So far, we've eaten a sandwich cake in the shape of an actual sandwich,
angel food cake that tasted like the devil incarnate,
and a chocolate shard that's made me insulin-dependent. How will we survive nine more weeks?
More importantly, how are the bakers going to survive
this week's challenge, and will their fingers remain intact?
Welcome to The Great British Bake Off.
Right. Game on. Ha!
Last week, our baker's dozen tackled cakes.
Oh, my God. I can't do it.
Please don't break, please don't break. Oh!
Oh, no!
While the pressure of the tent was too much for some...
Holy...
- I'm, er, behind...
- Yep.
- ..stressed...
- Yep.
'..it got the better of Toby...'
Don't try that, Mary.
'..and he was the first to leave the Bake Off tent.'
MEL WHISPERS: Oh, that looks so good!
But others excelled...
Success! Ha-ha!
The overall appearance and the thought of it is exceptional.
..and Rob was crowned this year's first Star Baker.
APPLAUSE Fantastic.
This week, it's Paul's passion.
It's bread week, and as far as I'm concerned,
it's one of the hardest things to master.
Welcome to yeast.
'I'll be watching them every step of the way.'
There'll be no place to hide.
I might just give it an extra few minutes, on reflection.
I'll be on them like a rash.
But who will survive...
Arghhh!
..and who will succumb?
Oh, no!
What will it take to stay in The Great British Bake Off?
It's a Paul the Psychic Octopus tribute loaf.
Of course it is.
I said I wouldn't be one of those lunatics
kneeling on the floor by the oven.
And here I am.
Um... Ooh... Er, Bohemian Bap-sidy.
That's good. Um... Why Don't You Come Over...Granary?
- Ohhh!
- Um...
Er... Battenberg...
- It's... It's bread week.
- It's bread week, isn't it?
Ah, bakers. Welcome back to the Bake Off tent.
Now, for your Signature Bake today, please, we'd like you to make
36 breadsticks.
They should all be made using yeast
but you can choose any flavours that you like.
It's completely up to you.
Now, we'd like these breadsticks to be 25cm,
or ten inches, in length.
Mary and Paul are looking for a crisp, dry texture -
something that you can just snap in half when you break it.
A little bit like one of Paul's hair shards.
You've got two hours in which to bake, so - on your marks...
..get set...
..bake!
Breadsticks are made all over the world.
They were first invented in Italy, where they're known as grissini.
A breadstick is all down to the proving and the baking.
The first thing we're looking for is a good snap. No bend.
No chewiness. Consistency in the colour.
Some will be round, some will be straight, but they've got to
look professional, be original and taste good.
The key ingredients for most breadsticks
are flour, water and yeast.
I've just added my yeast to the milk and butter.
If I can be patient, I'll wait for a few bubbles. If I can't,
I'll just chuck it straight in and get on with the kneading.
Yeah, no - I can't be patient.
OK, go.
Glenn is head of sixth form at a school in Exeter
and is on a mission to get all of his students baking.
So try rolling that...
His rosemary and Parmesan grissini are made with milk and butter.
- Do you usually make grissini with butter?
- Butter, no.
Olive oil?
Olive oil. Butter makes things soft. You're fighting that as well.
- Yeah, and the quantity of cheese does the same.
- Yeah, good luck.
You don't make it easy for yourself, do you?
One of the biggest challenges in producing the perfect breadstick
is making sure it's crisp.
You want to get rid of all the moisture during baking,
so if you don't put it in in the first place,
it's easier to get rid of - that's what I figure.
Rob is a scientist who designs satellites,
but his hobby is more down-to-earth - mushroom foraging.
His signature breadsticks are flavoured with poppy seeds,
caraway seeds and kalamata olives.
I was watching your Kn*fe-work. Doesn't that look attractive?
- It does.
- It's also, because I've got a thin stick,
I'm going to lay them across the sticks,
so that they actually stay in there,
whereas if it was a lump, it might fall outside a bit more readily.
So you've scientifically worked it out that in every bite...
You get that flavour combination.
You get your olive, all the caraway and everything.
- That's the idea.
- Marvellous. Have you counted those?
Yeah - there's 47. Too many.
I'll have some, then. I won't.
- Thank you.
- Thanks.
I'm doing a Moroccan-style breadstick.
It's got preserved lemons and rosemary in the breadstick itself,
and then I'm drizzling them with ras el hanout,
which is a spice blend.
Howard is a creative baker, as well as a keen painter.
Today he's experimenting
with flavours inspired by a Moroccan tagine.
How did you incorporate the lemon? That's very wet, isn't it?
It is.
Do you worry that'll ret*rd the yeast?
SUE MOUTHS I don't think so. I think...
I am very impressed.
It's amazing what can come out of my mouth without
any knowledge behind it. It's just words. It's just words.
Since it's an Italian recipe, I thought I'd give it
some Italian flavours.
Ali works for a local marketing company in Birmingham.
He's a skilled cake-maker, but baking bread is new to him.
His breadsticks are flavoured with garlic, Parmesan and blue cheese.
To be honest, bread isn't my forte, so, like...
Don't tell him that.
No, to be honest, I don't really know the science behind bread.
I know what I'm doing but I don't necessarily know why I'm doing it.
That's literally the story of my life, Ali.
Thank you very much. Thank you.
Kneading the dough is crucial to build gluten strands,
but how it's done is up to the baker.
This technique is about all you can do with a stiff dough.
You see some of the others using the slapping technique -
you wouldn't do that with this. It's too stiff.
I like kneading dough. I have knocked drinks over.
I have hit people in the face with dough.
I don't know whether it's an accepted way of doing it or not -
it's just very satisfying.
