14x03 - Bread Week

[bunniefuu]

Noel, I got a few questions for you.
Hit me up.

Flan or tart, what's the difference?
You'd have to ask Prue.
What's an even bake?

You'd have to ask Paul. Do you even
know anything about baking?
Not really.

How long you been on
this show? Seven years.

Do you still find a soggy bottom
funny? 'Course I do,
I'm not an idiot.

Has anyone ever been injured by a
Hollywood handshake? I'm not at
liberty to disclose

that information. Who's
Kate's Corner? It's Kate Corner.

Kate Corner's just a woman who lives
down my street. What's cake corner?

Cake corner's a corner where we eat
cake. What week is it?
It's Bread Week.

Can I do the fun part now?
Yes, you can. Welcome to
The Great British Bake Off.

Did you enjoy that?
I really loved it. Me too. Thanks.

Last time...

Come on, custard creams.

..the bakers battled biscuits...

..and while Josh served up
a stunning Showstopper...

Everything about it is spot on.

..it was Tasha...

I think they're delicate, I think
they're pretty and I have to...

...shake your... Ah, good for you!

..that earned this year's
first handshake

and took home Star Baker...

Gotta put some peanuts on.
..but Keith's lack of finesse...

Ooh, dear.
..and underbaked Showstopper.

I shouldn't be able to push my
finger in like that. No.

..meant he had to say goodbye
to the tent.

It's been so lovely to meet you,
Prue.

This time, it's bread week.

I'm really nervous.
You nervous about this one?

I just don't want him to not like
it. Is it all about Paul? Yeah.

The bakers take on
a classic cottage loaf Signature...

Oh, I've never been
so stressed making bread.

It's enormous...

Oh, my God.
..a traditional Technical...

..that leaves some hot under
the collar... Cool those balls!

..and a plaited Showstopper...

Help me, lord.

..that has them tied up in knots.

Ah! Oh...

Stressful.

Chuffing heck.
You just want an easy life.

Bread week is one of the most feared
weeks, isn't it,

cos Paul's gonna be coming round

poking all our loaves
seeing if they're cooked or not.

Love baking my bread, not too sure
about doing it in a tent

with Paul Hollywood looking at me,
but...!

Paul is the bread king.
Ah, so nervous.

I don't know if it's nerves or if
it was the dodgy prawn

I had last night,
but something's churning.

I've definitely got
the bread dread.

Hello, bakers,
welcome back to the tent.

It's bread week
and for your Signature Challenge,

the judges would love you
to make a cottage loaf.

Paul and Prue are looking for
a classic cottage loaf shape

that's two stacked cobs

and don't worry, it doesn't have to
be an actual cottage.

They are not gonna spend
a mini break inside your loaf.

Your loaves can be flavour
and the style of bread dough

is entirely up to you, so go wild.

These are heady times we're
living in.

You've got two hours, and,
because we're feeling generous,

another 45 minutes.

On your marks... Get set...

Bake!

Right, let's get going
with this then.

I do like bread,
so hopefully Paul'll like it,

hopefully it'll all go to plan.

I don't make bread. I don't.
So this is not my week.

Everyone's scared of eating bread
now, aren't they? Not me.

No, not me. I love eating bread.
I love it!

That's my bread pouch,
muffin, crumpet, baguettes.

It's bread week and the
Signature Challenge

is a cottage loaf.

It's two loaves,
one on top of the other.

A little round one on the top

and a bigger round one underneath.

The lovely thing
about a cottage loaf,

simple though it is,

is it does cover all the skills
that really matter in bread making.

You need to spend a bit of time
developing that gluten,

mixing and kneading properly.

You don't want it to be too dense.

You want a little bit
of spring in it.

The joining of the two balls
is important

and they must be stable
and grow up rather than flat,

so you want a bit of height
to this.

We want perfection to impress us.

They've just gotta make good bread.

Morning, Cristy. Hello.
Hello, Cristy. Morning!

Right, Cristy, tell us all about
your cottage loaf.

So I'm doing dried cranberries,
chopped walnuts and rosemary.

Is this a favourite recipe?

Yeah. My kids love it. I love it.

Always a hit at home, Cristy's
loaf packed full of

sweet cranberries, rosemary
and walnuts also contains

multigrain flour for an extra hit
of nutty flavour.

Do you think it hinders the growth
of the dough at all

if you add too much flavour?

Yeah. No. I don't know.

It's not a test!
OK, you make me nervous!

I just wanna impress you both.

Well, good luck, I think it sounds
great. Thank you. Oh, OK!

Thank you. Thanks, Alison.
It's not an exam!

I'm nervous. It's cos he just knows
everything about bread.

You've got this, you've made it
before. You've got it.

I'm full of bread. Not stopped
eating it. What,

have you been eating bread?
Oh, I love a bit of bread.

I can do it all day long.

Saku's also aiming to impress
with a family favourite.

My kids love cinnamon toast
with orange juice

so I'm making cinnamon
and orange cottage loaf.

She'll add orange zest
to her dough for a citrus kick

to complement the warmth of
the cinnamon

that she's sourced
from somewhere special.

Sri Lanka is very famous
for its spices.

Always my cinnamon coming from
Sri Lanka. This is from home.

I brought my own rosemary from home

so from my mum's garden.

She has a very small
vegetable garden.

She won't like
that I've said it was very small,

but it's her pride and joy.

Looking to build on last week's
success, reigning Star Baker Tasha

will roast her mum's rosemary
with garlic

before kneading it through her
seed-packed dough.

But her classic flavour combination
faces competition.

I was quietly confident

and then, there are four people
doing rosemary and garlic.

But it's fine.
It's just a battle of the garlic!

This is wild garlic.
Love picking my wild garlic.

Got a secret patch near me
no-one knows about.

Foraging fan Dan will add rosemary
and smoked bacon to his wild garlic

to flavour his main loaf

and he'll make a wild garlic pesto
to fold through his top cob.

Do you go foraging? I do, yeah.
Yeah, I do a bit of fungus.

Fungus. You got a basket? Yeah.

What do you wear, speedos?
Yeah, leopard skin speedos.

Massive top hat. Yeah, flippers.
With a door in it. Yeah!

And then throw the mushrooms in.
Goes in, yeah!

Just gonna check how the gluten is
doing. It feels pretty good.

Kneading the dough helps to develop
the strands of gluten,

crucial to producing the perfect
texture demanded by Paul and Prue.

Like a rocking motion just
to get right through the dough.

But it's a labour intensive task.

You warmed up now, Nicky? Have
I warmed up? You warmed up?

Yeah, I'm getting there.
I need to take my jumper off now.

I'm letting the machine do
the hard work

and then I'll put it out on
the bench for a couple of minutes

and just pretend that I've done it!

I like kneading by hand cos it gives
you more control over the dough

and you can feel when it's ready,
rather than just guess.

I've done 300 hand kneads.
I count them all to make sure.

Abbi taste-tested her garlic
and rosemary cottage loaf

with the local village community
lunch where it went down a storm.

A success that she puts down to the
addition of a special ingredient.

I'm using smoked garlic and it has
an absolutely amazing smell.

Garlic, rosemary...
Just really nice.

It's a great classic combo,
isn't it?

The roasting of the garlic
just enhances the flavour

and I've got Scottish sea salt.

Oops, look at that,
went in a bit too much.

Nicky will add her roast garlic,

rosemary and Scottish sea salt paste

to her dough after its first prove.

And to ensure even distribution,
she's taking no risks.

I am not going to use
the stand mixer.

I'm doing it by hand.

