S13.E08: Pastry Week

[Deskisamess]

8 hours ago, dgpolo said:

Actually the challenge was "bake a 3D pie scene inspired by their favorite childhood story or nursery rhyme." so everyone was within the brief, even Janusz who used The Very Hungry Caterpillar as a basis for his very hungry dog since it was 'inspired' by the other story. I knew when I heard the brief it would not be what I would consider 'childhood stories' they are much too young to have the same favorite stories as me.

The Saggy Baggy Elephant, The Pokey Little Puppy, Are You My Mother, Peter Rabbit. Those children's books would have made amazing bakes.

[dgpolo]

16 minutes ago, Deskisamess said:

Are You My Mother

Are You My Mother would have been perfect, I think I would have gone with The Secret Garden.

[pH-factor]

I think regardless of what story the need to make 8 pies relating to it would be a factor in my choice.  Does the story have elements that lend them being turn successfully into pies in a set time and decorated attractively.

[Gwendolyn]

I have no qualms with the bakers, there is clearly some editing/judging hijinks going on. I'm hoping the Guardian article is a call to rethink next season. Though for a few years now people have been complaining the bakers are being set up to fail with challenges were the time they're given is like 5 or 10 minutes shy of what they actually need to do to the bake. Even Paul and Prue couldn't do it in the time the bakers are being given.

Then they're doing things like pizza, tacos, s'mores, ice cream cones, and now spring rolls that have baked elements (or something involving a dough), but are not bakes, they're cooking. It's not the same thing.

I would've been fine with Sandro, going. He gets on my last nerve, he's obsessed with getting a Hollywood handshake (why?) and he's too try hard. Dial it back dude. But for poor Maxy's mental health I think it was a blessed relief for her to be going home.

as for Janusz and the missing spring roll, I think the time crunch he just miscounted. It wasn't malicious, but you know how you do something and your brain fills in the blanks, so you don't realize something's missing until it's too late? like that. Though I think if he gets sent home, he'll be like, cool, whatever, I was on bake off. He doesn't panic, like some of the other bakers. Even with his over-reliance on a drip frosting, I like how supportive he is of everyone in the tent and that he doesn't let Paul get to him. Others ignore Paul at their peril, Janusz is like, you're the judge of a baking show, beyond that I don't need your approval for validation (unlike, say Sandro). I miss Kevin because he had a similar attitude.

[oliviabenson]

This season’s contestants are not very good bakers. Guess not that many people applied for the show.

Sandro has to make things super complicated for himself.

Janus is a one trick pony.

Sabira is probably going to win.

Sad to see maxi go she seems nice.

[Jane Tuesday]

45 minutes ago, oliviabenson said:

Sandro has to make things super complicated for himself.

Janus is a one trick pony.

Sabira is probably going to win.

Sad to see maxi go she seems nice.

And Abdul is missing from your list, which seems fitting... 😆 

[oliviabenson]

49 minutes ago, Jane Tuesday said:

And Abdul is missing from your list, which seems fitting... 😆 

First for me:

there is a Kevin?

now there is a Abdul?

my apologies to the contestants for forgetting them!

[MerBearHou]

1 hour ago, Jane Tuesday said:

And Abdul is missing from your list, which seems fitting... 😆 

It actually irritates me how little they show Abdul.  I think he is a delightful guy and a pretty steady baker.

Poor Maxy — she was having a very stressed couple of days.  She’d done so very well in the earlier weeks, but it’s like the cumulative effect of the “bake on demand” really took its toll on her.  

[Jane Tuesday]

2 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

It actually irritates me how little they show Abdul.  I think he is a delightful guy and a pretty steady baker.

Oh, no, I totally agree! I don't understand why he isn't featured more. Sure, he's drama-free, but this is GBBO. They're all drama-free.

I'd love for him to "sneak" in and get the win, actually. I feel like the others have all had some big fails where past successes have kept them safe. 