I've tried a couple of different ways of kneading and I quite like this one.
Since I've discovered this way of doing it...
Sorry - look out for flying dough!
..I've seen my bread improve massively.
See you later.
m*llitary wife Beca keeps her husband's regiment
regularly supplied with Beca cake.
Ooh, chocolate cake!
Her fennel and chilli breadsticks
will be coated in semolina to give them extra crunch.
Did you realise that you're wearing
exactly the same top as Mary Berry today?
Cos we look exactly the same.
I mean, the camera men have been confused already as to who's who...
Mary was here earlier - she did all my breadsticks for me
while I popped out back for a cuppa, so it's all good.
- She's your double.
- She is!
- She is literally your body double.
Body double!
I'm making Nigella seed, Parmesan and paprika breadsticks.
They're just flavours that I really love
and use quite a lot in my own baking.
Kimberly says she's a flavour magpie,
and regularly tries out new flavours and recipes on her flatmates.
Wow.
She's being meticulous about every stage of her Nigella seed
and Parmesan breadsticks.
- Hi, Kimberley. How are you doing?
- I'm very good.
I saw you looking as if through a stained glass of dough.
What was all that about?
I was checking for windowpane stage, to check whether
the gluten is strengthened enough.
You're looking for a kind of translucent,
very, very, very thin dough that you can see the light through.
Ooh.
I think.
Paul's looking suspicious.
Good luck. Thank you.
The next crucial decision is how long to prove the dough.
Not long. Probably about 20 minutes.
Leaving the dough for too long
could result in unacceptably thick breadsticks.
I saw what everyone else had done last week and I just thought, "I need to pull it out the bag.
"I need to do something a little bit different."
Philosophy student Ruby loves making bread
and it's her mission to perfect the skill. Her breadsticks are made
by entwining two separate flavoured doughs.
One half of the dough has actually got the spices in
and the other half in going to have all the chillies and everything in.
It's going to kind of be like a candy cane.
Yeah. It's how they adhere, so you've got one stiff
rather than two stuck together.
- They will adhere.
- OK.
- Excellent. Cheers, Ruby.
That will do nicely.
I'm going to get them out because I want to start shaping.
To ensure a perfectly even batch, precision is key,
and everyone has a different approach.
The pasta machine is just to give me an even thickness of dough.
I'm not going to turn it into tagliatelle strips.
I'm layering one on top of the other. Rolling them out together
just helps them meld, so that they don't separate.
I read that it was the traditional way that grissini were made -
stretched rather than rolled - so I thought I' give that a go.
Horticulturist Lucy likes to use things she's grown in her baking.
Hoping less will be more, she's making simple grissini
seasoned with sea salt.
- Very plain.
- Yeah. They're simple in term of flavour
but I'm hoping that they'll be technically quite good.
And it's quite a wet dough, isn't that?
- Are you having problems moving it?
- Yes.
- Because, you will get
some really thin bits, quite thick bits, because the dough's soft.
Yeah, that's exactly the problem that I am having.
- There is a way to get round that.
- Oh...?
- But I can't tell you.
- What...? Don't be a tease, Paul.
What now? Maybe a sprinkling of flour?
No.
Cold...
fridge.
- But it's too late - you've already cut them anyway, so...
- That's it.
MEL: Bakers, I don't want to put the wind up you...
I do. You've got an hour to go.
You're halfway through your Signature Bake.
These have to be at least ten inches,
so that's my ten-inch marker.
Everyone's measuring theirs. I'm not measuring mine.
Living on the edge.
- You've made spaghetti.
- Yeah. And I can just trim it down the edge.
That's the idea, once its relaxed,
and hopefully it won't spring in too much.
- So it's on a sort of chill-plinth?
- A chill-plinth. I'm not!
No. If only I was.
I've seen what everyone else is doing and everyone else's
look better, so my confidence level is down here now.
It was up here this morning - now it's down here somewhere.
- Hello.
- Hello, hello.
- Frances, you're the only one doing a sweet bread...
- Yes.
..so tell us about it.
Well, it's basically a giant matchstick. What am I thinking?
Breadstick. So I like to play with words, so I thought of matchstick
and then I thought of heat, so it's sort of being laced with ginger.
Everything Frances makes has a concept, and today's idea is...
giant matchsticks dipped in chilli chocolate.
- Do you want to see the box?
- Yeah.
How do you DO this?
I can't even get out of bed of a morning.
They're all going to be lying in here, and there'll be a few on the side as well.
You've been busy, young lady.
- Thank you.
- Thank you, darling.
I'm going to just do the salt and then put them in.
- SHE WHISPERS:
- There we go.
Oh, look at them in there. They look so sweet.
All 36 breadsticks should be identical.
24 more to go.
10, 12, 14. All present and correct.
The final hurdle is deciding on the oven temperature.
You don't want any fluffy breadsticks.
Get it wrong and the result will be soft or bendy breadsticks.
I've turned the oven up a bit to try and get them to cook quicker,
which is probably the wrong thing to do.
I'm doing a slow bake, to drive all the moisture out. We'll see.
I'll test the moisture, actually, because normally...
No. Needs more.
OK, bakers! Just 15 minutes...till you snap!
Two, four, six, eight, ten. So there's ten there.
There's 12 in there, so that's 22. Wow.
SHE EXHALES HARD
I don't know whether to turn the oven up.
Sod it.
Up. We're going hotter, we're going hotter.
Needs more time.
31, 32, 33, 34. Bugger.
My maths GCSE has failed me. I'm two short.
God, that smells good.
How many of these have you cooked this week in preparation?
About 200.