I'm doing the kneading in the mixer
just to save me some arm strength,

basically. I like heat,
so I'm doing chipotle,

smoked Cheddar and bacon.

This is smoked Cheddar.

It's literally just amplifying that
smoky taste,

so if he says he can't taste
the flavour, that's a lie!

Ooh...
RATTLE, SMASH

God.

I meant to do that! You can taste
shards of glass. Yummy.

Starting from scratch,
Dana will add smoked paprika

to her second batch
of spicy chipotle dough

for an extra hit of smoky heat.

Yeah, I think it should be great,
as long as it's not

totally overpowering.

I mean, sometimes, smoke can just be
too much.

Well, it's not like a bonfire smoke.

It's more like just a little subtle
kick, so...

Have you got a name for your bread?

Um, Bread-ley Cooper.
Bread-ley Cooper!

I just thought, a bit of spice.

I love that.

This is about the stage
I'm happy with now.

If you hold it up to the window,
it'll stretch out nice and thin

without tearing
so you can see through it.

That'll do us. Beautiful.

It's just gonna go now into
the proving drawer for an hour.

Will it fit? Yeah.

Now the waiting game.

This is the, like, sit about and
have a cup of tea part of the bake.

Which is very, very nice
for once in a challenge!

I didn't bring a book
to read or game to play.

Let's play tic, tac, toe.

Are you into cricket? Yes.
I'm such a good batter.

Really? So, so good.
So I'm a bowler, you are a batter.

If you could bowl, I could bat.

It's not gonna work, is it?
No. Oh, my God!

It's a complete disaster!

Go on. Oh!

Sorry!

Right in the thigh.

I thought you was gonna do it
softly!

I feel like everybody else
has got theirs... proving

and I'm still working on mine.

It's a big dough.

I've got, like,


Rowan's large loaf filled
with kalamata olives

and sundried tomatoes is inspired
by a sun-strewn holiday to the Med.

I went to Amalfi.

The Amalfi coast, it were good...
It were expensive.

I mean a sorbet, you had to take out
a mortgage, so it was...

It was a place I'd never go back to.

Far from the glitz and glamour of
the Italian Riviera,

Josh is recreating one of his
Italy's most humble offerings.

I am making a pizza-inspired
nduja...

..and honey, cottage loaf.

So I've got nduja-spiced
spreadable sausage in there

which is gonna be spread over
the dough once it's proved.

You don't wanna put your flavours
in in the first prove.

It's gonna affect the way it rises,

so I'll mix it all in
on the second one.

Along with spicy nduja sausage,

Josh will throw handfuls
of black olives,

basil and Gruyere into his loaf

for that flavour-packed
pizza experience.

It's like a meal in your bread.
It is, yeah, you've got

a lot of things going on in there.

It doesn't inhibit
its rise or anything?

It gets a nice rise. I know it's a
bit more of a risk, maybe,

putting bits of cheese in there
as well, but I wanted to give myself

a bit of a challenge. All right.
Good luck. Thank you very much.

Bakers, you are halfway through.

You can do it guys. Maybe.

I'm just gonna have to go with it.

Looks like all right. Yes.

A lovely first prove that.
You can see the bubbles there,

you can see a lot of
carbon... dioxide in there!

Remember my elements, then.

It's not as proved as I would like.

But I think the second prove is far
more important than the first one

because that's what
gives you the shape.

But before shaping starts...
I'm gonna put my filling in.

..there's one last opportunity
for the bakers

to add even more flavour
to their dough.

So I've got Gruyere cheese, basil
and I've got some olives as well.

It looks like a pizza anyway so.

Who doesn't like a bit of roast
garlic? Oh, and with your meat.

This is the smoked Cheddar, so I'm
just gonna get that rolled in.

It's just making sure it all just
goes through the dough

and there's no sort of empty
pockets.

I'm really pleased with this.
Just want to be able to get

a really good bit of shaping on it
now. Key to creating the classic

cottage loaf shape is both size
and proportion.

The top is a bit smaller.
It has that little hat.

I'm gonna split it into
a third and two thirds.

They're quite big balls.
I don't want it to be like

a little stuck on ball
on top of the bottom.

Three quarters to a quarter.
You have gotta, like,

trust your instinct
which is easier said than done

when there's everyone else
around you

doing the same thing, but different.

Bursting with olives,
sundried tomato and Parmesan,

Matty's keen to add heat
to his loaf with the addition

of chilli flakes to his dough.

I think the flavours are
great inside.

When it comes to
the overall look of it,

tell us about the proportion,
your... ball size.

Three quarters bottom,
one quarter on top.

Oh, so you've got a little one on
top and then...

..a big ball underneath.Yeah!

They're in proportion
though...

They seem slightly out of
proportion, the ball size.

Don't be naughty. I'm just saying!

Would you go two thirds, one third?

I don't know.
It's entirely up to you.

Not only does a cottage loaf require
perfectly proportioned balls...

Hello, wee man.
..but the bakers must ensure

that they stay firmly in place too.

Here we go.

Flour up the old fingers.

Ah, dear.

I'm a bit stuck!

Just three firm jabs.

I hope it will work.

Going in the proving
drawer again.

That's the biggest loaf I have made
in a long time.

Right, half an hour in there.

Have you got a proving drawer
at home?

No. The kitchen's normally about
the right temperature.

Is it too cold in here? It's Baltic,
yeah. Do you get ever cold hands?

Yeah, I do get...

If you put your hands out like that,

and pump really hard up and down.
You don't get cold hands?!

You don't get cold hands! Really?

Yeah! And an egg comes out.

Bakers, you only have one hour left.

Few more mins.
It's a lot of proving, innit, this.

It's a lot of proving. They don't
do anything in this, do they?

Yeah, just sort of wandering about,
waiting... Like what we do!

It's just about holding your nerve.

If you don't give it the time
it needs to rise,

then it's gonna be more
like a flat bread!

Hmm, it's a bit flat, innit?

Oh, my gosh.

She's not very cottage
loaf-shaped any more.

Hmm...

I'm painting my lovely ball in red,
blue and green,

to make it look kind of Italian.
I wanted to add a bit of pop.

Did you pop it in the proving
drawer? Yes. Did it get bigger?

This is my problem - I can't
remember the size of it before

I put it in the proving drawer,
so...! Goldfish. I'm kind of like...

It's getting there. I know. Oh!

Wish I had a photogenic memory,
then I'd be like,

"Yes, you know what,
that's risen by an eighth..."

Can you have a photogenic memory?
No, a photographic...! However...

In it goes.

It'll bake for about 50 minutes
because it's so huge.

Three more minutes.

Pancakes for breakfast everybody.
Here she is.

What shall we name her? Janice.

Right, I'm gonna score it.

Scoring the dough
is key to maintaining

the unique cottage loaf shape.

It's letting it breathe a little bit

so that, when it bakes,
it can expand out.

..and deep precise cuts
will produce better shaped loaves.

Are you scoring it with this?

I've got a lame.

I've just got a sharp Kn*fe that
I... Yeah, but that's all right.

Looks cottagey.
We're going in for 30 minutes.


does at home.

Oh, there you go, Janice.

Maybe the oven will solve
all ailments.

Just, it's now gotta watch it bake.
Oh, God.

I'm going to sit here
and watch and pray.

Oh, it's looking great!
I've just turned it round.

I'm trying to give it a really good
colour.

I know Paul likes a lot of colour
on his bread. Yeah...

I'm excited. Are you excited?
I'm really nervous.

You nervous about this one? I just
don't want him to not like it.