[MerBearHou]

3 minutes ago, Jane Tuesday said:

I'd love for him to "sneak" in and get the win, actually.

That would make me SO happy too!!!  

[meep.meep]

2 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

It actually irritates me how little they show Abdul.  I think he is a delightful guy and a pretty steady baker.

Poor Maxy — she was having a very stressed couple of days.  She’d done so very well in the earlier weeks, but it’s like the cumulative effect of the “bake on demand” really took its toll on her.  

Abdul is like Chiggs last season.  Just keeps chugging along.  Maybe he'll make the final.

Maxy was actually babbling nonsense words.  It was time for her to go.

[Mediocre Gatsby]

4 hours ago, oliviabenson said:

This season’s contestants are not very good bakers. Guess not that many people applied for the show.

I feel like all I can say for certain is that this season's contestants are not very good COOKS. 

[Xantar]

Re: egg rolls vs spring rolls

I’m Vietnamese and it’s worth keeping in mind that terms like “egg roll” are completely made up by white people. After all an egg roll doesn’t even actually contain eggs! In Vietnamese we have names for the various rolls doesn’t even have the word for “roll” in it. I’ll bet this is true of other Asian languages.

So is it a spring roll or an egg roll or a fresh summer roll? There’s no correct answer because it’s all made up.

Also, they are definitely not baked goods. 

[Athena]

Egg rolls in North America are Chinese-American cuisine which is not the same as Chinese cuisine from China (which itself encompasses many styles). They were developed by Chinese Americans in the early 20th century for the North American market. The WIki article has a succinct history.  No one knows why egg is part of the name because traditionally most Asian rolls don't have egg.

Agreed not baked goods!

[Rammchick]

21 minutes ago, Athena said:

No one knows why egg is part of the name because traditionally most Asian rolls don't have egg.

I grew up in Brooklyn, and there is a drink called an egg cream, that also doesn't have egg in it.  It's just a "thing".

Just like the sort of tacos they made aren't traditionally Mexican, none of these rolls are traditionally Asian either, as Xantar pointed out.  At the very least, if you're going to do foods from different cultures (and my guess is, they're scraping the barrel for new ideas for challenges at this point), then the show should have some sort of coordinator who ensures that these things are authentic.  Or at the very least, if you're going to make those kind of tacos, call them Tex Mex, which is what they really are.

By comparison, the technical on this week's Great Canadian Baking Show was a mango rose tart:

[Cetacean]

34 minutes ago, Rammchick said:

By comparison, the technical on this week's Great Canadian Baking Show was a mango rose tart:

Those were so pretty.  The Canadian bakers are SO good this season!  It's just miniscule things that count now.  I think they are heads above GBBO this time.  Plus Paul seems so nasty sometimes.

[RoxiP]

I think Sandro is trying too hard both personally and in his baking.  He is a very handsome man but his mugging for the cameras and his need for photo moments with Paul are starting to get tiresome (and I had never noticed that stripe thing going into his hair until this week either - do you think he just added that?).  

[CatLover74]

On 11/7/2022 at 6:19 AM, Jane Tuesday said:

Oh, no, I totally agree! I don't understand why he isn't featured more. Sure, he's drama-free, but this is GBBO. They're all drama-free.

I'd love for him to "sneak" in and get the win, actually. I feel like the others have all had some big fails where past successes have kept them safe. 

It wouldn't be the first time a baker has steadily gone through the season, never getting Star Baker, and then coming through and winning the whole thing in the end.

[Lisapooh]

On 11/5/2022 at 7:50 PM, dgpolo said:

Are You My Mother would have been perfect, I think I would have gone with The Secret Garden.

I immediately thought of The Monster at the End of This Book. (My favorite!)

you could do braided edges for the rope. Use stamps for the bricks, meringue for the cement in the bricks and on Grover’s head, powdered sugar glaze for the glue. Adorbs! 