HE EXHALES
They're not done. They're not done.
They need to obviously set, don't they? Have you got enough time for them to set?
That's why this is happening. It's just ice cooling it.
Oh, that's very clever.
11, 12, 13, 14.
Jeez - I can't count. I do have enough.
Bakers, you've only got a minute to go.
Arghhh!
- Ooh, ooh, ooh!
- Oh, well caught!
Hey, well held, that man.
Oh, oh, oh - oh, no! Casualty.
- Have they got to come out? They've got to come out.
- They've got to come out.
They look slightly more albino but, you know...
A little bit bendy, but hey - it's a breadstick.
Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow.
Time's up.
Your Signature Challenge is over.
Step away from the ovens.
OK. Sorry, sorry.
- Nice snap.
- I like that finish.
- They're delicious. They are.
- (That's a really good flavour.)
The garlic is lovely in there. I also like the Parmesan.
The curls on that are beautiful, as well.
- You were worried about doing these as well.
- Very.
And the cheese, the blue cheese, Roquefort. Just there. Well done.
- Thank you so much.
- They're lovely.
- Thank you very much.
They're so irregular in colour -
there's not one uniform colour through all of them.
My third batch, which I think is pretty obvious which one it was...
I ran out of time.
It's like a bread. If you drop the temperature a little bit,
that'll give you more of an even bake
and dry it out a little bit more.
- But I think your flavours are excellent.
- I like the Parmesan.
It's really coming through and there's rosemary there
and I like that.
By the sound of you next to me, they're crisp.
Nice, good bake.
I like the fennel. There's not too much.
It's a lovely combination.
Thank you.
- So...
- Oh, God.
Perfect.
SHE LAUGHS
Oh!
The flavours in there... Wow.
I think they're very nice.
I like the look of them - they're very neat, very precise, very you.
Oh, good.
That's not chewy, it does break and it crumbles in your mouth.
Which is fantastic.
Good for playing Spillikins with, as well.
Yes, I remember that.
Yes, do you remember that game? Come on, Bez...
- Then you take one without moving any...
- You're breaking them! Move away!
No, I want to play now.
Go away. Leave them alone. Well done, mate. Well done.
OK, cheers.
Aw, look at those.
So, what do we give for presentation?
You've got them beautifully even.
I could take a little bit more ginger.
The flavours, I'm not sure should be in a breadstick.
I think the box is fantastic, though.
Thank you very much.
- Oh, did you hear that?
- Oh.
- Oh, I did. Thank God.
- I wasn't expecting that.
Do you know what? I was half expecting for it to bend.
- Yeah. So was I.
- That's a great snap.
They're snapping lovely. They look so pretty.
- To get those different colours in there with the bands...
- Yeah.
..is very clever. I was concerned about them
splitting apart, but that's not the case.
The bake is perfect, the flavour's got a great kick to it.
- The chilli's coming through.
- It's hot!
- It's good though, isn't it?
- Nice.
- I think you've got the flavours right, but I think
the dough needed a bit more attention -
a bit more care when you're rolling out.
They went into the oven much more even than they came out.
- Welcome to yeast!
- SHE CHUCKLES
- There's a snap.
- There is a snap?
I like the rosemary very much. I don't go on the raisin...
I really like them.
I think the raisin does bring something to the party.
It brings that moisture to it. Overall, I'm impressed, yeah.
They needed longer in the oven.
That's why they're chewy, rather than...
- That one especially.
- Yeah, yeah.
What interesting flavours. That lemon is coming through.
You are very powerful with your flavours,
- but I think, on this, the baking's caught you out.
- Yeah.
They're very plain.
It's irregular, when you look at that.
What you've technically got there is a baseball bat.
Erm... Again, that comes down to the roll and the cutting itself.
If you'd done twists on it and left it with a little bit of salt
at the end or sesame or Parmesan
or something to give it a bit of a kick.
- They're just a little bit boring.
- OK.
They're all a bit strange shapes, aren't they? What happened?
- They just went a little bit bendy.
- Are they meant to be like that?
Whenever I've made them in the week, they've always come out like that.
- Good snap.
- Nice.
- Good.
That little bit of flavour coming from that fennel is delicious.
- Good.
- And not too much heat, just right.
- And there isn't too much heat, no.
- No.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
Paul picked up that they all bent a little bit
which I quite like, actually,
because they look more home-made than opened a packet.
I'm so relieved they're OK. I feel almost euphoric.
The cr*ck was there, the bake was even, the flavours were good.
I'm... I'm thumbs up. Happy.
I was pleased with the structure of them, had a good snap, but I chose
to go for something more simple, so that's the way the breadstick snaps.
One bake down. The 12 bakers now head into uncharted territory.
Bakers. Welcome back. It's time for your bread Technical Challenge.
Now, Paul and Mary, we really don't want you to be around to see whose
bake is whose, so if you wouldn't mind please leaving the tent.
- Thank you.
- Better be good.
Today, we're asking you to make eight identical English muffins.
Now, what we're looking for is an even bake, a chewy texture
and light air holes in the actual crumb texture.
And I should say there was a bit of a glint in Paul's eye as he left -
it's one of his recipes.
So, no biggie.
You've got two and three quarter hours to make English muffins.
- On your marks.
- Get set.
- Bake!
With only basic instructions, the Technical Challenge is
a test of their baking instincts.
Is there anything they've given us?
Add the yeast, salt, sugar, butter, egg, milk and mix together.
The distinct texture
and the flavour of a muffin comes from making an enriched dough.
The only thing that's going to help me on this is the fact that
I know what the end result should be like.
This is a journey into the unknown.