Is it all about Paul? Yeah.
Good luck. Thank you.

I can't wait for this.

Bakers, you've got 15 minutes.

Till Paul Hollywood comes in
with his mahogany fists

and smashes your dreams.

Oh, mine's so lopsided.

I'm feeling happier than earlier.

I don't think Paul's gonna be
very happy.

The top's merged into the bottom.
I'm a bit annoyed.

Rise!

Oh, bloody hell she's massive.
It's really ballooned.

It's enormous bread! Oh, my God...

They're not done.

Oh, it's disastrous.

It's literally come off.

What do I do? Shall I rod it?

Well, I'm a bit panicky about this.

He's rodding it.
Oh, that's a good shout.

Oh, I've never been
so stressed making bread.

Chuffing heck, this is a bit high
pressure.

You just want an easy life!

Oh, it's cooked. I think it's done.

I have to check temperatures
because a lot of bakers

tap the bottom
and listen to the sound.

Sounds hollow inside. Like that.

I can't do that. Oh, it's hollow.

Lovely!

Oh, my God this is actually
diabolical. I might scream.

Bakers, you've got one minute left,
just one minute.

Coming out in 30 seconds.

Just waiting till literally
the last second.

These are the flowers
from the wild garlic.

Oh, it's such a pancake.

It's coming out.

Here we are.

I don't know. Really happy with
that. Perfect.

Oh, my gosh. It's just so big.

Bakers, your time is up.

That looks amazing.

I am happy with that.
Hopefully they will like the taste.

You look around the room,
you start going...

See, it's all...
They're all kind of perfect. Oh...

This is the failure corner.

Oh, dearie me.

The bakers' cottage loaves now face
the judgment of Paul and Prue.

Hello, Saku. Hello.

I think it looks pretty good.

The cuts have gone slightly awry,

but overall, I like the colour
and I like the height.

Go on, then, Hollywood.
Right, let's have a look. Cut it.

Smells good. It's really cinnamony.

I don't get the orange very much,
but the cinnamon's there.

I did get the orange. It's a hint.
Certainly there in the background.

The cinnamon is good. So your
flavour combinations are spot on.

But, your bread itself
is slightly underproved.

You can see where you've put your
finger in

and it's concertinaed down
at the bottom.

Overall, it's a nice loaf.

I think you were ten minutes away
from something that was very good.

Well done. Thank you.

Whew!

Well, it's certainly rustic.

I think you've fumbled
a little bit when you cut this

cos it's gone all over the place.

Doesn't look too bad.

It is a lot of filling,
but, actually, it works.

Nothing is overpowering
anything else.

Oh, chilli's coming in right at
the end. It's lovely. Thank you.

It's split here quite badly

and this is down
to underproving it... Mm-hm.

..so it needed another
ten minutes or so.

I think you've got
a great bake on it though.

Certainly cheesy.

Smokiness comes through beautifully,
and the cheese and the chipotle

as well. It is a bit doughy,
but your flavours are good.

Hmm.

It looks monstrous.

How much flour did you use?

Uh... Nigh on 700g.

It's a big loaf.

But actually the structure
is spot on. Great colour.

The olives come through beautifully.

The sundried tomatoes not so much.

I can taste the sundried tomatoes,

but I don't think
the little S's add anything.

You should've just written
"Paul is king". Bread king.

Thank you, Rowan. Well, thank you.

"Monstrous". It's fine,
I've been called worse.

It's quite dense inside. Yes.

I'm getting... salt.

Hmm, quite a lot of salt. What's the
level of salt you put in?

The original prove was just 7g

and then after that I just went...

Oh, you added more?
In with the paste. Yeah, that's...

So just did a wee... ..probably
why we're picking it up then,

because you just went over
that balance. Yeah.

Colour, I love. Cuts, I like,
they're nice and deep.

I think it looks really appetising.

Think it needs a little of salt.

Considering you had cranberries,
walnuts in there,

it's just a little bit bland, but
overall, I think it's a decent loaf.

OK.

This is flat Janice.

Her cottage is a bungalow.

Let's have a look at it.

How much of the garlic did you put
in it? All of it?

Not all of it, I think I did, like,
six cloves. It's quite strong.

Can't taste the rosemary. Oh, OK.
Um...

When it comes to salt,
it's quite a bland loaf. Yeah.

All you get... Is garlic?
..is garlic.

You haven't got enough salt. Yeah.

And actually that,
it's affected the structure

and that's why it'll look
like this.

Taste it with a bit of the crust
though, cos that's really nice.

Ooh, yeah.
Bit of salt on it, it'll be lovely.

Hmm.

Good job, Janice.

Lovely colour.

It's turned out quite nicely.

You've pretty much
got the proving right.

I think the flavour is great. Mm-hm.

Nice balance of cheese and chilli.

There is considerable heat in that.

And I like it. I think it's lovely.

And I'm surprised because I thought
the cheese and olives

are going to hold it down,
it's going become claggy...

But it's really lovely. Well done,
Josh. Thank you.

Wonderful, thank you.Well done!

Do you know, if you saw that
in a baker's shop you'd buy it,

just because it looks so rustic
and so appetising.

Looks quite appealing doesn't
it, yeah. Hmm.

Let's have a look.

I think it's quite clever
the pesto going through it.

My issue is it only stays in
one place. Yeah.

You have to distribute it
amongst the whole loaf. Yeah...

I think it's a
really interesting delicious loaf.

Flavour-wise, and texture-wise,
you've done a great job.

It just needed to be more
uniform with... Distribute, yeah.

..your filling. Just pop it in the
mixer, all your ingredients,

once you've proved your dough

and just slowly turn it to
introduce it and then you shape it.

I should've belled you beforehand,
shouldn't I? You should've done,

yeah! I was only across there.
Oh, were ya?

Give you a shout next time.
Oh, thank you very much.

That'll do me.

Because you've put weight

in the dough as seeds,

I'm thinking that this
is gonna be quite dense inside.

But... the proof of the pudding
is in the eating.

Come on, then.

I would be so proud
of that if I'd done it!

It is dense, but nevertheless,
it's delicious.

It's not perfect.
But it is 90-odd-per cent there.

Mm-hm. I wish I'd made it.

Thank you. Well done. Thank you.
Thank you.

Wow. She wishes she'd
made it! I'll take that!

Think that went pretty well!

That's good feedback.

Thank you, Prue. Oh, it was lovely!

It went well. Phew.

"Monstrous". I'd rather be monstrous
than mediocre.

That was pretty good.
He liked the look of it,

it had good colour on it,
one down, two to go.

Oh, flat Janice.
I'm definitely at the bottom.

But last week's Technical I won,

so hopefully, do a better job.
Smash it.

The bakers were able
to practise their first challenge,

but now, they face
a mystery shrouded in gingham.

Hello, bakers,
welcome back to the tent.

It's time for your
Technical Challenge, which, today,

has been set for you by the bad boy
of buns himself, Mr Paul Hollywood.

Paul has been preparing
some incredible words of wisdom.

Over to you, Paul.

It's all about the timing.

I'm gonna put that on my Instagram.

As ever, this Technical will be
judged blind

so we're gonna have to ask our
judges to leave the tent. Bye-bye.

Thank you.

To make sure there's no cheating,

they will be lowered
into a medieval well.

Paul would like you to make a batch

of eight delicious
Devonshire splits.

Ooh, I love Devonshire splits.

I often do the splits
while I'm eating Devonshire splits.

Now, the judges are looking
for soft,

light, enriched dough buns

that are split and then filled with
a home-made strawberry jam

and freshly whipped cream.