Edited November 7, 2022 by Lisapooh
Typos duh

[MisterGlass]

There was an article on this episode that included a link to this video on making spring roll wrappers.  It looks interesting and sounds squelchy.

[kittykat]

On 11/7/2022 at 9:58 AM, RoxiP said:

I think Sandro is trying too hard both personally and in his baking.  He is a very handsome man but his mugging for the cameras and his need for photo moments with Paul are starting to get tiresome (and I had never noticed that stripe thing going into his hair until this week either - do you think he just added that?).  

I like Sandro but he is trying waaaaayyyy too hard to be this years Chigs.  Granted Chigs probably didn’t know he was gonna be the unexpected crush of 2021 but Sandro needs to dial it back.  Focus on the baking and not the compliments.  And he’s definitely this years style over substance baker.

I’ll add to the time restraints are getting beyond ridiculous choir here.  TWO HOURS for pastry, chilling, turns, forming, baking and chilling in time for fillings?  Even with rough puff that is so not enough time.  Weren’t bakers given 3+ hrs in the past for puff challenges?  Is production short staffed hence the shorter challenges.  The signature was two and the technical only 1 hr 20.  Usually the first day is about upwards of 5-6 hours of challenges (3 hr signature, 2 hour techno or vice versa) with breaks for judging.  I know the filming goes from about 7am to about 7-8pm which makes me wonder if it’s staff issues for shorter days.

Call me also surprised that Janusz placed second in technical with one roll short.  Haven’t people fallen short on yield and automatically placed last despite good flavors? If anything Abdul’s mushroom laden ones should have placed 2nd because at least he had the full set.  Also count me in on hoping Abdul sneaks in the final.  He may not have had a wow moment yet but he’s probably been one of the more consistent bakers these last few weeks.

Sad that the Maxy is gone but she did have a terrible week.  I know Sandro’s showstopper was worse but she was last in the technical while Sandro won which was likely the decider.

[Cetacean]

On 11/7/2022 at 12:58 PM, RoxiP said:

(...and I had never noticed that stripe thing going into his hair until this week either - do you think he just added that?).  

No, he has had it for a while, at least I noticed it in earlier episodes.  One of the bakers on the Canadian version had that type of thing.

[janie jones]

On 11/7/2022 at 6:25 AM, Athena said:

 No one knows why egg is part of the name because traditionally most Asian rolls don't have egg.

I'm half Filipino and an ex-boyfriend once tried to impress my by telling me me his (white, American) dad made "the best" lumpia and whitesplaining why these things are called egg rolls. Ask him! He knows why!

[BradyB66]

20 hours ago, Cetacean said:

No, he has had it for a while, at least I noticed it in earlier episodes.  One of the bakers on the Canadian version had that type of thing.

And he actually has a matching fade in his eyebrows.  It's hilarious!

I think the real problem with this season is that they should have put the pastry skill week sooner and the gimmick weeks like Mexican and Halloween later.  That would have weeded it out the less rounded bakers first.

The majority of these bakers don't seem to have basic skills that a contestant needs.  They seem really good at cakes, but clueless on custard, pastry, and have we even seen choux this year?  They have to be fans of the show and they didn't realize they'd need to make more than cakes and biscuits?

[gaPeach]

Add me to the list of fans of this show that are very disappointed in this season.  With both the bakers, as they do not seem to be at the same level of bakers from past seasons, the baking challenges and the time allotted to do challenges.

I loved this show because it did not have weird gimmicks or "surprises" that other baking shows come up with. This show just did good baking with friendly competition.  And no loud moniters or hosts constantly reminding contestants that they could win (insert large amount of money here).  No backstabbing or cryptic TH about other contestants.

I hope this season was just a misstep and next season they will recapture the magic of what made this show an enjoyment to watch.

[ombre]

52 minutes ago, BradyB66 said:

I think the real problem with this season is that they should have put the pastry skill week sooner and the gimmick weeks like Mexican and Halloween later.  That would have weeded it out the less rounded bakers first.