I have made them before, but they were a complete disaster.
My husband still ate them though. Bless him.
Well, there they are, Mary - muffins.
Oh, do you know, I love the feel as I touch that.
It's sort of squidgy at the sides.
The ones that get it right will have that beautifully brown top,
a brown bottom.
It'll be white around the edges.
The texture's soft, it's got a good crumb structure on there.
It's baked all the way through.
Let's see who's going to use their nous
and make some perfectly formed English muffins.
The high liquid content of enriched dough makes it very difficult to knead.
I have no idea what I'm doing, because this looks disgusting.
It's really sticky and actually it's quite nice working with.
I love kneading.
I should go to the gym more often.
I can see it's building up.
- Is it?
- The gluten.
- What can you see?
It's got a bit of stretch.
It's like a sixth sense.
Instead of dead people, you see gluten all the time.
This dough is very wet and I know to keep adding more flour
would be a mistake. So, you've just got to keep working it
until it becomes smooth and doesn't stick any more.
It's getting there.
Baking has been a hobby of Christine's for 60 years,
but since retiring it's become an obsession.
This is the hard bit, I think.
It's the bit you've got to get right.
That's much better. That's more like it.
Place the dough in a bowl and prove. Prove.
Doesn't say how long, nothing. But when in doubt -
one hour.
The butter and sugar in enriched dough
slows down the formation of gluten producing a softer structure.
Knowing when it's proved enough can be tricky.
You can see the air holes in it, so the yeast is happy.
I'm going to take that out. It's springing back when I touch it.
Yeah, I just think it looks right.
It would have been nice if it had puffed up a little more,
but I can work with it.
To maintain the muffins' characteristic air holes,
the dough should be handled with care.
Very gently. Love the dough.
It says roll it out,
but I really don't want to take a rolling pin to this.
A builder by trade, when Mark's not decorating houses,
he's decorating cakes.
The only muffin I've had before,
it's from a popular fast food burger restaurant.
So, they're about this size.
The instructions don't stipulate what size the muffins should be.
Probably like... How large are muffins?
I probably would too.
I'm thinking this size, based purely on the fact that I think it's
an appealing size for a muffin.
Trying to think what size they are when you buy them.
So, I'm probably that one really, if I'm honest.
I'm still undecided!
Deborah is an experienced baker who likes to give every recipe
her own twist.
What you might do, if you get it wrong, is to have one massive
muffin and seven small ones.
They might be also be too thick, because you choose the wrong one.
The difficulty is going be not having them raw, isn't it?
That would be good - not to have them raw, because I tell you what...
Let me think - would Paul Hollywood like it raw?
Having committed to the size of cutter...
That's barely even round.
...they'll need to get eight muffins from the dough.
I think I've made it a bit too thin, because I can get nine out of this.
There's going to be a bit left over.
So maybe this should have been bigger.
The muffins are then coated in semolina
and proved for a second time.
Now, we play the waiting game.
Do you know the muffin man?
- The muffin man?
- Muffin man.
Do you know the muffin man?
He lives on Drury Lane.
No.
Right, well, if you'd lived in the Industrial Revolution,
you'd know of course who the muffin man was, because you'd encounter him on a regular basis.
- You've made a mess of that.
- Sounds creepy. What, loads of muffin men?
Much easier if you work with me.
In the 19th century, the muffin man was just one of an army of sellers
who hawked food in the UK's busiest towns and cities.
The muffin had humble beginnings, developed by the working classes
to use up left-over bits of dough and yeast.
They were shaped and baked on a hot griddle.
We believe that servants were baking them
in the kitchens below stairs, some of the masters got to try this tasty
snack and liked it so much that they started to ask for it to be
served at tea time and it became quite popular.
The trend spread.
During the Industrial Revolution, the muffin's popularity grew as
urban areas became increasingly crowded
with rural workers seeking employment.
Often, their accommodation wasn't great, so they didn't necessarily
have the cooking facilities or equipment, so street sellers
were in a great position to feed the labouring population and muffins
at a ha'penny each were perfect for people to buy as a filling snack.
Competing against other street traders,
the muffin man had a unique way of drumming up business.
The muffin man carried a bell
and he would call people from their houses to come and buy his muffins.
If you're thinking about the noisy streets of the 19th century,
many other sellers of food,
you have to make yourself stand out and get noticed.
Muffin men often became local popular characters.
An example of this would be John of Cheltenham.
He stood only three foot tall and apparently he became
so famous that he sold portraits of himself alongside his muffins.
But in 1829, the newly-introduced police made trading
increasingly difficult, eventually banning the muffin man's bell,
so this iconic figure gradually faded from our streets.
Oh, they're just not rising enough.
I'm looking round to see if anyone's got thicker ones than I have.
- Mega muffins.
- Mega muffins.
- Mega muffin!
Two of mine aren't as big, but I just need to let that go
and just try and make sure that they're all evenly baked.
Muffins are baked on a griddle or hot plate.
I don't even know what a hot plate is.
- A griddle is...
- A griddle is a hot plate.
- Oh, look, there you go.
Oh, yeah, you've got one, but to me baking stuff goes in the oven.
In Roman times, they'd have done it on an open fire, yeah?
- But did they make English muffins in Roman times?
- Well, they made Roman...
They made blooming Roman muffins!
OK, bakers. Your muffins, my mush, 30 minutes!
Judging the temperature of the hot plate is vital.
I've been putting my face over it to test the heat coming off.
It does feel warm, yeah.
It's a bit of an unknown quantity, this bit.
A high heat might bake the outside too quickly...
Oh, that one's sizzling a bit. I don't know what happened there.
..leaving the middle raw.