Mmm. You have two hours
and 30 minutes.

On your marks...

..get set...

..bake!

That's not
a lot of ingredients, is it?

I'm familiar with the Devonshire
split. It's a bit like a doughnut
and I love doughnuts.

I live adjacent to Devon.

I've never seen one before.

Bit worried, I need a good technical
cos I had a mediocre signature,

so I'm just looking round.

"Do not confer," it says
but it doesn't say "don't look."

So, Paul, Devonshire splits,
what a treat.

I grew up on these.

My dad used to make these in his
bakery and they're just delicious
to eat.

Where they're going to come unstuck
on this particular challenge is
timing.

We've allowed for two proves
in this.

So for the first prove?

Well, you do it roughly 45 minutes.

As it starts to rise, carbon dioxide
begins to be formed

and a little bit
of flavour comes into it.

Then they can prepare the rolls.
So divide it into eight,

roll it into balls,
and prove it again.


and it stabilises the dough

and gives it better flavour.

It's all down to the proving.

The oven bake's for around


We want them beautifully round
and symmetrical.

You don't want any tears in
the side at all

and you want a nice flash
of colour going all
the way down to the bottom.

I would not have thought a
Devonshire split could be
so complicated.

Now, there's no cutlery with this.

This is when we get cream all over
the show.

Mm-hm.

Oh, yeah.

It's soft in the mouth,
slightly chewy.

That is heaven.

Beautiful sweetness from
the strawberry and then
the cream as well.

I'm going to sit here
and eat the lot, I tell you.

Not all of those, but all of this.
All of this.

Step one, make the dough.

It's an enriched dough which means
it's enriched

with milk and butter
and I'm adding that to my flour,

yeast, salt and sugar,

then bring it together to form
a scraggly dough
and then I'll get that kneaded.

Get your hands in, get in there.

Going to need to work quite quickly.

I'm just very keen
to get my dough proving.

You all right, Abbi? Hello, Alison.
How you doing darling?

All right, thank you.

Devonshire splits, have you ever
made one of these before?

No, I haven't. Have you ever done
the splits before? No, I haven't.

But you've got to impress Paul with
this though, ain't ya? I know, need
to get myself back on track.

This is a big one. After flat
Janice. Well, do you know what?
Janice tasted amazing.

She was very garlicky, which is the
way I like it. Probably not what
Prue wanted.

So you've got to get this right
haven't ya? So, yeah. Keep kneading
babes, keep kneading. Thank you.

Perfect Devonshire split dough...

You can feel that changing already
under my hands.

..requires lots of kneading.

That's like a workout.

Not enough and they could end up
with tight buns.

Oh!

We're looking for something very
smooth and elastic.

You don't want it to tear.

It's looking all right, that.

Step five, prove.

Thank you very much.
For all that information.

I'll give it as long as I humanly
possibly can cos I want it to be
quite light and fluffy.

I'm going to leave this
for 50 minutes.

Start with 30 minutes, check.

It'll probably need longer than that
but whether we've got time to do it
longer than that...

There's going to be
a lot of underproved buns today.

Next is to make the strawberry jam.

I've chopped up my strawberries

and put them in a pan
with some jam sugar

and hopefully I have the setting
temperature branded into my brain.

I'm trying to get this
to 104 centigrade.

Here we go. It's bubbling away now.

Bit longer.

Looks all right.

Hopefully it will work.

Steaming up, yes.

Jam is ready.

The dough's proving.

Jam cooling.

Should've been a rapper.

Wow, what's this? We're giving you a
double whammy. Oh, looks lovely.
That is my strawberry jam.

What's your favourite jam?

Mmm, Blueberry jam. Blueberry?
Yeah.

That is quite a bold statement.
Why? How often do you make
blueberry jam?

I don't make it,
I'm buying from shop.

Bakers, you are halfway through.

Sh. Love watching her work.

see how much it's grown.

If the bakers underprove
their dough...

We're looking pretty groovy there.

Looks good.

..They'll fail to produce the light

and springy texture Paul
and Prue expect.

Well, it could do with longer really

but I can see quite
a few people shaping

Which is a bit stressful.

Divide the dough into eight pieces
and shape into each ball.



I can't do it,
I can't physically do the maths.

That's terrible, I'm gonna have
to book a course.



I'm just going to eye it.

It could do with another ten minutes
but we don't have another
ten minutes

so now I'm going to shape them into
little balls.

Key to an even rise

and avoiding any tears in
their dough

the bakers must create
a smooth, taut skin.

I make a lot of bread rolls at home
so I'm quite used to this.

That looks a wee bit wrinkled.

Wrinkly balls. Wrinkly balls.

So we've got a pair for Prue
and a pair for Paul.

This is like a dream I've had.

Paul's balls are out on
a baking sheet.

I'm really pleased with those.
Nice and even.

Second prove, we're going in.

The most important prove in
my opinion.

I'm going to do the second prove
for half an hour.

I've just got to wait now.

Oh.

I'm just trying to stay zen before
it all goes crazy in a minute.

Omm.

Make them work.

Mmm.

I'm doing a dance for you just
to keep you occupied. Nice one.

Nice, nice.

Thank you.

They're getting there.

I'm giving them another
three minutes.

Five minutes left on the clock but
I'm going to live by the seat of my
pants I think and go for it.

We're going in with them, big boy.

Can't believe Dan's in, that's
so stressful?

Oh, my God.

Bakers, you've got half an hour
left.

Drama there, weren't it?
That cut through the tent.

Yeah.
Like a hot Kn*fe through butter.

Half an hour left.

I'm happy with the rise of
the dough balls.

They've risen up,
not as much as I would like.

I'm not that upset with them.

They're just a little on
the small side.

Going in.

In they go.

Don't know how long they'll take in
the oven. I reckon about


Going for 14 minutes cos that's
my lucky number.

So next, make the Chantilly cream.
This is whipped up,

bit of icing sugar, vanilla,

and lo and behold you'll have
a Chantilly.

I want it to be a little bit above
soft peaks.

Medium peaks.

Looks good.

Oh! Just joking.

That's looking quite good.

You're going to use this? Yeah.

In here? Fill it with Chantilly.
Should I just use a wooden spoon?

Just use a wooden spoon.
It's convenience, innit? Thank you.

What about a bigger one? What's
this?

That's what... that's where
I write my... Some poems in here.
Go on, read one of the poems.

"Dear Paul,

you look so good today in your
double denim.

I think about your desert boots
all the time."

That one gets a bit racy. Does it?

They're done.

They're not big anyway,
they're quite dainty.

Get them out,
get 'em nice and cool.

Dan's are out. I know, he's speedy
Gonzales.

Like he's so speedy.
Do you know what?

I'm pretty sure I've not put
the caster sugar in?

Hence why my buns are
a little bit small.

What a doughnut I am.

Dough-nut.

Bakers,
you've got ten minutes left.

Oh, my God.

OK, I'm getting them out.

OK. We're good, we're good,
we're good, we're good.

They've not baked very evenly.
Here is a little bit under.

All right,
now we've got to let them cool.

Is it all about cooling? Yeah.
Before assemblage.

You don't want to put cream into
a hot bun.

And drip out the other side, yeah.

Cool those balls.

You've not been on Bake Off until
you've done the waft.

Cut a deep slit through
the centre of each.

I think this is right,
I don't have a clue.

Oh, these are shocking.

No sugar in it.

I'll tell you one thing,
it's too late now.

Bakers, you've got five
minutes left.

Have we really?

You know when you feel sick?

Jam time.