Also, the non-bread bread week. That's usually the moment when you really start to see who understands the *science* of baking. As near as I can tell, most of this year's peeps are just following someone else's recipes without any understanding of how as why they work.  

The thing that I've found most delightful in earlier seasons is the way everybody starts off just being general recreational bakers and at some point they all just go mad and spend every waking moment practicing. There's something magical in getting to watch someone level up like that and by seeing them do it it gives you a sense of endless possibilities. If you took several weeks and just baked from pre-sunup to post-sundown, you, too, could become magic, could make that extraordinary thing on the screen. Giving viewers *that* feeling is a gift beyond measure and makes for must-see-TV. 

But I think they *get* there by carefully crafting the shape of the show. The first ep is just shaking off the jitters. Something familiar and comforting and relatively easy. Someone will fail just because of their jitters. The next ep is teaching the bakers to respect the clock. Don't get too fancy, figure out how to scale back when needed. Then, week 3. Bread week. You have to understand the pacing of not just the fiddly elements but of the bake itself. You have to know how much time for this or that rise, how much for the bake. You're going to have to make some tradeoffs because there's not enough time to do it the way you would at home, so know *which* corners to cut. In the next weeks, with their mix of ingredients and techniques, if they don't have the skills from the first three weeks (time management, changing plans on the fly) *and* if they don't have a breadth and depth of general baking knowledge then they sink. The magic that shows up in the last last three weeks, when they often just take flight, only comes through those skills that the show *builds.* and this year it doesn't seem to be building those skills. Perhaps that is because they didn't think this round of contestants was up to it - that they didn't have the depth of knowledge to build from. But it would have been nice to see how these lovely people might have managed if the season *had* nurtured their skills the way it usually does. 

[jpgr]

42 minutes ago, ombre said:

Also, the non-bread bread week. That's usually the moment when you really start to see who understands the *science* of baking. As near as I can tell, most of this year's peeps are just following someone else's recipes without any understanding of how as why they work.  

The thing that I've found most delightful in earlier seasons is the way everybody starts off just being general recreational bakers and at some point they all just go mad and spend every waking moment practicing. There's something magical in getting to watch someone level up like that and by seeing them do it it gives you a sense of endless possibilities. If you took several weeks and just baked from pre-sunup to post-sundown, you, too, could become magic, could make that extraordinary thing on the screen. Giving viewers *that* feeling is a gift beyond measure and makes for must-see-TV. 

But I think they *get* there by carefully crafting the shape of the show. The first ep is just shaking off the jitters. Something familiar and comforting and relatively easy. Someone will fail just because of their jitters. The next ep is teaching the bakers to respect the clock. Don't get too fancy, figure out how to scale back when needed. Then, week 3. Bread week. You have to understand the pacing of not just the fiddly elements but of the bake itself. You have to know how much time for this or that rise, how much for the bake. You're going to have to make some tradeoffs because there's not enough time to do it the way you would at home, so know *which* corners to cut. In the next weeks, with their mix of ingredients and techniques, if they don't have the skills from the first three weeks (time management, changing plans on the fly) *and* if they don't have a breadth and depth of general baking knowledge then they sink. The magic that shows up in the last last three weeks, when they often just take flight, only comes through those skills that the show *builds.* and this year it doesn't seem to be building those skills. Perhaps that is because they didn't think this round of contestants was up to it - that they didn't have the depth of knowledge to build from. But it would have been nice to see how these lovely people might have managed if the season *had* nurtured their skills the way it usually does. 

100% all of this!

[ombre]

21 hours ago, ombre said:

Also, the non-bread bread week. That's usually the moment when you really start to see who understands the *science* of baking. As near as I can tell, most of this year's peeps are just following someone else's recipes without any understanding of how as why they work.  

