S13.E03: Bread Week

[oliviabenson]

Since I love herring, smoked fish I’d EAT all those Swedish bread 🤤

[blackwing]

I've only been watching for a few seasons, the season where David won was the first one I watched.  I know I've heard the contestants talk about practicing their showstoppers, so it's obvious that they know in advance what it will be.  Is it only one week's advance notice?

I ask because Janusz had this paper with a cartoon of Noel on it that was supposed to be the newspaper for his fish and chips.  He said his boyfriend drew it.  Aren't the contestants quarantined?  Or was that only during the COVID seasons?  I recall contestants calling up their families each week after they got Star Baker, but haven't seen that this season.  Is that because the contestants are living in the hotel with their families/spouses?

Also, contestants have talked about bringing ingredients from home.  I think Dawn brought some kind of flour made from wheat grown by her son's friend or something like that.  Before they leave for the show, do they just grab everything they think they might want to use?  Or are they being told the entire season schedule of bakes, so can plan what they will make even before they leave home?

On 9/30/2022 at 5:42 PM, SnapHappy said:

This was kind of a throw-away week for me.  Nobody that impressive and not a single traditional pizza.  It wasn't forbidden, was it? 

And can the Malaysian woman possibly make anything that's NOT Malay?  Yes, her culture, her heritage, her flavors, so unique, yada yada.  But Janusz isn't making everything German, Polish Maxy isn't making everything Ethiopian from whatever country her family is ethnically from, etc.  I just can't see how the flavor comparisons are fair and it pisses me off when a contestant is cheered for being so rooted in the cuisine of their home country.  

I don't see anything wrong with her putting a Malay spin on everything she makes.  She's a home baker, and this is the kind of food she cooks at home.  It was the same with Jurgen last season that seemed to make everything German.  They even had a German week last season.

On 10/1/2022 at 2:00 PM, SnapHappy said:

Most of those pizzas had the "show off" toppings.  And most will go rolling/dripping/dropping off when you pick up a slice to bite in.  We saw that more than once. 

I've always wondered how they get the ingredients they need, if they are just everyday run of the mill items.  Do they put in a request to the pantry on what they want stocked?  Is there some kind of limit on what they can ask for?  I was thinking I would have done a pizza with goose or duck meat, or perhaps some foie gras.  For the Swedish showstopper thing, all of the people that did some kind of fish, would they have been able to request some Osetra caviar as a decorating item?

I did think the sandwich cakes sounded disgusting... don't understand the point of making them decorate them like a cake.  Sandwiches themselves seemed fine, but if it looks like a beautiful cake, and I cut into it and find that it's three layers, one is tuna, one is haddock, and one is some other kind of fish... just yuck.

I'm curious about Maxy's background.  She said she was born in Sweden, but has lived in the UK for many many years.  So it sounds like her Swedish parents immigrated to the UK and she's been raised there, but still considers herself Swedish and speaks Swedish.  I wish we had gotten more of her talking about these smorgastarta and what is common in Sweden.  But she made a comment like "everybody just expects me to do really well at this one just because it's Swedish", which made it sound like she didn't live in Sweden for very long.

My favourites are Maxy, Syabira, Sandro and Kevin.  Kevin doesn't seem long for the competition but I hope he manages to stick it out a bit longer.

I don't dislike Janusz but I do find him a little annoying.  It's probably not very fair to him to judge him by his look, but I can't stop thinking that he looks like a real-life Humpty Dumpty.  Large, egg shaped head and egg shaped body.  Either that or I think he could play Augustus Gloop in yet another Wonka remake.

[dgpolo]

2 minutes ago, blackwing said:

I've only been watching for a few seasons, the season where David won was the first one I watched.  I know I've heard the contestants talk about practicing their showstoppers, so it's obvious that they know in advance what it will be.  Is it only one week's advance notice?

Somebody probably knows more than me about your questions but as far as I know they know the signatures and showstoppers for the season and can ask for any ingredient they want, they can also bring things from home. Honey, berries, quail eggs etc.

I think there was only strict quarantine 'bubble' for two seasons and now they can go back to going home after each weekend of baking.

[caitmcg]

3 hours ago, blackwing said:

I've only been watching for a few seasons, the season where David won was the first one I watched.  I know I've heard the contestants talk about practicing their showstoppers, so it's obvious that they know in advance what it will be.  Is it only one week's advance notice?

From what I’ve read, they find out the signatures and showstoppers several weeks before the season begins filming, and are required to submit recipes/ingredient lists to the producers for the entire season's challenges before the show begins even though most won’t make it to the end.

[limecoke]

So, where was the bread? Worst Bread Week in the entire series.