Nice thick jam anyway.

The jam is perfect.

Generously fill each bun
with whipped cream.

I want it to look neat.

Pipe it directly into the bun.

Oh, gosh, it's splodging.

Oh, sodding hell. It's so bad.

Bakers, you have one minute left.

One minute, OK, we can do this.

Decorate with the strawberries.

Come on, strawbs.

Must move quicker.

I don't know this is the right way.

Oh, my gosh.



Oh, just hide the mistakes
with icing sugar.

That's monstrous to another level.

Bakers, your time is up.

Please come and bring your
Devonshire splits

and place them behind
your photographs.

Oh, dear.

The garish A&E look.

Forgot the icing sugar.

Wow, that was awful.

Well...

Did my best.

It's time to judge
the bakers' Devonshire splits.

Hmm.
We've got an array here, Prue.

We certainly have.

Paul and Prue are looking
for eight equally sized,

light and springy buns

filled with perfectly-set strawberry
jam and Chantilly cream

And they have no idea whose
is whose.

OK, let's start down this side.

Bit irregular in shape these,
actually,

and it's underproved,

you can tell by the cracks on
the bottom.

They probably needed another ten,


But they're soft inside.
They've got a lovely flavour.

Jam's lovely.
Some of these are a bit odd.

These are really small.

This one's a bit peculiar.

They're massively underproved.

Soon as you press it,
it goes back to dough again.

And they're very dense.
They are dense.

Right. Now, the size of these is
better, much better.

They're quite light, Paul. They are.

They're proved well.
They're big and light.

Good jam.

Yeah, the jam looks good.

That's a decent one, the size is
good. I like that.

It's just a shame the cream's not
looking nicer than it is.

But it does look like lots of cream,
which I like.

Too small. These are way too...
These are like golf balls.

This is... It's really dense.
Needed much longer proving.

You can tell when you look at
the bottom there. It's ripped.

And it tastes yeasty.

Mmm.

And now when you move on to this...

These are very neat. They are neat

and they are round
but they're a little bit small.

That's the old thing
of not proved enough.

I'm not quite sure what these are.
They're not round.

And they're... they're a bit flat.

They've almost been undermixed.

It crumbles rather than stretches.

Don't taste very good them.
Quite dry on the mouth.

I don't understand.

These are not bad, these buns.

Underproved slightly,
but it's got a good texture inside.

Lovely texture.

The jam's good. That's delicious.

They just needed icing sugar.

And moving on to this,
again underproved.

See the split but they are large.

Nice flavour. Nice jam. Yeah.

OK, moving on to these guys.

A bit underproved again.

You see it's blown there again,
it's ripped.

It's a little bit small.

Not bad, though.

Moving on to these,

again underproved, ripped.

That's quite dense that.
Look at that one.

They're neat but it's blown.

It's a shame. OK.

The Devonshire splits will now
be ranked...

All of them are slightly
underproved.

These are the best.

..from last place to first.

In 10th place we have this one.

Dan, they're too small,

underproved, bit tough, good jam.
Brilliant.

In ninth place we have this one.

When you look at it, it looks good,
but turn it upside down and you
realise there's a few issues there.

Yeah.

Abbi is eighth,

Matty is seventh,

Cristy sixth,

Nicky fifth,

Josh is fourth

and Dana is third.

In second place we have this one.

Tasha,

they were very, very good.

No icing sugar for some reason.

And in first place we have these.

The bun itself was excellent.

You've got a nice tension in there
and the flavour on the mouth
was good,

So it was well proved.

I think you did really well.

I'm so happy.

Disappointed that I forgot
to put the caster sugar in.

Just got to dust yourself down
and go again, haven't you?

I think they're too kind
to me actually.

It really was like eating cement
when I tried it so fair enough.

look, I know I'm crying it's just
cos I get really emotional
really easily.

I know that I'm definitely at
the bottom of the pack now.

Oh!

I just need to really smash
my Showstopper.

Just one challenge remains before
someone's named Star Baker
of bread week

and someone's time in
the competition is up.

This is your week Paul and...
It's all about Hollywood.

What did you think of the standard?

The standard's been pretty poor in
the technical.

Uh... Don't mince your words. But I
do think Tash is doing really well.

Josh is there or thereabouts.
I think Saku's the same.

OK, so going into the Showstopper
who needs to pull it out of the bag?

Abbi who had the problem with
the salt.

Yeah. And I think Abbi had a problem
with the technical as well

which puts her in a very precarious
position.

It's not just her, though, I think
Rowan, Dan, he had a terrible
technical.

He started well
but he's fallen off a cliff.

Which is crazy, right, cos he's been
so consistent. Yeah.

But they're all in trouble. I love
when you get really strict Paul.
Oh, right.

So nice. Turns you on, does it?

A little bit.

Wow.

Hello, bakers,
welcome back to the tent.

It's time for your
Showstopper challenge.

Today the judges would love you
to make

a visually stunning,

plaited bread centrepiece.

Now, your Showstopper can be sweet
or savoury,

it's entirely up to you,

but it must have two different types
of flour

and include your incredible bread
plaiting skills.

If you want to practise your
plaits,

me and Alison are going out on
the razz tonight so...

We are. ..you're welcome to sort our
barnets out.

We're going to be in the corner with
a tea towel round our shoulders
all right?

You've got four hours
for your Showstopper.

On your marks...

..get set... ..bake.

Pssh!

Oh, here we go again.

I'd say the hardest part about this
challenge is plaiting.

It's not something I've got much
experience of.

I've watched so many YouTube videos

and I still can't plait my own hair

so I'm hoping I can plait
bread today.

The Showstopper challenge is
a plaited centrepiece loaf.

Now, this is their chance
to really show off to Prue and I

what they can actually do
with dough.

The focus for this challenge is on
the plaiting.

Of course we want the bread
to be delicious.

It could be flavoured as they like.

They can put fillings in there.

God, it smells good, don't it?

I could just put my face in that.

But what we're really looking for

is some intricate and amazing
plaiting.

There are numerous plaits
they could do

to create an image that they want.

It's like painting a picture
with braids.

I want to see something that makes
me go,

"How did they do that?"

Morning, Abbi. Hello, morning.
Hello, Abbi.

Tell us about your
plaited Showstopper.

I am making a tree

because I love trees.

Wherever I go I always have like my
favourite tree so that's kind of
what it represents.

What is your favourite tree?
Right now that lovely pink horse
chestnut out there

that I can see from my bench.
Beautiful that one, isn't it?

So I'm making a walnut
and stilton trunk and branches.

The leaves are going to be made from
wild garlic and nettle

and then this is made with dock
flour from the seeds of dock leaves.

Have you been out foraging for these
yourself? Yes, I've picked these
this week. Brilliant.

Abbi will make dock flour dough
mushrooms to sit at the base of
her tree.

Its leaves made from nettle
and wild garlic three-strand plaits,

while its trunk will be plaited from
no less than nine.

Nine strands? Nine strands.

Nine, I've not done before.

Honestly, Abbi, it's
wonderfully ambitious.

And it sounds as if it
could be terrific.

I do need it. I'm really hoping that
today I can just smash it.

You want to stay, don't you?

I do. I've got so many more
different foraged things that I
want to.

Just concentrate on this and get it
done the best you can. Right now
this is what I'm focusing on.

And Abbi's favourite tree has
a friend.

I am making a rowan tree,

a bread rowan tree.

So I'm just popping the spices in

for my sweet curry wholemeal loaf.

I've got a hefty amount going in.

I want to punch 'em right in
the jaw with the flavour.

