GBBO 2016

Elliott S

The Hill Billy wrote: »

From what I gather - Paul is the only one who may move to the C4 show.

As one commentator put it:
For £25 million, C4 are getting a tent, some flour & Paul Hollywood.

Doesn't surprise me. He is the most 'reality TV' of all of them with his Simon Cowell pauses and all.

Elliott S

Sapphire wrote: »

Is there anywhere online where we can watch back episodes? I only got into GBBO a couple of years ago and would love to watch it from the start.

Youtube!

Dizzyblonde

I thought last night was a bit meh! There was no proper baking involved, and who would choose to eat a lace pancake? I'd be much more into eating churros than making them.

zenbuffy

I like the idea of piped pancakes, but I would have done two different colours of batter, and filled in the lace, so that overall you still had a pancake you could enjoy. I made churros last night for the family. They liked them, but they'd never have passed muster with Paul and Mary if I'm being honest. They lost their ridges quite a bit!

I'm glad it's back to business next week. Pastry! Need to figure out what I'll make.

Toto Wolfcastle

Dizzyblonde wrote: »

I thought last night was a bit meh! There was no proper baking involved, and who would choose to eat a lace pancake? I'd be much more into eating churros than making them.

Yeah, I thought it was a bit meh too. So far I don't think this series is as good as previous ones, apart from Mel and Sue. They're better than ever.

Elliott S

Dizzyblonde wrote: »

I thought last night was a bit meh! There was no proper baking involved, and who would choose to eat a lace pancake? I'd be much more into eating churros than making them.

Yeah, I'd have to agree, it all seemed more like cooking then baking for me, apart from the yorkshire puds. One thing that bothered me about the signature challenge - yorkshire puds need to have a good rise but they shouldn't be uniform! They're supposed to be irregular.

But a well-deserved win for Benjamina! I think Andrew is this year's Tamal in that he will always be up there every week but it will take ages for him to finally get star baker. But he'll make the final.

I think Tom and Kate were equally bad last night. I know they don't usually take account of past performance but in a tie-break situation, they probably do. Selasi needs to pull his socks up too!

And one last thing - Jane's white chocolate and pistachio churros looked AMAZING! And tasted it too, I'd imagine.

Toto Wolfcastle wrote: »

Yeah, I thought it was a bit meh too. So far I don't think this series is as good as previous ones, apart from Mel and Sue. They're better than ever.

Yes, I think a lot of the contestants just don't pass muster. Bread week was shocking, even with taking account of the pressure and time constraints.

Elliott S

The show inspired me to do some baking!

My first ever attempt at rock buns. I don't like raisins and neither does my fella so these are made with chocolate chips. The method for making these and scones is identical except rock bun dough contains eggs and slightly less milk. But they turn out very different from scones. They're much crispier, the edges are almost biscuit-like. Delicious.

Elliott S

A more related "bake" tonight - toad in the hole! Last I made this was when I was living in the UK. So, six years ago. I remember it being disappointing. I found UK sossies to be tasteless.

For this, I used a mix of chicken fat and sunflower oil as I had no beef dripping. The animal fat raised the smoke point so that I could get it good and hot. I put some mustard powder in the batter too. The batter puffed up nicely around the sides but was a little soggy around the sausage. My OH liked that though but I would have preferred it to be lighter. Anyone got any tips for getting it to rise around the sausage?

sammyjo90

Did you put the sausages in straight away? my mum always used to let it do most of its rising first and then quickly feck them in it helped a little..

Although you have to have a slightly soggy bit, its just how it goes

Elliott S

sammyjo90 wrote: »

Did you put the sausages in straight away? my mum always used to let it do most of its rising first and then quickly feck them in it helped a little..

Although you have to have a slightly soggy bit, its just how it goes

I did! Poured in the batter, then arranged the sausages on top straight away. And sure enough , the sausages are just sitting on a blanket of dough. Well, it was kind of pancake-like but soggier. I think I might just cooked a giant yorkshire pud next time (Oh yes, there will be a next time!) and serve the sausage separately, as the puffed up batter was YUM. I prefer sausages done on the pan to oven ones anyway. I think you might be right though, from reading around, lots of people seems to have a bit of sogginess in their yorkshire puds and many people seem to like it!

Oh, and I need to stop making onion gravy. I never ever make a good one. The one in the photo there had an awful, slimy consistency. Every goddamn time.

Elliott S

Elliott S wrote: »

The show inspired me to do some baking!

My first ever attempt at rock buns. I don't like raisins and neither does my fella so these are made with chocolate chips. The method for making these and scones is identical except rock bun dough contains eggs and slightly less milk. But they turn out very different from scones. They're much crispier, the edges are almost biscuit-like. Delicious.