I'm going to keep on looking at their bottoms
to make sure they're not catching.
But a lower temperature could dry out the muffin.
How the heck do you know that they're done inside?
Is it just guessing?
- No.
- Science?
I put a little bit on the stove at the same time.
It's much smaller, but it was cooked all the way through.
- But the same thickness.
- Same thickness.
- Very clever.
(I don't think anyone else has done that.)
# Ain't nobody love you like I love you. #
We're just all looking round going...
"Has anyone else got more to finish?" Size, colour. It's crazy.
They're muffins.
No, it's good, it's good. Just be patient.
It's not quite an even bake, is it?
Because that one there is still showing a bit of the yellow.
It's hard to say. Oh, right.
- And these ones just muffins-in-waiting?
- Yes, they are.
Now, I hate to be the bearer of bad news...
Oh, no!
Has it been leaned on? When did that happen?
Howard, I need to break something to you...
I think that's my elbow.
I think that's my elbow on your muffin.
I think I've elbowed your...
How can I make this right?
Right, I'm going to have to elbow everyone's muffins
and make it an even playing field.
I'm going to put a knee in some, head-butt a few others
and then it's all good.
Bakers, you've got five minutes left on your muffins.
I'm in danger of overcooking them
but I really don't want them to be doughy in the middle.
Not sure if they're done or not.
They actually look better than I thought they were going to
but that one still isn't cooked on the outside.
Oh, how do you know? How do you know?
- Are you confident?
- As long as I'm not last, I'm happy.
- Is that confidence?
- That's all right, that's OK.
Going to give that one fraction more.
That's it, best I can do.
Oh, I feel quite moved by them.
I hope it doesn't rip them apart.
That's it, time's up.
OK, bakers, you know the drill -
if you'd like to bring your hot muffins up to the altar
and pop them behind the photo of yourself.
Mary and Paul are looking for eight identical English muffins.
A rich colour on both sides and a chewy texture.
If you have a look at these...
The size, I think, for me, is a little bit too small.
I'd like to see them a little bit bigger.
It's quite doughy inside.
Especially with your big thumb pushing it down -
you can make it really doughy.
The hot plate was just a little bit too hot.
I'm not going to eat this one
because its raw dough and I'll have a stomach ache.
I don't fancy that, thank you very much. OK, so we'll move on.
We've got some irregular sizes here
and that's to do with the resting of the dough itself.
It tastes OK.
Moving on to the next one.
It's not bad, it's got a strong colour,
it's just a little bit too thin for me but it tastes good.
Yeah, this one's baked.
- I think it has to be because it's so thin.
- They taste lovely.
- Mm.
Tastes good.
Would be better with a little less heat underneath though.
Now, we've got an issue with size difference.
Some of them are very overcooked, over-browned.
But moving on to the next one...
It needs to be much bigger, nearly double the height.
It's just, just done.
Next one. It's a bigger size, it's a good-size cutter.
It's a good colour, though, it's not too dark.
Yeah, it is a nice colour.
It tastes good.
That had an injury... Uh, blunt force trauma, but...
- Was this one of you two?
- It involved my elbow.
Unfortunately, this is slightly raw.
You see what I mean? It just leaves that dough mark in the middle of it.
That's a pity.
These look quite consistent - good size, good colour.
Good temperature on the hot plate there and it tastes good.
Let's have a look at these.
Bit of irregularity - some of them are thin, some are thick.
I'm getting parts of it that are under-baked
and parts that are baked.
Finally, the last one - these look OK.
- Nice taste.
- I think they're a very good batch.
After the final taste, Paul and Mary will now mark the bakers.
- So in 12th place is this one. Who's that?
- Mine.
It was a little doughy in the middle, not quite done.
In 11th place is...this one.
It's down to the irregular sizes.
- Very, very different.
- I know, I know.
In tenth place is Howard, followed by Ali in ninth,
Deborah is eighth...
Glenn finishes seventh and Mark is sixth.
In fifth place is Rob.
And in fourth place, a good batch
but again, a little uneven in size...
And third is Ruby.
In second place, these were a lovely regular size.
(Thank you.)
So, number one is this one.
Well done.
APPLAUSE
Good, regular size...
all nice and even.
Nice light brown colour as well, actually,
and the inside of that was very, very good. Well done.
I'm feeling really pleased.
It feels really good to have such a good result on something
that was brand new to me.
I feel like it puts me in a nice position for tomorrow.
Ah, rubbish.
And I'm just annoyed with myself and I feel like... It's just annoying.
SHE SOBS
I think Paul thinks, after today,
that I'm probably not a very good baker.
So I need to pull that back, I need to regain some reputation.
I know I'm good and it's just annoying
that when I do a stupid mistake like that,
it could potentially get me out of the competition
and I'm so NOT ready to go. Oh.
SHEEP BAAS
Just the Showstopper Challenge remains.
Who's looking good so far?
For me, there's two people that have stepped away - Kimberley and Ruby.
They both had a beautiful finish and flavour in their breadsticks
and then first and third, respectively, in the technical.
So I think both of them are looking pretty strong.
What we saw in that challenge was the breadsticks -
that you think of as just very simple, very plain.
- And we had that from Lucy.
- She didn't have a good day.
And then she was last on the Technical
so that automatically puts her in a very precarious position
going into the Showstopper.
Beca did some bendy breadsticks.
And also, she didn't do so well with her muffins.
Howard did so brilliantly last week - slightly fallen away.
His flavours are unbelievable but tenth on technical.
It really puts the pressure on.
Every single baker in the tent goes into the Showstopper
needing it to be really, really good.
- Was that a pun?
