S06.E02: Biscuits

[Athena]

Quote

With cake week under their belts, the 11 remaining bakers must now prove themselves with biscuits.

The signature challenge is to create 24 biscotti. Twice baked, these Italian specialities have to be crammed with flavour and have a crisp crunch. It's a delicate balance between underbaked and bendy, or overbaked and rock hard.

Paul chooses the technical challenge, arlettes, a labour-intensive reverse puff pastry biscuit from south-west France. Wafer-thin, flaky and swirled with cinnamon, delicious to eat but devilishly difficult to make.

And finally, the showstopper is to create and build an edible biscuit box filled with 36 biscuits of a different flavour.

Judges Mary and Paul want to see the bakers exercise their creative muscles with clever construction and beautiful decoration, while not forgetting that flavour is king. The pressure is on, and the clock is ticking. Who will claim Star Baker, and who will be leaving the Bake Off tent?

Extra Slice talk also allowed.

[some1105]

Oh nooooooo!  I jinxed Marie!  I'm not going to say a word about Nadiya.  Or I can just absolve myself and blame the Curse of the Star Baker.

 

I was glad to see some of the men start to stand out, particularly through the individuality of their bakes.  My mouth started watering just hearing about Ian's plans for orange and rosemary biscotti.  Now if I could just stop confusing his name with Mat's.

Edited August 13, 2015 by some1105

[Athena]

Ian did really well in each challenge. His macarons looked perfect. Well deserved.

 

Marie did poorly on all challenges so she definitely should have been sent home. In the past week, it was revealed in the news that Marie had was not a home cook and had been a professional baker. Now that point seems moot. I do agree that she played way too much into her comfort zone.

 

Sue finally messed up a contestant's bake. Though this is not the first time, but she probably got a good scolding from the producers and Paul and Mary.

 

Nadiya is totally adorable. I love her facial expressions.

[shandy]

Fudgin' no! I liked Marie's personality but yep, thou shalt not be simple in the showstopper. Marie, didn't you watch stormin' Norman last year. You must almost be neighbors. These be the rules of bake-off. 

 

Hashtag Sue-should-hang - has she one redeeming feature? All that unhygienic leaning on food prep surfaces.  However, take note Irish folk who throw things into trash cans, kudos to Nadiya that's how to take adversity with class AND not be a doormat. Dorret seems on the edge all the time, my nerves cannot take it. Flora - a teenager who reads cookbooks in French - awesome. As a mostly 90s kid I have to show support for Ugne's showstopper, the colors took me back to dial up internet and my sister blaring out Groove is in the Heart from her bedroom. 

 

Alvin is such a sweet soul, Tamal could take my pulse any time, I think I was a little hasty about firefighter Mat, I thought he would light that tent up week on week but he's pleasantly dull. 

[ceebee]

Mmmm. I do love biscotti!

Poor Marie had a shocker of a week both on and off the show, but I think Mary summed it up for me - if you play safe with the classics, they better be perfection.

I'm another one loving Nadiya's expressive face and I like her sense of humor, too. She's one of my favorites (along with Tamal, Ian, Matt and Ugne), though I like them all. I cringed when she took her biscuit-basket off the bowl and put it back in the oven. It was only ever going to end one way! And then Sue mucked up the lid. Good on her for not having a meltdown!

Alvin hasn't made much impact for me, though my heart went out to him when he had to present his deconstructed box!

Flora seems to be a very competent young woman. I like her, so hope the public don't take against her for being a bit posh ('we have an Aga at home...', 'When I travelled in Italy....', 'I have over a hundred cookery books, many of them French..').

Sandy's savory box and bickies looked divine.

Edited August 13, 2015 by ceebee

[OnceSane]

The lady who made the frogs (sorry, still learning names), how did she think those were a good idea? Maybe if she'd handmade the cookie cutter, it might have flown. But it just looked lazy in comparison to everyone else. Especially whatshername's fortune cookies!

[bybrandy]

Man I love Nadiya.   I was so, so glad that her bakes tasted great!  I was worried about those bowls even before Sue broke it.   