Fighting to stay in the competition

Rowan's flavour-packed tree also
features

a six-strand plaited marzipan
challah trunk

supporting a bacon and Parmesan
three-strand crown,

complete with red rowan berries.

How big is it going to be in total?

It's about this tall.

Wow. My goodness. It's huge. Proper
showstopper. Yeah.

And it's going to be
lying down not standing up?

Standing up. I got my dad to make me
a structure. A frame.

This is going to be colourful
and huge.

Massive. And delicious.

Yeah. I like it.

Ah!

This is one kilo of flour.
Which is quite a lot to do by hand.

With at least two different doughs
to make,

the bakers have their work cut out
to mix

and knead them before
the crucial first prove.

It's not easy kneading
with this great big lump.

Look at these. These been in the
proving drawer?

They've been in the proving
drawer. Yeah, they have. Look at the
g*ns on that.

I've never been to a gym in my life.
Just make bread every day.

The longer they take,
the less time they'll have

to create the intricate plaits Paul
and Prue want to see.

It's a lot of dough, yeah.

Just want to get it proving.

All right, it's going in.
It's my wholemeal bread.

I have decided to make today

a highland cow called Angus.

I always wanted one as a pet.

This big, hairy animal just in your
back garden,

chomping on your grass
and keeping it down.

I'd love one.

Nicky's highland heifer will
be both savoury and sweet,

with hair and ears containing Comte
cheese and lardons,

and the face and horns packed with
pecans and dates.

Two flours, what two flours have you
gone for?

I did wholemeal for his face.
Yeah. Healthy.

And his horns. "Horins"?
Horns. "Horins"?

I can't say...

Horns?

Horns.

I love the way you say it.
Horns? "Horins".

I'm excited about this.
Especially seeing his horins.

Saku's also been inspired by
an animal close to her heart.

I am going to make a peacock.

I love peacocks. They are lovely,
colourful creatures.

Saku will recreate the peacock's
beautiful tail feathers

from white dough flavoured
with garlic and rosemary

and the branch her bird will sit
upon from seeded spelt dough.

And she's hoping her years
of plaiting experience

will give her an advantage.

I'm doing this from aged 16.

And my daughter's 21.

Still I do her hair.

Aw, my baby girl!

Right, that's my wild garlic dough.
This is going in.

As the last of the bakers' doughs
hit the proving drawer,

some are ready to come out.

It's risen. Looks really lovely.
All nice and bouncy.

I don't know,
I don't want to underprove.

I don't know,
I'm going to put it back in.

But before plaiting starts...

OK, we're going to add the stilton.

..there's the chance
to add extra flavour.

So, this is cranberry
and orange dough.

Orange is coming only from the zest,

and then I've got my cranberries
soaked in orange juice as well.

I'm mixing in pastrami and cheese.

Which is a little bit messy.

While the rest of the bakers
add their fillings

before rolling their strands...

Just trying to distribute this
as evenly as we can.

..Dan's decided to add his
one at a time.

So, what I'm going to do is
individual strands in

the fillings in each strand,

and then roll it up to make
a lattice-type, braided loaf.

So they crisscross each other.

It's going to form two round,
circular wreaths,

and I'm going to make my word
"pizza" out of the remaining dough.

Looking to bounce back after
yesterday's disastrous technical,

Dan's going all-out with an
ambitious, five-piece Showstopper.

He'll pack his first plaited pizza
wreath with fennel and sausage,

nduja and mozzarella,
and his second with truffle salami,

truffle Cheddar
and smoked provolone.

Love making pizzas, love cooking
outdoors, so I'm just bringing the

flavours we've really enjoyed with
our pizzas to this bread, basically.

And Dan won't be dining
alfresco alone.

I'm doing a picnic basket.

This is green chutney dough.

It's just what we called sandwiches
growing up.

So it's just a filling
of coriander paste

with all the different spices
and everything, literally

in two pieces of white bread,
and it was sensational.

Filled with plaited wholemeal
bagels, Dana will weave plaits

of her green chutney and sundried
tomato dough

over a mixing bowl to give her
picnic basket its shape.

I am just doing a
three-strand plait.

Only cos it's what I know and it's
the fastest and I have to

cover the whole basket.

So I want to go for speed.

I'm going to do an eight-stranded
plait.

Which I thought was a good idea
at the time.

To sit snugly inside her
complicated,

eight-strand honeyed challah,

Cristy will also bake
a chocolate and almond babka,

both traditional Jewish
plaited sweetbreads.

My grandpa's Jewish.

When I was younger, my grandpa lived
in a beautiful home in Primrose Hill

and after Sunday lunch, we used to
go and walk through the park,

so it's like to represent all
the lovely memories.

Hopefully, I can do it justice.

Oh, gosh.

Start plaiting.

Help me, Lord.

Bakers, two hours left,
you're halfway through.

Is there anything
you'd like to say? No!

If you want to speak to me,
you go through my lawyer.

So, this is the trunk of the tree.

It's quite long and remember, this
has got to stand up.

So the nerves are setting in.

Whether the bakers have been
ambitious

with their choice of plait...

There's six strands alternating,
some go above, some go below.

Quite a complex one.

..or have gone
for something simpler...

These are three-strand plaits to
make the feathers of the peacock.

..Paul and Prue will expect
to see beautifully even braids.

This is going to be my central
trunk. So, I'm doing nine strands.

I've really enjoyed
the bread plaiting aspect of this.

You just learn the rhythm
and then it's easy.

Uh...

Go across there...

This is like maths to me, I don't
know what's going on. Um...

The basket is taking shape.

I had a dream last night that my
bread picnic basket

was going to collapse.

It has once on practice.

I'm hoping it doesn't.

I'm just shoving pecans
in the horns.

As the bakers put the finishing
touches to

their first plaited pieces...

That's it done. Get that to prove.

I just hope it's big enough.

..Dan and his ambitious,
five-piece Showstopper...

I'm making my inside wreath.

But I need to get my outside plaits
round them as well yet.

..are falling behind.

I am feeling pinched for time.

There's a lot to do.

So, yeah. Best get a wiggle on.

Oh, what a day.

The bakers have just 90 minutes

to finish their plaited
bread Showstopper.

One down. Not long enough left.

So, these are going to prove.
Next is the leaves.

What have I done?

It's meant to be a four-strand plait

and it's gone from a four-strand to
a three-strand into a four-strand.

I've never messed something
up so badly.

But it's a root, it's meant
to have informalities.

How you feeling, you all right?
It's a marathon.

Bit stressed, but just get it done.
Well, I've just walked in here

and I'm not being funny, the
atmosphere is very tense, isn't it?

Everybody's really concentrating
on this today.

It's because of Paul. Yeah. He's the
bread king. Do you know what I mean?

Everyone wants to
impress him, isn't it? Hmm.

I'm plaiting snakes.

I'm making a Medusa.

Snakes. My grandma saw one
of my practice bakes

and she thought they were prawns.

My mum thought they were something
else entirely.

So we'll see how they
turn out today!

Inspired by a love
of Greek mythology,

Tasha will plait Medusa's face
and hands from rye

and wholemeal milk bread
filled with pastrami and cheese,

while the green snakes will be made
from spelt dough

flavoured with pistachio pesto.

Are you hoping to turn
the judges to stone?

So, I'm deliberately covering
her eyes.

So, Paul and Prue are...
Are safe? Yes, exactly.

Tasha's isn't the only Showstopper
likely to cause

a few sleepless nights.

I support West Ham,
so I'm going for a West Ham badge.

Are you? Yeah.
And how they doing?