- Oh, was that a pun?
- No, it actually wasn't.
It felt a bit awkward. I didn't know if you needed supportive laughter.
- Let's just leave a silence, shall we?
- Yeah.
Morning, bakers, great to see you all here
on Showstopper Challenge day.
Now, we would really like you, please,
to create a beautifully, decoratively shaped loaf.
It can be any shape that you choose.
It could be a plaited Jewish challah bread,
it could be in the shape of an ear of corn, your favourite pet,
or the Leatherhead Leisure Centre.
And the flavours, flowers, the froufrou is all up to you.
Of course, we want something extraordinary,
we want something memorable.
Paul and Mary have asked for perfect fermentation,
perfect dough, perfect crust perfect crumb structure -
how perfectly irritating of you both.
So you've got four hours to bake this.
- On your marks.
- Get set.
- And bake.
To produce the perfect show-stopping decorative loaf,
the bakers will need to know how dough reacts
when twisted, shaped and moulded.
We're looking for innovative flavours,
we're looking for fantastic shapes that I've never seen before,
which is going to be difficult.
I know some of them will be very ambitious.
We're hoping that the personality will come through
of the bakers with what they've chosen.
The key to a good decorative loaf is the dough.
I'm using flour from a local mill.
It's just a small place
and they usually make it from all-local wheat.
It's good luck.
Their base recipe will affect the bake, as well as the flavour.
I've just scalded my milk
because I heard somewhere that there's something in milk
that might make the structure for bread a little bit tighter
but if you boil it, or just scald it,
then that changes the structure of the milk,
so it helps the bread stay light.
Ruby is the only baker making a sweet bread.
She's kneading white chocolate and orange zest
into her enriched dough and shaping it into a peacock.
- Wowsers.
- I say, that's quite...
- We've never had a peacock, have we?
- No.
Did you do any mixing in a mixer or have you done it all by hand?
- By hand.
- Why have you done it by hand rather than in a mixer?
Because I don't have a mixer at home
and I'm not going to start using one at this crucial moment, so...
Kimberley is also using enriched dough.
It's really lovely dough to work with.
Hopefully it'll have a very, very soft crumb,
which is why I used it for this recipe.
She's making a tear-and-share loaf by layering individual slices
of her rolled dough into a intricate circular pattern.
I call it my peace bread because it combines
traditional Jewish and Arabic food.
So it's a saffron-flavoured base,
which I'm filling with a mixture
of onions, garlic and za'atar spice blend
and then I'm decorating that with Iranian rose petals.
Mary and Paul are expecting a wide variety of flavours.
Oregano.
Smells amazing.
Adding the ingredients at the kneading stage
gives the flavours a chance to develop while the dough proves.
What I'm wanting to do is concentrate
on getting a nice smooth dough with an even texture,
putting some of the flavours in
and then using that to shape the finished object.
Inspired by a Picasso print he has at home,
Howard's decorative loaf will be shaped like the sun.
I'm trying to do something which is a bit Mediterranean in flavour.
I've added some orange zest to it and some fresh oregano.
I think you've got to be careful
when you're adding a lot of flavour, that it doesn't overwhelm...
Orange with oregano?
I'll be interested to see how that sharpness comes through
- with all that herb, but good luck.
- OK, thank you.
I'm roasting my tomatoes at the moment.
I'm going to just squeeze them
and then use that as the liquid in my bread.
To give added flavour to her roasted tomato and garlic bread,
Lucy is using her home-grown yeast.
That is my sour dough starter.
I made that with an apple from my garden.
So I've just added a little bit of that
to add a bit of depth of flavour to my bread.
It's a nice idea, but what shape are you doing them?
It's just quite a simple shape. Broadly like a tomato.
Round, cutting on the top and then with the tomatoes on the top.
- So you've got four hours to do that in?
- Yes.
And so you could have done just a little bit more
in the way of shaping or something.
Well, I could have done...
but I think it looks quite glamorous.
- Obviously, you'll give me your opinions on it, so...
- OK.
Good luck.
- Yeah, good luck, Lucy. See you later.
- Thank you.
- SUE:
- So it can hold its shape, the dough will need to prove
so the gluten can strengthen...
..giving one baker time to contemplate the work ahead.
There's a red card, a couple of flags, various types.
I've got a Kn*fe that I need to cut the gills.
Tape measure because the tentacles have to be all the same length.
There's a football and a siphon.
Otherwise, I've got nowhere to paint the whistle.
Rob's decorative bread
is in honour of an eight-tentacled football legend.
- It's a Paul the Psychic Octopus tribute loaf.
- Of course it is.
This was the octopus that they thought predicted
- the scores during the World Cup?
- That's right, yes.
The octopus, is it having its legs joined on
while it's baking, or are they being baked separately?
No, it's all going in as one.
So you're limited in size according to the oven?
- I shall fill it.
- Will it be able to predict?
It's holding a red card, I hope it's not predicting anything for me.
I'm really happy with that prove and just now...
I've given myself half an hour now to weigh it and plait it.
- SUE:
- Once proved, the dough can begin to take shape.
I've created 16 segments.
These will rise and expand and look like petals.
Well, the plaits are the peacock's feathers.
I'm just trying to fit them all on.
I just wanted something ridiculous and over the top
and that fits the bill.
So you're making a tomato bread in the shape of a tomato?
Broadly, it's going to be a tomato with a slight twist.
What's the twist? It looks like a banana.
- It's got some more tomatoes on the top.
- OK.
You could make it into the Brighton Pavilion,
or you could make it into...the gherkin,
or you could do any number of fantastical things with it.
But you're determined to keep it simple.