Flora is a bit posh.   However, she backs it up with some seriously solid baking.  I like her more than I thought I would.  I think she is my second or third favorite.   

 

I thought those technical bake looked really beautiful.  I think I'll be trying that one.  

 

Marie was easily the right person to go home this week.   I seriously wonder how she thought she had a chance with those plain, round, short biscuits.   

[kscoaster]

Alvin hasn't made much impact for me, though my heart went out to him when he had to present his deconstructed box!

The fact that he kept his cool and made sure he finished his brandy snaps was one of the more strategically smart decisions I've seen on the show. So many bakers let one mistake spiral into a complete disaster.

 

But it just looked lazy in comparison to everyone else.

I seriously wonder how she thought she had a chance with those plain, round, short biscuits.

 

 

This was definitely not a week to be just "okay".  I thought there was a lot of good-to-excellent bakes his week.

 

Am I the only one who had never heard of the technical challenge before?  Boy those looked good.  I couldn't help thinking of Glenn when I saw them wrapping the pastry inside the butter...

[Rinaldo]

I couldn't help thinking of Glenn when I saw them wrapping the pastry inside the butter...

I know! Glenn was my first thought! After all the scorn Paul heaped on Glenn's inside-out puff pastry method, and now they're required to do it? Those looked like interesting cookies (excuse me, biscuits), though it seems like a disproportionate amount of work to end up with only 8.

 

Nadiya is turning out to be the one with the perfectly timed closing jokes. I like her. And Tamal is a favorite for me at the moment.

[Kromm]

Flora seems to be a very competent young woman. I like her, so hope the public don't take against her for being a bit posh ('we have an Aga at home...', 'When I travelled in Italy....', 'I have over a hundred cookery books, many of them French..').

She's not going to go any further than the last young un' on this show though. Paul and Mary don't seem to take the young contestants very seriously. I mean she placed second in the part of the show where no bias was possible, but then when asked which bakers were in contention for Star Baker, of course Paul never even mentioned her (I mean after the second challenge--clearly after the broken box in the third she was never going to be).

Edited August 14, 2015 by Kromm

[shandy]

Am I the only one who had never heard of the technical challenge before?  Boy those looked good.  I couldn't help thinking of Glenn when I saw them wrapping the pastry inside the butter...

 

They sort of remind me of a thin version of those Danish butter cookies they sell at Christmas time, but probably made very differently.

 

I enjoy biscotti with a good coffee,  and I thought, why are they serving sweet wine with biscotti and not a nice coffee, but then discover that's the italian way - I learn a lot every week. 

[Athena]

She's not going to go any further than the last young un' on this show though. Paul and Mary don't seem to take the young contestants very seriously. I mean she placed second in the part of the show where no bias was possible, but then when asked which bakers were in contention for Star Baker, of course Paul never even mentioned her (I mean after the second challenge--clearly after the broken box in the third she was never going to be).

 

I kinda like how this show does favour amateur cooks who have been doing this for a long time and the show rewards the experience. However, Martha got far last year, she made it to the Top 5 and in a previous season,

there was a young winner who was 23

years old. Flora has the potential to go to the top three, there have been at least three other finalists young (mostly early 20s) finalists.

 

I think Flora was middle of the pack in the first challenge and did well on the second one. She hasn't shown anything exceptional so far. I think Martha was more impressive last year and less obviously posh. Flora seems like a nice girl though.

 

The arlettes are similar to palmiers. I love palmiers.

[doesntworkonwood]

I hate jack fruit. My parents used to buy it and it would stink up the entire house. I was actually really surprised that it worked in the biscotti because it can be fairly wet. 

 

I love Nadiya, though she was wrong about the 'no bangladeshi deserts' thing. She was right about the coconut thing though. 

[LaChavalina]

The lady who made the frogs (sorry, still learning names), how did she think those were a good idea? Maybe if she'd handmade the cookie cutter, it might have flown. But it just looked lazy in comparison to everyone else. Especially whatshername's fortune cookies!

They didn't seem to ask her whether she'd made it, did they? If she had, I'd say it's as fair for her to do that as it is for the other contestants to bring their own molds and stencils and whatever else. I suppose we're meant to assume it was store-bought. I think she's not long for the competition and I'm surprised she didn't leave this episode.