The thing that I've found most delightful in earlier seasons is the way everybody starts off just being general recreational bakers and at some point they all just go mad and spend every waking moment practicing. There's something magical in getting to watch someone level up like that and by seeing them do it it gives you a sense of endless possibilities. If you took several weeks and just baked from pre-sunup to post-sundown, you, too, could become magic, could make that extraordinary thing on the screen. Giving viewers *that* feeling is a gift beyond measure and makes for must-see-TV. 

But I think they *get* there by carefully crafting the shape of the show. The first ep is just shaking off the jitters. Something familiar and comforting and relatively easy. Someone will fail just because of their jitters. The next ep is teaching the bakers to respect the clock. Don't get too fancy, figure out how to scale back when needed. Then, week 3. Bread week. You have to understand the pacing of not just the fiddly elements but of the bake itself. You have to know how much time for this or that rise, how much for the bake. You're going to have to make some tradeoffs because there's not enough time to do it the way you would at home, so know *which* corners to cut. In the next weeks, with their mix of ingredients and techniques, if they don't have the skills from the first three weeks (time management, changing plans on the fly) *and* if they don't have a breadth and depth of general baking knowledge then they sink. The magic that shows up in the last last three weeks, when they often just take flight, only comes through those skills that the show *builds.* and this year it doesn't seem to be building those skills. Perhaps that is because they didn't think this round of contestants was up to it - that they didn't have the depth of knowledge to build from. But it would have been nice to see how these lovely people might have managed if the season *had* nurtured their skills the way it usually does. 

I've kept thinking about this for the last day.  You know what I would watch until the cows came home?  A show like this - building skills and techniques and knowledge, giving time to practice, but also regular tests - where everybody was starting from scratch with a totally unknown skill.  One year it might be baking (baking's good because the projects are so short from inception to completion).  One year it might be metalworking.  Or archery.  Or playing guitar.  Or masonry.  Or whatever.  Start from complete scratch.  Play it out like the pandemic bubble (so they have resources to practice as much as they want).  Or play it out over a longer time period but find a way to make sure people had plenty of resources to practice.  Let people feel inspired by just how much an adult *can* learn.  How much they can bring other skills and knowledge to bear on a new skill.

[Irlandesa]

44 minutes ago, ombre said:

Let people feel inspired by just how much an adult *can* learn.  How much they can bring other skills and knowledge to bear on a new skill.

Netflix has a show called School of Chocolate that is pretty much exactly like this.  They selected winners but no one leaves.  Each week is a new skill.  And the last episode is a competition between the top competitors for the "win" but even the losers "win" because they pick up new skills.

[cynicat]

On 11/8/2022 at 5:23 PM, janie jones said:

I'm half Filipino and an ex-boyfriend once tried to impress my by telling me me his (white, American) dad made "the best" lumpia and whitesplaining why these things are called egg rolls. Ask him! He knows why!

I think I can see why you describe him as an EX-boyfriend.

[lidarose9]

To me Maxy seemed genuinely distracted, like she just found out she's pregnant.

[SemiCharmedLife]

The Pure Wow Food blog had an article about the difference between a spring roll and an egg roll.  I enjoyed this  paragraph:

The key difference between egg rolls and spring rolls is that the former is a Chinese-American invention and the latter is a vast and varied group of dim sum dishes originating in Asia. Aside from that, egg rolls are made using a wheat wrapper and spring rolls vary by region. This distinction also extends to what ends up going inside: Spring rolls are often lightly stuffed with vegetarian fare, meat or seafood, whereas egg rolls are usually a heartier bite and are most often filled with cabbage. But from our experience, neither one is likely to let you down.

[SandyToes]

On 11/9/2022 at 1:35 PM, ombre said:

The magic that shows up in the last last three weeks, when they often just take flight, only comes through those skills that the show *builds.* and this year it doesn't seem to be building those skills.