We've had better days.

They not doing good?

Aw.

By the time this airs,
they'll be smashing it.

Keen to make a push
for top spot, Matty will plait

the hammers from spiced,
wholegrain spelt dough,

while the shield will be made from
two different plaited white doughs,

one flavoured with Cheddar
and jalapenos,

the other sundried tomato,
basil and red onion.

I like the idea of this.
The flavours sound good.

And what about colouring it?
What colours are West Ham?

They're claret and blue,
and on practice it just looked like

what you get at a fairground.

You don't think West Ham is
a fairground?

No, we're a serious team now, Prue.
Oh, I see. Hmm.

And there's another sports fan in
the tent today.

So, I'm doing a tiger cos
I'm a Leicester Tigers supporter,

the rugby team. I've been followed
the Leicester Tigers

for all my life.
We have a little tiger here.

Which is what we'd often take
to games. I've had it for as long as

I can remember going down.
It's an old tiger now.

Josh will use two different
enriched doughs,

one flavoured with cranberry
and orange,

the other chocolate and orange,

to create the tiger-stripe effect
once plaited.

Is that your inspiration
over there?

Yeah, that's my little tiger mascot.
Who is that?

He's not really got a name, but...
Can I touch him?

Course you can, yeah. He's not
got a name? Shall we name him?

You can name him. What shall
we name him? Shall we go Paul?

Well, it's Bread Week, isn't it?
Hmm, probably should.

Let's call this Paul.
Let's get some water.

We christen you... Paul Hollywood.

There you go.

Guys, one hour left.
You can do this.

Right, last bit.
I'm just doing my letters,

my I, Z and Z.
This needs to be done right now.

I'm just going to make a couple of
ears. I'll just stick a nose on

as well. I just think it looks like
a tiger head.

These are for Angus' hair.

What's happening here?
What are these...? Oh.

It's Angus. It's a puzzle.

Imagine if I couldn't do it.

Yay!

This is the base of a face which
mostly will be covered by her hands.

This is worst part because the
plaits have to be so fine,

otherwise they end up like
massive, club hands.

My back is k*lling me.

Oh!

As the last plaits prove...

OK, this is the hammers.

Put that in now.

..the first are ready for the oven.

It's going to go in at 230,
for about ten minutes,

then we're turning it down.

I'll do 20 but it might be longer.

Cheerio.

The head of the tiger's gone in the
oven. That'll have half an hour.

But the bakers have no time
to rest.

Look at that, it's a little
mushroom. Isn't that cute?

These are going to be the eyes
for my tiger.

..and with so much still to bake...

This is the babka.

..their batch-baking skills are
being put to the test.

We're going in. About 25 minutes.

I've only got an hour to prove,
bake, assemble.

So I'm feeling the stress.

And Rowan's not alone.

Dan's pizza is missing
a couple of crucial details.

Not done me little bit
for P or me A.

I've literally got no dough left.

Absolute shocker.

Trying to think how I can make
the letters.

As the first bakes exit the oven...

Oh, my gosh. She's enormous.

Yeah, reckon that's about done.

..Rowan's giant marzipan tree trunk
is finally ready to go in.

This will be until it's
golden brown.

I don't work in numbers,
I work in visuals.

I'm painting the last of my snakes
and then I'm done,

but they just need to bake.

Last little bit of glossing.

Oh.

Go on matey. Do your business.

I'm just going to bang 'em in.

With the pizza wreaths
finally baking...

Cross all fingers.

..Dan has a plan for his
missing letters.

I'm just going to do some
dead dough,

which is essentially just flour
and water.

Shape some bits coming off of a P
and two for the A.

It's the only thing I can do.

Bakers, you've got half
an hour left.

Oh, it's going to be tight.

Last one.

Everything is in the oven,
I've just put in my leaves.

This is the top of the tree.

Making it green, otherwise it don't
look like owt, really, does it?

With these on top. So, these are my
little rowan berries.

It's looking nice.
I'm going to glaze it now.

It looks really good.

I'm just waiting for the last one
to come out.

It's heavy.

Do you have to take the bowl out?

No. That's the thing, as soon as
the bowl comes out,

if it's not cooled down,
it'll just collapse.

Right, that's everything out.
These are my wild garlic flowers.

I'm using them to illustrate
the tree being in blossom.

The letters,
I'm going to put 'em in 20 minutes.

Bakers, you've got 15 minutes left.

No, I'm not.

It's coming out.

Should be patient.

It's ever so slightly doughy,

so I want it back in
for literally a minute.

I'd rather Paul and Prue say,

"Oh, they've cooked their edges
a bit," than go, "They're raw."

Angus, mate, you've risen.

Sounds good.

We're just freestyling.

Doing bits of blue and
then we'll do bits of claret.

He's got all his stripes going down,
so I'm pleased, yeah.

This is the babka. It's looking nice

but I don't know if it's going to
go in the middle.

Stressful.

I can only go as fast as
the oven, unfortunately, can't I?

Please be done, please be done,
please be done.

Oh, you are done.

Little Angus, come on, matey.

Oh.

Whoa.

Bakers, you have one minute left.

Tight.

Come on.

Ah!

Maybe I should just present it
on the side?

It's OK,
everything's still quite warm.

Think that's a bit under.

They do actually look like little
mushrooms, don't they?

Bakers, that is your time up.

Please step away from
your Showstoppers.

Well, I'm happy with that.

It's still up.

I've managed to get it up
and keep it up.

It's turned out exactly how
I wanted to.

That's all I can ask for,
isn't it, every time.

It's judgment time for the bakers'
plaited bread Showstoppers.

Josh, bring your Showstopper to
the front, let's have a look.

I think it's amazing.

It's really effective

and I think you've chosen wisely
with the doughs

to give you that depth of colour
with the chocolate bread

and then the cranberry
and orange one as well.

And you get the face shape just by
plaiting. It's absolutely amazing.

Does this mascot have a name?

It was christened Paul
by Alison, so...

It was a beautiful christening.
It was lovely.

It's absolutely delicious.

Fantastic flavour.
I think it's gorgeous.

Phew. It's very much
an enriched dough

but you've managed to achieve the
same texture in the two doughs

and that's quite a trick.

It's very clever.
I, I think it's ingenious.

I think it's well thought out
and well ex*cuted. Excellent.

Thank you.

The overall look
of that I think is beautiful.

It's really clever.

Let's try this.

Remind me of the flavours.

It's pecan and date.

I've had quite a big lump there
and there's just nothing in there.

It tastes lovely if you get a pecan.

So this is Comte cheese
and lardons.

Certainly get the cheese.

Do you? It's lovely.

The cheese you get.
There is no bacon.

I think your display's incredible.

It's down to distribution
of your flavours inside.

I hope you're, uh, allowed
back in the ground, mate.

Oh!

That's a bit unkind.

I like your design, actually,
it's lovely.

It's like a bit of art.

Let's try this one first.

This looks a bit biscuity.

It's bone dry.
Now this looks more promising.

You can see the structure on that
is so much better.

I like the chillies.
And the bread is just beautiful.

The bread is very good.

Saku, would you like to bring up
your Showstopper, please.

Do you want a hand?

Come on, Saku. Stop messing around.

I think it looks great.
It's quite striking.

But this is underproved.

You can see that by the split all
the way down the middle of it.

Mm. Try that one.

That is spelt seeded.

It's quite gluey in the mouth.

Mm, it's a bit bland
and a bit dense.

Mm-hm. Remind us again
of the flavours of this?

Rosemary and garlic.