 

I think they're kind of unfair to Paul (the contestant). They seem to be equating him with Marie and last season's Norman as "old people with uninventive bakes," but I don't think he's been particularly bad about it.

 

Tamal can bring his box of checkerboard goodies to my house any time.

[Pallida]

While I don't think Dorret is going to last (she seems too nervous), I was a bit annoyed that the judges critiqued her frog cutter while nothing was shown for others using cutters.  I can't remember who had it, but someone else was using a basic round cutter.  I understand that the frog-shape was supposed to be a bit of a selling point, and obviously circular shapes aren't "special," but it seemed a bit nitpicky.

 

But then again, I generally like that the judges are nitpicky about flavors and textures because it's so informative. 

 

I also love Nadiya's facial expressions and humor.  Seeing how fortune cookies would be handmade was pretty fascinating too!

 

I think I'm too giddy.  I love this show.  I love that this show has a following as well.

[kscoaster]

I can't remember who had it, but someone else was using a basic round cutter.  I understand that the frog-shape was supposed to be a bit of a selling point, and obviously circular shapes aren't "special," but it seemed a bit nitpicky.

That was Norman. They did ding Martha for using chocolate molds in the European cake challenge, so it's not unprecedented. I like the judging in general, so I forgive their occasional quirks about things. I think for Dorret, it was more of a subtle "step up your game" comment. I sure hope she knows how to bake bread, otherwise I think she's a goner next week.

[NYGirl]

My 18 month grandson was sitting on my lap while watching and he was drooling over the biscuits (cookies).  Well so was I... so I had to get up in search of something to satisfy our sweet tooth.

 

It seems like these contestants don't put their hair up .. I think they should be wearing some kind of headwear while baking.  I mean also..you're on TV...do your hair nice... you look so messy!

 

I did like that one lady..I believe Sue?  cookie box.  It was pretty fancy.

 

They make everything look so easy.  I always want to bake after watching.  Then the feeling goes away fast when I think of how I can't bake..lol

[3 is enough]

Watching in hi-def is quite interesting.  On the one hand, the food looks great, but the close-ups of the contestants' faces can be a bit of a distraction.  Contestant Paul had what looked like a purple bruise (or a birthmark?) on his forehead.  I just kept wondering if he was hurt.

 

Ian looks so much like Jim Cuddy of Blue Rodeo.

 

I am liking everyone, but think unless she really steps up Dorret is skating on thin ice. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I agree that Nadiya and Alvin deserve a lot of credit for not losing their cool when it became obvious that their showstopper boxes were not going to be completed as intended. In the past, we have seen people totally lose it as soon as they realize that there is a problem (see: Iain tossing his ice cream cake last season). Alvin just kept plugging away on his brandysnaps and Nadiya had the class not to start chasing Sue around the tent with a rolling pin.

 

In all honestly, I'm surprised that it took six seasons for Sue to ruin someone's creation since she is the one always poking around in people's work stations (she still has some goodwill stored after she was so kind and encouraging about Dorret's mudslide of a mousse).

 

ETA: I am very reactionary so if my showstopper somehow got ruined, I would be running around the tent screaming and flailing like Kermit the Frog so I really admire people like Alvin and Nadiya who take it in stride.

Edited August 16, 2015 by ElectricBoogaloo

[BusyOctober]

So I need to find a bakery that has Arlettes, STAT! I'd never eat another biscuit/cookie again! I would try to make them myself, but there's very little return on investment. 8 biscuits? Really?? Plus, my past attempts with lamination did not end well. Pounds of butter & buckets of tears.

I like Flora, Nadiya and Ian the most so far. I worry for all of the bakers when it's Bread Week. Paul H. Is always snooty but he's down right insufferable when he judges bread. He's like Joe Bastianich (Master Chef US) and Tom Colichio (Top Chef) with the "sniff and sneer" attitude.