Exactly. I think several times this season someone has said, "I never practiced this" before their showstopper/signature. (How can it be your signature bake if you've never made it before?!)  In the past, the comments were usually more along the, "I've done it four times and home, and it worked three times"  types of things.  So this season's group isn't building new skills because so many aren't putting in the work.  I do miss when more of them were "home bakers" - like grandmas (or grandsons!) who baked good cakes, good bread, good stuff for their friends and families. And like Ombre said, built new skills along the way.

[awaken]

So sad to see maxy go!  She’s been one of my favorites!  
 

egg rolls aren’t baking..,so many other options for pastry!

Abdul did fine but he doesn’t stand out for me at all. 

[awaken]

On 11/7/2022 at 10:32 AM, Cetacean said:

Those were so pretty.  The Canadian bakers are SO good this season!  It's just miniscule things that count now.  I think they are heads above GBBO this time.  Plus Paul seems so nasty sometimes.

Is the Canadian show also on Netflix?  Sounds really good!

[Cetacean]

8 hours ago, awaken said:

Is the Canadian show also on Netflix?  Sounds really good!

Sadly, no.  You need to be able to get CBC.  If you are in the northern states of the US, you can probably get it but otherwise out of luck.  Can't even stream it from their website unless you use a VPN that masks you are not in Canada.  Such a jewel, they should share!

[TimothyQ]

9 hours ago, awaken said:

Is the Canadian show also on Netflix?  Sounds really good!

Many of the episodes are available on YouTube, including the most recent season!

[blackwing]

I was very sad to see Maxy go, she has been my favourite since Day 1.  But I agree she didn't have a good week.  However, none of them had a good week.  I didn't think she was that much worse than the others and I had been hoping they were going to consider previous performance, like they seemed to cut Janusz a break on his gloopy custard the previous week.  I probably would have sent home Abdul since he alone of the five had never won Star Baker while Maxy was a two-time winner.

Re egg roll vs spring roll, this definitely appeared to be a Chinese cooking exercise, and this article spells out what I think the differences are: https://www.tasteofhome.com/article/spring-roll-vs-egg-roll/.  The picture at the top says it all... egg rolls are the thick bubbly looking wrappers while spring rolls are the smooth thinner wrappers.

On 11/6/2022 at 7:12 PM, Xantar said:

Re: egg rolls vs spring rolls

I’m Vietnamese and it’s worth keeping in mind that terms like “egg roll” are completely made up by white people. After all an egg roll doesn’t even actually contain eggs! In Vietnamese we have names for the various rolls doesn’t even have the word for “roll” in it. I’ll bet this is true of other Asian languages.

So is it a spring roll or an egg roll or a fresh summer roll? There’s no correct answer because it’s all made up.

Also, they are definitely not baked goods. 

On 11/7/2022 at 8:25 AM, Athena said:

Egg rolls in North America are Chinese-American cuisine which is not the same as Chinese cuisine from China (which itself encompasses many styles). They were developed by Chinese Americans in the early 20th century for the North American market. The WIki article has a succinct history.  No one knows why egg is part of the name because traditionally most Asian rolls don't have egg.

Agreed not baked goods!

Some of the comments earlier in the thread said that spring rolls are rice paper and aren't cooked.  I agree that a Vietnamese spring roll is exactly that.  The white uncooked rolls, usually filled with shrimp, noodles and vegetables like cucumber.  For Chinese spring rolls, they are definitely fried.  I agree that "egg roll" is a term developed by restaurant owners who adapted traditional receipes to an American palate.  The same school of cooking that developed General Tso's Chicken, Beef and (American) broccoli, chop suey.  I always thought that the "Egg" in egg roll referred to the egg used in making the wrapper.

Regardless, I couldn't believe that making spring rolls was a baking challenge.  I guess they had to make the wrapper but it wasn't even baked, it was fried.

[Crs97]

I had to wait for the drawings of each person’s plan to understand what in the world the showstopper was meant to be.  That was ridiculous.  Sandro is exhausting.