Yeah, I am determined to keep it simple.
I've got to get the eyes in.
This is the head, I forgot to roll them in the excitement.
I've made it loads of times -
it never really comes out exactly how I'd like it.
I need to make sure that the dough is within the lines
after it's relaxed rather than before it's relaxed.
See, I'm learning about bread.
Ali's Showstopper is based
on the ancient Chinese concept of yin and yang.
White chocolate and apricot flavour on one side
and chicken tikka and paneer on the other.
Where did you get the inspiration for this?
It sounds weird but it actually came in a dream.
I was dreaming and there was bread in my head
and it had a yin-yang symbol
and I woke up, I was like, "Yin and yang bread."
It's original, and that's what we're after.
Yeah, I had a dream that it went quite well...as well.
Christine, Beca and Mark
are all incorporating traditional plaits into their design.
I find creating really fun.
Christine's onion, cheese and bacon loaf
is made up of two three-strand plaits.
You know, the making of the dough is great
but this is the bit that is the exciting bit.
Mark is attempting a Paul Hollywood special.
- OK, shall I read and you do?
- Eight...
- And a seven.
The eight-strand plait.
If I was into subterfuge, I could really mess you up right now.
11 over 16...
and that's really the end of my attention span.
Oh, look, a thing.
- Watch you don't stretch the legs.
- No, I don't know...
Beca is turning her five-strand cinnamon and honey plait
into a Christmas wreath.
I haven't looked around to see how anybody else is doing their dough
because I don't want to be influenced
or swayed from how I bake at home.
I'm just not thinking, I'm just getting through it.
- One, two, right.
- God, that was like Casualty.
Bring him in.
So the loaves can rise again into their new shape,
they go back into the proving drawer.
Providing, of course, that they fit.
The tentacles are much too long to go in the drawer.
To heat it I'm blowing hot air underneath.
If I can get this surface at 22, 23, it'll liven up the dough.
- Infrared thermometer?
- Yes, they're great things.
If you do chocolate work, they're the best.
- Shall I check your thermometer?
- No, it's got a laser in it.
Oh, it's got a laser. OK.
OK, bakers, that's one hour left, one hour left to cook your peacock,
adjust the exact balance of yin and yang
and to get the octopus's blowhole right. One hour.
Before baking, the last intricate details are added.
I'm behind a man who's making the most infernally complicated
loaf of bread I've ever seen in my life,
and I'm baking ears of corn.
Assuming I get through this week, which is a big assumption
at this point, I really have to do something spectacular next week.
I have to say, it's actually looking quite demure for a peacock.
It's definitely not understated, though, is it?
No, it's very much in the room.
There's a presence to it, do you know what I mean?
I can't believe I'm faffing around with feet.
I'm just cutting the top of it,
because that dictates where the steam will come out.
If you don't cut it, it will just find its own way out,
and so you can control the shape in that way.
Right, oven.
Go. Spring.
That's better.
That is the sexiest gluten psychic cephalopod I've ever seen.
Hopefully it will come out a little bit sexier.
Rise, cephalopod!
As soon as the bread enters the oven,
it faces a final burst of rising before the crust hardens.
I said this is what I wouldn't do.
I said I wouldn't be one of those lunatics
kneeling on the floor by the oven.
And here I am.
If the bread rises too quickly it can split,
ruining the intricate designs.
I don't know why that has dropped.
It's like the whole thing has just sunk.
Aaargh!
Two more minutes.
I've sort of forgotten which side is the savoury
and which side is the sweet.
I thought because they were different colours, it would show,
but they turned the same colour.
OK, bakers. Ten minutes left.
Just ten minutes, thank you.
It's a little bit stuck...
Oh, why's that stuck?
That's sweet, because it smells like it.
Oh, no.
Do you want me to hold something?
No, I'm fine, thank you.
Hollywood at 12 o'clock.
Oh, dear!
Pretty pleased with that.
Oh, that's hollow-sounding, isn't it?
It so looked like ears of corn when it went in.
I might just give it an extra few minutes, on reflection.
It's fine... don't give me a round of applause.
It bloody stuck to the tray!
Bakers, that's time. Please step away from your bakes.
Rob, stop touching up that octopus!
All of the decorative loaves now need to be judged
before Mary and Paul decide who is leaving The Great British Bake Off.
Kimberley.
I left my bread in just a little bit over.
I was worried it would be underbaked,
so it's a bit darker than I would have liked it.
Otherwise, I'm really pleased.
Hopefully Paul and Mary will think that I've tried to do
something a little bit different.
It covers all the bases.
We were looking for a highly decorative, creative loaf.
It's got a lovely structure on it. The crumb is fantastic.
It's very aromatic.
That is delicious.
Absolutely delicious.
I'm really hoping that Paul and Mary forgive my muffin mayhem
of yesterday and that they will fall in love with my wreath.
- It's quite raw inside.
- Is it?
Hmm. You could have tightened up the plait to give it more body
and it would have gone up and given it more structure
and it would have opened up in the oven more.
I was worried when I was plaiting it that I would be overworking it.
Maybe I was a bit too gentle, a bit too careful.
The flavour is absolutely lovely, but it is underdone, isn't it?
Oregano and orange, I would never
have put together in a million years.
Howard, you're great with your flavours normally.
And you've done it again. That's really good.
But more than that, the structure and the bake is fantastic.
It's lovely.
Now we can see the two colours....
It's full of vanilla, I like the apricots.
It's certainly original. What you've done is very clever.
Thank you.
It's quite difficult when you've got a bread that colour
to know when it's done.
It is underbaked.
It needed about another ten minutes.
OK.