[Athena]

So I need to find a bakery that has Arlettes, STAT! I'd never eat another biscuit/cookie again! I would try to make them myself, but there's very little return on investment. 8 biscuits? Really?? Plus, my past attempts with lamination did not end well. Pounds of butter & buckets of tears.

 

If you have a good source/brand for puff pastry, there are a lot of arlettes recipe on the internet for it so you don't have to make it from scratch. Google "arlettes puff pastry sheet"  Here's one.

[kscoaster]

If you have a good source/brand for puff pastry, there are a lot of arlettes recipe on the internet for it so you don't have to make it from scratch. Google "arlettes puff pastry sheet"  Here's one.

Thanks! There's actually a chance I might make some now :-)

[shandy]

Yay, Emma's doing the technical bakes again this year. She is by far my favorite GBBO blogger - I love the ingredient porn. 

 

http://emmaforth.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/technical-thursday-pauls-arlettes.html

 

I didn't know where best to put these but she's catching up fast:

 

http://emmaforth.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/technical-thursday-pauls-baguettes.html

http://emmaforth.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/technical-thursday-marys-frosted-walnut.html

http://emmaforth.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/technical-thursday-marys-spanische.html

 

I really should give her a comment! 

Edited September 3, 2015 by shandy

[zxy556575]

Oh, Marie. She didn't make much of an impression one way or the other, which was her downfall in the end. Judges on competitive reality shows generally appreciate creativity even when it fails, but playing it safe is the kiss of death.

Nice episode, even though I have a grudge against dry old biscotti. My Italian grandparents always kept some on hand, but even as a sweets-loving kid I didn't consider it to be worth the effort spent chewing it, so none of the versions we saw tonight were appealing to me. I guess I'm just not that fond of crisp cookies, although I'd make an exception for the arlettes if they taste anything like elephant ears/palmiers.

Edited July 9, 2016 by lordonia

[Primetimer]

The bakers, though, are less excited

View the full article

[EyewatchTV211]

5 minutes ago, lordonia said:

Oh, Marie. She didn't make much of an impression one way or the other, which was her downfall in the end. Judges on competitive reality shows generally appreciate creativity even when it fails, but playing it safe is the kiss of death.

Nice episode, even though I have a grudge against dry old biscotti. My Italian grandparents always kept some on hand, but even as a sweets-loving kid I didn't consider it to be worth the effort spent chewing it, so none of the versions we saw tonight were appealing to me. I guess I'm just not that fond of crisp cookies, although I'd make an exception for the arlettes if the taste anything like elephant ears/palmiers.

I agree, though I did try biscotti from a good, old-fashioned Italian restaurant near me and was pleasantly surprised that I liked it. But I generally prefer my cookies soft and chewy. So when they were criticizing people for that with the arlettes, I figured I would probably like them. When I make my cookies (granted from a store bought mix, not scratch), I try to bake them just enough to be considered cooked but not enough to be crispy. 

[Rinaldo]

I still don't see what's reprehensible about using a store-bought cookie mold. They don't ask them to forge and shape all their muffin tins and cake pans, do they? I can see that Dorret's in trouble in other respects, but that point doesn't seem like a big deal to me.

Just like last week with Dorret's oozy cake not sending her home, it's lovely to see that the judging doesn't make a single-issue condemnation out of not finishing assembly. Yes, Alvin didn't put his box together, and that should count against him, but it doesn't necessarily outweigh everything else.

I think I am finally figuring out ways to tell Mat and Ian apart (I know nobody else has this problem, but I do). As long as they don't change their hairstyles....

[Dave in Chicago]

Count me among the people who have no problem with cookie cutters in this context. How is that any more lazy than generic, freeform roundish biscuits?

[jumper sage]

59 minutes ago, lordonia said:

Nice episode, even though I have a grudge against dry old biscotti. My Italian grandparents always kept some on hand, but even as a sweets-loving kid I didn't consider it to be worth the effort spent chewing it, so none of the versions we saw tonight were appealing to me.

 

19 minutes ago, forumfish said:

Dunking in coffee was mandatory.

