The Great British Bake Off

Back again!
You may notice that The Great British Bake Off has already been blogged about but that was the sport relief version. I thought that I would do a short review of this year's series so far! By the way, if you wish to view the last blog about the Great British Bake Off either look in the blog archive under January 2014- as it was one of the first blogs I ever did- or simply follow this link. Anyway, I hope that you enjoy this blog post.

The Great British Bake Off is a show looking for the best amateur bakers in the country and it has inspired many people to take up baking including me! You may have noticed that many of my blog posts are about baking and that is because I love the bake off and it has inspired me. In fact as I am writing this, there is a loaf of Mediterranean bread in the oven. The show consists of three challenges: the signature, the technical and the showstopper. This series so far there have been 3 episodes and I will write a short summary paragraph about each.

Cake Week
Who doesn't like cake? The first week is always cake week and it is perfect for getting your taste buds tingling! The signature was a madeira cake and Paul and Mary were looking for a crack across the top! According to them a madeira cake is decorated with a glaze and candied fruit. I thought that Paul was quite strict about the candied fruit because it had to be crisp and sugary. The technical challenge saw the bakers attempting a frosted walnut cake which looked divine! However some of the bakers struggled with the caramelising of the walnuts. To be completely honest, caramel usually pops up somewhere so I expected the bakers to have practised that before! The showstopper was to reinvent the black forest gateau. This was my favourite of all the challenges because the chocolate decorations looked absolutely amazing. The star baker was Marie and perhaps she relaxed after getting this achievement because the next week wasn't so perfect for her...

Biscuit Week
Biscuit week saw lots of new challenges for the bakers. The signature challenge was biscotti! I paid close attention to this section because I have had a go at making biscotti myself! Follow this link to see how I got on. There was a big variety of fillings and toppings and I think that Paul's aim was to intimidate the bakers as much as possible! He did this by closely inspecting Marie's biscotti. This ended up in her confessing about eating one of them! The technical challenge was Arlettes. These very VERY thin swirly layered cinnamon biscuits are extremely tricky to make and the bakers did struggle! I would be wary of trying that recipe because it looked very hard! The showstopper was to make a biscuit box and fill it with biscuits! My favourite was a fire engine filled with earl grey biscuits! I thought that it looked very smart. Marie was out on this episode.

Bread Week
The Bread Week episode was yesterday and it inspired me to make the loaf that is in my oven right now. The signature was quick bread- bread without yeast- and the bakers used a wide range of savoury and sweet flavours, even including chocolate! Ugne did the chocolate loaf and I thought that the caramel decorations were amazing. The technical challenge of French bread was also difficult to say the least! According to Paul, the secret to crispy bread is to make steam in the oven but not all of the bakers knew this! Some of the bread ended up looking more liked ciabatta than French bread! The showstopper was to make a bread sculpture and my favourite was a bread lion that received a special commendation from Paul and Mary.


So, that is my summary about the bake off so far. Next week is desserts. I wonder what dramas that will bring to the tent...
Bye!