You've certainly got the flavour
but it's quite dry.

I think it's really impressive
bread art.

It's a little disappointing to eat.

Well, I have to say it looks
absolutely fantastic.

Thank you. And you should be proud
of your dad too.

Yeah. Thanks, John.

This is?
The wholemeal sweet curry.

It is very strong.

It's hideous, yeah.
The dough is raw inside.

It's so, so dense.

There's so much curry in there,

the yeast is going,
"Help me I can't rise!"

OK. Mm. This is the...?

Smoked bacon, rosemary and Parmesan.

It's quite heavy. OK.

Over flavoured again.

And yeast is going, "Not on the
second time, I still can't rise!"

Is it going to be the same
for this, do you think?

Who knows?

This is the marzipan.

Yeah. Now that's more open.

Oh, that looks lovely.

That is such a relief after
the strength of your other flavours.

And the crust is
absolutely delicious.

But it's not enough to compensate
for the other two.

I'm just gonna...

Absolutely, that's what I wanted
to do.

The best of it is this
beautiful plaiting

and frankly I think you've spoilt it
with all this tat.

Tat?! I thought that was one of
your earrings, Prue.

This one is...?

Coriander and cumin.

Dana, that is delicious.

Your flavours are absolutely
spot on.

I just would've liked
a little bit of crispiness on there.

When you're doing a basket,

take it off the bowl cos this
has now gone soggy. Yeah.

The bread, as it's cooling,
is sweating on the bowl.

But I think it tastes great.

It's beautiful. My mouth's watering.

I actually want to eat it.

But because you didn't get that
in there,

you don't see the glory
of the centrepiece.

But let's have a quick look
at this one first.

That looks beautiful, doesn't it?
It's very light.

OK, good.

It's a lovely challah,
the flavour's fantastic.

I think the texture's good.
Let's just taste that.

Mm, lovely flavour.

The nuts and the chocolate
work really well together.

They're both very good breads.

I think overall
the design is rudimentary.

This is a what plait?

A nine.
That's the walnut and stilton.

Needs to be more stilton in there.

There is definitely a flavour,

but you can get much,
much stronger flavour than that.

This is the wild garlic and...?
And nettle.

It's extremely green, isn't it?

It feels as if it's doing you good.

Yeah, I like the flavour
of that, it's really unusual.

But needs to be more open.
It's a bit dense. Cake like.

Mm-hm. I'm so interested in that
dock seed flour.

There's a,
almost a pepperiness to it.

I do like your flavours.

They're unusual, some of them I've
never had before and I like that.

Thank you very much.
Thank you, Abbi.

These aren't baked
I mean, that colour's wrong.

Did you just run out of time and
have to take them out of the oven

before they were baked? Yeah.

It's a shame. Is this all the same?

Yeah. Tuscan sausage, nduja, tomato,
mozzarella and basil.

Hmm, it's quite powerful.

It's too doughy.
More air, more bake.

I think this one might be
a little bit raw.

It's such a pity

because that has the makings
of a really good loaf.

It's just so unlike you.

You know, I know, we all know

you can do a hell of a lot better
than that.

OK?

I think it's beautiful.

I think it really is,
it's a work of art.

The hands are the most beautifully
plaited,

look at those little fingers.

The face has real expression,
quite sinister.

And the hair, very, very clever.

You've caught some of them in
the oven.

It's just gone a little bit
too dark. Yeah.

Let's try the pesto one.

Mm, it's a really strong fresh
pesto. Just delicious.

That's very good.
Now let's try the face, shall we?

That's pastrami and cheese.

Tasha, you are one hell
of a bread baker.

Wow. Thank you.

That is beautiful.

Stunning.

Wow.

Never seen anything
like that before.

The flavours are good,
the textures are good.

You understand bread
and I like that.

Thank you. Thank you.
Well done, Tasha.

Well done. Thank you.

Well done, Tash, amazing.

Well done, girl.

Yeah, I'm so happy.

That comment from Paul,

I think that's the biggest win
of bread week for me.

I understand bread.

Flipping heck.

That's amazing.

Diabolical.

Paul said monstrous yesterday,
hideous today.

Gonna get that tattooed.

They did have their criticisms
but they really liked my flavours.

I'm aware that because of how
yesterday went,

I still might not have done enough.

Pretty gutted to be fair,
I was looking forward to bread week.

Prue gave me some nice words
cos she knows I can do it.

I know myself I can do it.

But I have a sense I'm probably
gonna go today.

Well, bread week's ended up as dread
week, didn't it?

Well, some of it was
a bit disappointing.

I think some of the bakers got a bit
caught up with the plaiting

and ignored the flavour and the
texture.

Point in question would be Rowan.
Yeah.

Because however great that tree
looked, that curry bread was,

I wouldn't say unedible
but it was certainly on the way.

I was quite shocked with Dan.
Everything was raw. Is he in danger?

He is. He did really well in the
signature.

But nevertheless he's put himself
down there.

Yeah. Can we talk about Abbi?

Abbi's had a bit
of a shocker as well.

The thing I loved was her foraging.

Her flavours were unique but overall
it came down to textures.

Who really surprised you today?
You loved Tasha's, didn't you?

The flavours she achieved
was really, really nice.

And she did it so beautifully.

I mean, those hands are
just exquisite.

Amazing. Same size as your hands.

I know! And I felt like Josh
is really good.

That was a great loaf.

So now for Star Baker, I think it is
between Josh and Tasha.

Going home, it's between Dan,
Abbi... Abbi. ..and Rowan.

Well, you've definitely got some big
decisions to make. Mm-hm.

Good luck. Thank you, Alison.

If you didn't wrap it up,
we'd be here forever.

Hi there, Bakers.

I'm really, really excited to be
announcing this week's Star Baker,

and according to the judges
they are absolutely smashing it.

So this week's Star Baker is...

..Tasha.

Which means I've got the horrible
job of announcing

the person who is leaving us.

And the person who is leaving us
this week is...

..Abbi.

Sorry. That's OK.

Well done.

I knew it was coming.

You know what? I'm really proud
of myself, and...

Sorry, got my hanky this time.

I'm absolutely gutted. Oh, Abbi.

I never thought I'd be able
to do this.

It's given me such
a massive confidence boost

and I met such amazing people.

I'm going to remember it every day
for the rest of my life, honestly.

But I'm quite looking forward to
getting back to my vegetables.

What are we going to do without you?

I do feel lucky. It's a
bit bittersweet.

I'm devoed, because I love Abbi.

You don't want your friends
to leave, do you?

And we're all friends, it's awful.

A lot better next time. Yeah.

Abbi going's really tough.

Love the girl, love her to bits.
She's absolutely brilliant.

Did enough to go through but I can't
afford another week like this.

Check you out!

Thank you. Two in a row!

Bloody hell.

I got Star Baker again.

What the hell?

What the hell?

Tash, that's amazing. Bloody hell.

I go into things with quite low
expectations of myself and...

..I think I need to stop doing that.

Next time...

Guess what? More chocolate.

..it's chocolate week.

I'm not worried, are you?

The bakers are taught
a hard lesson in the signature...

Because I don't like tortes,
I haven't actually tasted it.

Good luck with this one.

..feel the heat in a cheesecake
technical...

..and must keep their temper...

Oh, God. It's not tempering well
enough.

..in a chocolate box Showstopper,

that will push the bakers...

My heart is breaking right now.

..to their limit.

Tasha, are you all right?

You can take as much time as you
need, all right? OK.

Are you a Star Baker in the making?

If you'd like to apply for the next
series of Bake Off, visit...