Both of you remind me of my family and I completely agree.  Sicilian here and I never liked biscotti.  My grandparents always dunked their in coffee until it was soft enough...and then had floaties in the coffee.  YUCK!  At work someone brought in biscotti and it was delicious, firm but not hard.  She said she modified the recipe sent down through her family.  It would not pass Paul and Mary's snap test but I like it better.

The brunette host:  Keep away from the bakes.  This is not the first time she has messed up someone's bake.  She does take credit for it right away though and the contestant seems to have immunity so......

[Rick Kitchen]

What are barberries?

Ian brought his own rosemary?  Do they have to bring their own ingredients with them?

Oh, Ugne, remember what happened when Stu "experimented" last week?

It's interesting how some people had one loaf of biscotti and some had two, and Flora baked hers in two different levels of the oven.

How can they eat those with no coffee?  Especially so many of them to try? Eek.

"My rosemary is vindicated."  LOL.

Flora is so indecisive about everything.  She makes me nervous.

I wonder if the recipes they were given had pictures of the expected final product.

I don't like seeing Marie struggling.

How does Nadiya keep flour off of her black scarf?

Sandy's "biscuits" with parmesan sound revolting.

Using a cookie cutter is a shortcut?  But using a template is okay?  Why?

Tamal was not nearly as good tonight as last week.

"tickettyboo".  How very British.

I thought Mat's piping on his fire engine was rather plain.

Good job, Ian, he seemed to do it all this week.

Nooooooooo!!!!!!!!! Not Marie!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MerBearHou]

I'm going to have to watch a second time because I had a very hard time deciphering what people were saying.  That's really never been an issue before but golly, tonight I had to lean in to understand way too often. And I do love to hear all of their little aside-comments and mutterings.

Big dork here: I actually Googled "arlettes" and watched 3 YouTube demonstrations on baking them. I'm not going to be attempting them now, but cheers to these bakers. 

Overall, all of the boxes and biscuits inside impressed me, at least in theory and creativity. 

Was so happy for cute, humble Ian. Love that he's never been Top Baker in his tiny village and he triumphed in a big way on GBBO. 

And so sad that Marie had such a bad week. She bakes so frequently and was quite successful last week -- I expected her to last a long time.  She was so very gracious in defeat.

Paul the prison governor was adorable in his "pink for my wife".

Flora is precious. I'd like to adopt her. But I would encourage her to take her hand off her face--it's there way too much. Such a shame her pretty, intricate box lid cracked.

Alvin almost made me cry when he was trying to be stoic. So bummed that his box couldn't be assembled -- those gingerbread pieces looked sad all stacked up as they were. I'm very glad that didn't send him home.

Dorret was really up and down. I thought she was totally lost in the arlettes but ended up very well. The box of frogs idea cracked me up.  

Sandy "swimming" on her stool during some down time...she is a hoot. I like her. 

Sue needs to really be careful--she inserts herself a little too closely in the bakers' work. She was fanning Nadiya's cake at one point. Be like Mel, Mary and Paul when they come around.  Adore her humor and kindness, but keep a teeny bit more distance.

[GaT]

Since I've spent a lot of this season thinking about how Marie bugged me for some reason, I'm not sorry to see her go.

I had no idea how biscotti got their shape, so I was really confused when everyone shaped their dough into the rectangles & baked them. When they sliced them I had an "aha!" moment.

I thought all the showstopper boxes were pretty awesome.

I wonder what they do when one of the hosts ruins something a contestant made? What if Nadiya's biscuits weren't good, would they have eliminated her?

[Zahdii]

Haven't had a chance to watch it yet as my local PBS station was having issues again.  Luckily, it's available online:

http://www.pbs.org/video/2365777836/

[tvchick]

As requested, here's a link to the WaPo's recap of this episode:

episode 2 recap

I thought that the guest pastry chef's play-by-play comments and tips were great, and I love that she may use leftover puff pastry to make arlettes for her shop.

[Rinaldo]

8 hours ago, jumper sage said:

The brunette host:  

That's Sue. I kept mixing up which host was which last year until I told myself that the one with the boyish name (Mel) is not the one with the boyish haircut and clothes. (That's not meant to be critical -- I like her style -- but just descriptive for the sake of a mnemonic.)