It tastes great. Moist dough, but baked.
I think it's good. I think you pulled it off.
I think it looks wonderful.
It has this lovely bacon-y taste.
- I think you've got a nice loaf.
- Thank you very much.
- Well done.
You got a great bake on it.
That's really good. I'll tell you why -
to intertwine two different types of dough,
that's quite tricky to do. I'm impressed, well done.
OK, they're the eyes.
- Er...
- That's the football.
- That's the football. Ah.
- That's a whistle.
- What's that?
It's coming out of its blowhole, Mary.
That's the technical term, blowhole.
- I like the idea. I think it's lost a bit in translation.
- Yes.
Straight between the eyes.
It's quite doughy down at the bottom.
It's a very, very tight structure. It needed longer proving.
Probably another 20 minutes, half an hour.
To me, it tastes just like a good white loaf,
but that's exactly what it is.
You've rather gone for the design.
Mark.
The look of it is not where I wanted it to be.
It could have been straighter and more even,
and I'm dead sure Paul is going to pick up on that.
They look like rather posh little slugs.
I'm not the man to show an eight-strand plait to.
No, probably not.
It needed more colour, really. It needed more life.
It's a bit bland.
Right.
The garlic is there, but the sage is not there.
That's a little bit disappointing.
OK.
Lucy.
I'm really happy with it and I'm excited,
because it's the kind of bread that I like,
and I'm genuinely interested to hear what Paul and Mary have to say.
- My issue is, and I think you know what I'm going to say...
- Mm-hm.
Four hours to produce a creative loaf.
When I look at that, I see a cob with tomatoes on top.
And you look inside, you see how dense it is down at the bottom.
It's an indication it was underproved.
That's a really good tomato flavour,
and the garlic is coming through too.
It's exactly what you say it is.
It's a tomato and garlic loaf.
Thank you.
Ruby.
I feel good about how it looks, but I'm not 100% sure on the bake.
I put it in there for ages, so hopefully it'll be all right.
It tastes delicious. It doesn't need anything on it.
Very clever. You've added white chocolate to this in lumps,
and because you mixed it by hand,
you've kept the pieces in there, so every now and again
you get that beautiful flavour and then bang,
you get some white chocolate.
That's a good bake. The flavour's good, the texture's excellent.
Please don't take that away from me!
- She must.
- Don't take it away from me.
With all three challenges complete,
it's now up to Mary and Paul to decide who stays and who goes.
Bread week is often nemesis week,
so who do you think struggled and slightly disappointed you?
Poor Lucy had a really tough time.
We were expecting something creative, something different.
I thought Rob was a bit disappointing.
I didn't really see an octopus, to be honest.
What about Mark's slug plait?
Mark's was really disappointing.
Beca's tasted good, but the bake was poor and, you know,
she was 11th on the technical as well.
Let's look at the more positive end of the spectrum,
- who's really excelled?
- Kimberley's use of the za'atar
was inspired. Great idea. Likewise, Ruby.
I thought Ruby's flavours, using white chocolate,
she kneaded it by hand without a machine.
I've never seen anything like that before.
It's happy bread, that.
- Yes.
- Do you know who's going to be Star Baker?
We've got one that's standing out, as far as I'm concerned.
So, obviously, you can send one or two people away.
Have you made up your mind as to who will leave this week?
- I have.
- I think we have, actually, yeah. Yeah.
Well done, bakers. You've battled bread week,
and what a week it's been. Brilliant stuff.
We've seen a Picasso, a glazed celebratory ring,
and my own personal favourite, a psychic cephalopod.
But every week, Paul and Mary get to pick the best of the bunch
and award the accolade of Star Baker.
And this week it was a tough choice,
cos so many of you were so very good.
But we've decided to give it to somebody
with a perfectly worked muffin,
somebody who gives Mexico a twist
and somebody who delivers the best damn peacock I've ever eaten.
Well done, Ruby, you're Star Baker.
Well done, Ruby.
APPLAUSE
OK, you all know how the Bake Off works.
Sadly, we can't take everybody with us next time.
So I'm afraid this week,
we will be saying goodbye
to one person.
And that person is...
..Lucy.
- We're very sorry, Lucy.
- Sorry to see you go, Lucy.
- Sad to see you go.
- Come on. Mel-Sue sandwich. In you come.
Mel-Sue sandwich.
Well done you.
Thank you. It's all right.
I feel a bit disappointed, but do you know,
I'm kind of OK with it. It's been really fun.
Poor Lucy, but yay me!
I need to go home and practise, practise, practise.
And for goodness' sake, don't do any more of Paul's recipes!
Can't believe I did it!
I'm so proud of myself to do well on the things that I enjoy the most,
it's just like...
Yeah, it's like Christmas has come early.
This weekend was just a blip, I'm hoping.
Next weekend I go back to my normal self.
I'm through!
'Oh, thank God for that!'
Next time...
I'm living dangerously here.
..we make room for dessert.
Oh, dear.
With tantalising trifles...
Nice that you're making a succession of wizard's hats.
- That is a wizard's hat.
- Gandalf.
..faultless floating islands...
They're misshapen icebergs, and the Titanic is heading for them.
..and perfect petits fours.
We have to make them small. It goes against all my instincts!
Only one can be Star Baker.
Ohhh, please...!
But how many will go home?
Oh, no!
Nasty, messy chocolate...
Oh, no.
Can't do this.
04x02 - Bread
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British television baking competition, in which a group of amateur bakers compete against each other in a series of rounds, attempting to impress two judges with their baking skills.
British television baking competition, in which a group of amateur bakers compete against each other in a series of rounds, attempting to impress two judges with their baking skills.