I'm actually going to make 8 instead 12 out of the same recipe next time. The biscuity-ness was nice but I would have preferred more cakey-ness in the centre. Just a tip for anyone else who might like to attempt them.

zenbuffy

These were my churros, which I am only sort of happy with. Family liked them, but there's definitely more I could do to improve. I'm still not a fan of batter!



Edit: Jaysus, that image is big. Sorry. I can't find a way to make it smaller, and they certainly don't look any more appetising that big! Is there a way I can make that image smaller in this message?

I found a way to make it smaller

Elliott S

You could resize it on your computer and repost the smaller image? They look amazing. YUM. Mary would be proud of the ridges!

zenbuffy

Elliott S wrote: »

You could resize it on your computer and repost the smaller image? They look amazing. YUM. Mary would be proud of the ridges!

Believe it or not, they are the bake I have been least happy with throughout the series. My cakes, biscuits, and even bread turned out better. Or at least photographed better!

Mrs Fox

Elliott S wrote: »

Mary would be proud of the ridges!

"Good definition"

Mrs Fox

Elliott S wrote: »

Anyone got any tips for getting it to rise around the sausage?

I did a Jamie Oliver's recipe (from his magazine or book yonks ago) a few times. It called for sausages to be baked first then batter poured over. It was puffy puff puff all around the sausages. It also had red onions and rosemary. Lovely but been a while since I've made them.

livedadream

I've always made them by cooking the sausages in the pan in the oven... Then pouring the batter over them... You get lovelllyyyy crispy batter then

Elliott S

Mrs Fox wrote: »

I did a Jamie Oliver's recipe (from his magazine or book yonks ago) a few times. It called for sausages to be baked first then batter poured over. It was puffy puff puff all around the sausages. It also had red onions and rosemary. Lovely but been a while since I've made them.

livedadream wrote: »

I've always made them by cooking the sausages in the pan in the oven... Then pouring the batter over them... You get lovelllyyyy crispy batter then

I thought about doing this but demurred because I thought that all the batter needed to hit the hot oil. I'll try this way next time.

Gloomtastic!

Elliott S wrote: »

I thought about doing this but demurred because I thought that all the batter needed to hit the hot oil. I'll try this way next time.

If the sausages are also hot then that would help the batter rise.

zenbuffy

Mrs Fox wrote: »

"Good definition"

Thanks. I think they're not that great, tbh. I definitely could have done a better job of keeping the ridges! I learned a lot though, so hopefully I'll do better next time.

Mrs Fox

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

If the sausages are also hot then that would help the batter rise.

This.

sammyjo90

Oh my god val!!!
"I like it gooey"

Faith

Pastry week required wine AND chocolate for the stress!

Elliott S

Never seen such a close two horse race for Star Baker!

Finally Val is gone. I don't think Rav takes it seriously enough.

Jane is seriously good, seriously good. And Candice is impressing too. Andrew is dropping back a bit. Definitely this year's Tamal. Always pretty good, never the best.

Zaph

Delighted with who went this week, they've been doing my head in since the beginning.

Toto Wolfcastle

I'm not a Val fan but I felt so sorry for her when she had a soggy bottom. It was her own bloody fault, obviously, but when someone makes something successfully every week and then makes it so badly in front of millions of people it has to hurt.

Shenshen

I was actually surprised at how many struggled with the bakewell tart - it's something I make quite regularly myself, and I always assumed it's a basic, standard British thing?

I get that people are nervous, and that the ovens aren't the same as at home and all that, but I still thought it was a rather simple challenge compared with some others.

The Hill Billy

I was kinda sorry to see Val go. She was quirky & made good TV. Tom really needs to up his game if he's going to survive next week. Rav too.

Candace's amuse bouches were superb. She's obviously putting in lots of effort practicing & it is paying off.

kylith

Not really surprised to see Val go. I think she only survived a couple of times because there were people worse. Much as I love Tom I think he needs to stop being quite so experimental. There's a time for really pushing it and a competition like this is not it.

zenbuffy

I thought it was very tight between Jane and Candice for star baker, I'd have liked to see Jane cinch it, but they both did really well. I thought Candice's amuse bouche were gorgeous, the little oranges!

I reckon Rav survived by luck and one good challenge, once again, and he needs to stop coming last in technical or he'll be following Val out the door.

This was my bake off treat last night. They're a bit shall we say "informal", but I made the pastry from scratch. All that rolling and folding! Mini danishes - nutella almond, and raspberry cream cheese.