8 hours ago, Rick Kitchen said:

Ian brought his own rosemary?  Do they have to bring their own ingredients with them?

They don't have to, but they can in a specific case, if they're particular about an item, or grow/make it themselves, or whatever. At times people have brought the eggs that their own hens laid (yes, how British), or an herb from their garden.

Quote

I wonder if the recipes they were given had pictures of the expected final product.

As far as I can tell, they never do. That's part of the challenge. We've sometimes heard bakers say, in those bewildered first moments, "I think I've seen one once, so there's that at least."

Quote

Sandy's "biscuits" with parmesan sound revolting.

What's wrong with cheesy crackers? Each to their own taste and all, but I've always enjoyed them. It can get confusing that UK "biscuits" equal both US "crackers" and "cookies" (though they now use both those words in specific cases too). So I can't tell which they mean except by context; in this case, Sandy and the announcer kept specifying that she was the only one going the savory (i.e. not sweet) route with her Showstopper, so her box and goodies inside were crackers rather than cookies, hence the Parmesan.

[Jesse]

Yeah, Parmesan crackers are the only thing I wanted to bake myself after watching that episode. And maybe I will!

[jumper sage]

9 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

 

I'm going to have to watch a second time because I had a very hard time deciphering what people were saying.  That's really never been an issue before but golly, tonight I had to lean in to understand way too often. And I do love to hear all of their little aside-comments and mutterings.

 

I watch with closed captioning.  

This really is a great show.  I love everything about it.

[pbutler111]

  10 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

 

I'm going to have to watch a second time because I had a very hard time deciphering what people were saying.  That's really never been an issue before but golly, tonight I had to lean in to understand way too often. And I do love to hear all of their little aside-comments and mutterings.

 

I watch with closed captioning.  

This really is a great show.  I love everything about it.

We do the same! Having years and years of British TV and movie watching under my belt, I can catch most of it, but my husband really struggles.

[Quilt Fairy]

2 hours ago, pbutler111 said:

We do the same! Having years and years of British TV and movie watching under my belt, I can catch most of it, but my husband really struggles.

It depends on how regional the accent is, I think.  Scottish? Oy!  Love the burr, but I can't make out the words to save my soul.  Closed-captioning is a life-saver.

[justmehere]

Re: the various questions about the frog cookie cutter vs. templates: I wonder if it has to do with decoration or other elements. The frog stamp was the only thing to shape and decorate the cookies. And, as mentioned above, they dinged Martha in another season for using chocolate molds. (Also, they dinged Marie for plain rounds, although, to me, macarons and filling seem very plain - maybe they're harder to make than flavored shortbread?) As for using a template for the savory box -- while she only used simple docking on the sides for decoration, there were several cutout decorations and maybe something else on top. The template helped her shape the pieces, but they still had to fit and hold together. That definitely seems like more than using a cookie cutter and nothing else.

One thing bothered me a little about them sending Marie home. Mary's comment about needing perfection with the basics makes sense, and Marie didn't execute her bakes to perfection. But this time, they also dinged her for lack of creativity. There seems to be a fine line with them sometimes. If someone is praised for doing the basics well, why wouldn't they do it again? If they had already warned her about stretching herself, that's one thing, but she won Star Baker last week, and it's only one week later. Why not stick with it? I guess Paul did say something about her showstopper cake, but they gave her the award anyway. I'm not saying she necessarily should have stayed; it's the inconsistency in judging comments that doesn't sit quite right.

[Clanstarling]

21 hours ago, VMepicgrl said:

I agree, though I did try biscotti from a good, old-fashioned Italian restaurant near me and was pleasantly surprised that I liked it. But I generally prefer my cookies soft and chewy. So when they were criticizing people for that with the arlettes, I figured I would probably like them. When I make my cookies (granted from a store bought mix, not scratch), I try to bake them just enough to be considered cooked but not enough to be crispy. 

I like my cookies crisp, but biscotti not so much - they tend to be too thick for me to bite through without effort. The first biscotti I ever had were so hard, I couldn't eat them without dunking them into coffee. Given that I got them at a coffee kiosk, I decided that was the way they were intended to be consumed. Imagine my surprise when I eventually found out that wasn't so. Still don't care for them, though.

