanks to my lovely mother I now have the book to go with this years series. Which is a good thing as I want to try my hand at a number of the recipes. I quite fancy having a go at the ciabatta. I am still dying to have a go at making bread in general. I also have an idea for a swiss roll which involves making my own jam. Just as well I am going to have some time off coming up.

I'm not going to review this book as yet. I want to try a couple of the recipes first. As I have another GBBO book I have yet to make anything from though you might be waiting a while. Or maybe not if I get the chance to make that bread.