9 hours ago, Jesse said:

Yeah, Parmesan crackers are the only thing I wanted to bake myself after watching that episode. And maybe I will!

They were the only ones I wanted to eat - I was in the mood for savory instead of sweet, I guess.

I really liked the notched box. I never quite figured out the "baby" on Ugne's box. It never looked like anything to me. I was disappointed that Nadyia's container didn't work out (thanks partly to her, and also Sue). It looked so pretty in the sketch.

[Portia]

On 8/15/2015 at 10:54 AM, 3 is enough said:

Watching in hi-def is quite interesting.  On the one hand, the food looks great, but the close-ups of the contestants' faces can be a bit of a distraction.  Contestant Paul had what looked like a purple bruise (or a birthmark?) on his forehead.  I just kept wondering if he was hurt.

The red mark was there last  week as well. Looks like a birthmark to me.

Two episodes in, I'm  officially  hooked on  this show!

[MerBearHou]

I watched it again today on my office computer with the sound turned up and sitting very close!  It's Saturday -- no one was there (this could become a habit).  I heard nearly every single mumbled utterance -- I had missed so many tiny moments the first time around -- and had the luxury of quickly rewinding just a bit in case I couldn't quite tell, for example, that Ian had actually said "tiggety-boo".  Thoroughly enjoyed it the 2nd time around, even though these challenges were quite hard IMO.  

Ugne is fortunate that her biscuits in the box tasted so good because that box was a hideous glob of Mardi Gras icing.

Loved when Mel quickly said that Mary is their "golden Berry" -- clever and so true.

Another favorite little moment was when Marie was talking to Paul about what had gone wrong with her biscotti and asking him to be nice -- her wording and facial expressions and his quiet moment of slyly walking away, drinking coffee -- very amusing to me.  Sorry to see Marie go -- she was a delightful character (they all are).

[stillshimpy]

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It depends on how regional the accent is, I think.  Scottish? Oy!  Love the burr, but I can't make out the words to save my soul.  Closed-captioning is a life-saver.

 

 

 

Yeah, there's the very polite and easily processed Scots' accents of the BBC and then there are things like the Elgin Scots' accent.  I spent part of my childhood essentially translating my grandfather and grandmother's accents for people, since they both had (or in one case, still has) accents from a very industrial area.  Even having family members with really thick accents doesn't actually help in some cases.  Pretty sure even the translation apps on phones would simply return a "I beg your pardon?  Did you say the goat's pudding wears a skirt? Wait, what?  Your shoe has a thudding headache?" 

Boy biscuit week tends to bomb with me, because the emphasis is almost always on crisp and how well something snaps.  Biscotti is best used as a home protection device.  Hurl a bag of those bricks at the head of an intruder and boogey on out of the nearest exit.  Then as the person in charge of the vast majority of crumb chasing in this household, the very flaky, very crisp things not only fail to appeal to me from the cookie angle because all I can think is that I'll need to get out the vacuum at the end of the snack.  Possibly during.  Shattering is not an appetizing concept to me. Like a lot of Americans I tend to prefer soft and chewy to crisp and crunchy, I don't like having to perform mouth-threat-assessment on my baked goods, oddly enough.  

Mostly though Biscuit week almost always seems to have a brutal technical and show-stopper segment.  Poor Marie, but she can go back home and have people fawn over her talents again and feel better for it.  

Best laugh of the night for me was Mary and Paul telling Ugne that her biscuit box had garish decorations.  Don't get me wrong, sure thing, icing wrought in the shape of a cookie-stealing-baby is almost guaranteed to be garish, but then almost all biscuit boxes will be, by definition.  There aren't a bunch of magazines dedicated to Mid-century cookie architecture, you know?  I'm sure there's some super elegant being out there that can construct a cunning cookie skyscraper complete with a sugar glass menagerie in an atrium, but you probably wouldn't want to eat the thing.   

Poor Nadiya's facial expression are still just making me giggle.  Never pick that woman as your alibi for anything, even if she is legitimately your alibi and you all were hanging out, discussing the proper use of cardamon powder in a cake for the entirety of the time the murder/bank robbery/public urination was meant to have occurred hopefully someone else saw you two together, because under questioning that poor woman always looks two tiny inches away from a cardiac event.    I think Nadiya is awesome, but man, she must have never gotten away with even one tiny thing as a kid.  

The other night I was on the phone with a friend talking about this show and why it is that it just makes us feel better.   There's just something that is like balm to the soul about this show.  As if people are entering that tent through the back of a wardrobe or passing through A Very Nice Looking Glass world to get there.  It just seems removed from the turmoil and upset our current world in a way that strikes an awesome balance between completely wholesome, without tipping over into twee or being precious and being an actual competition that is really interesting to watch.  

On Friday night, at dinner my husband leaned over the table and said, "Guess what tonight is? On your mark....get set...bake!"  and he was clearly really looking forward to it.  It was a crushing week and news cycle here and I have never been so happy to see that tent at the end of a week.  

I know there always have to be the first three people to exit and I always feel bad for them, simply because this is such a nice atmosphere.  The first guy from last week was just punching above his weight class, although he seemed like a perfectly nice man (and good luck with the band, dude, I hope you got some media exposure out of the gig) so when he had to be the first to go, it felt fitting.   Marie seemed to truly have the stuff of an incredibly good home-baker, but the more intricate technical aspects weren't her forte and that's cool.  Somewhere in Scotland her grandchildren are likely happily eating another of Gran's cake and crowning her the Queen of the kitchen via their appreciation.   

Going forward there are a couple of people who seem like they are similarly going to struggle and Dorret's the first person to come to mind as a likely exit in the next few weeks.  

Mostly though I'm just glad to see the back of biscuits in general although something about watching Mary bite into them cracks me up.  She always bites into them from the side of her mouth, I'm assuming to make sure the shards of the super crisp biscuits can't actually stab her in the roof of her mouth. 

ETA:  

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I really liked the notched box. I never quite figured out the "baby" on Ugne's box. It never looked like anything to me. I was disappointed that Nadyia's container didn't work out (thanks partly to her, and also Sue). It looked so pretty in the sketch.

 

 

For all that the icing baby warranted several mentions throughout the show, it seemed like the shot of Ugne's finished creation took pains to not feature it.  I have a feeling it was utterly terrifying.  

Edited July 10, 2016 by stillshimpy

[Clanstarling]

@stillshimpy, thank you. Your post brightened up my morning. Although I do like crisp cookies - your descriptions are hilarious and spot on. I'm still laughing at "mouth-threat-assessment" and "Biscotti is best used as a home protection device."

This show is indeed a balm to the soul.

[Mabinogia]

I liked Ugne's box, all the bright colors made it stand out against all the other beige boxes, but I really didn't get the baby. That was...odd. Her cookies looked amazing though.

I was sad to see Marie go. I liked her, but I get it. I like that the judges explain their decision at the end. And I think it's easier for the bakers to accept their fate since they are not competing for huge wads of money. That is part of what makes this show more wonderful than most. There isn't cutthroat competitiveness because in the end winning isn't going to dramatically change their lives. This is something they are doing for the love of baking.

I do hope Dorritt goes next. I like her well enough, but she has struggled through two eps now and I just don't get the same joy watching her as I do all the others.

My favorites thusfar are Nadiya (LOVE HER!!!!!) Flora (adorable), and the twins (Mat and Ian)...and Paul, and. well, all of them. This is quite possibly the only reality show where I like every single person on the show. Even Sue has grown on me! (I've always preferred Mel, I like her slightly lower key humor to Sue's desperate "look at me! I'm funny!" personality). And I adore Mary Berry more than anything. And the camera people who take those beautiful country shots, and the illustrator who makes those beautiful pictures and just...everything about this show.

It was really interesting that two bakers did the exact same biscuits, the earl grey teabags. Is that a common biscuit design in the UK? I get it in the Earl Grey tea box, but it was an odd filling for the fire truck (which was adorable!)

[stillshimpy]

Biscuits/cookies flavored with Earl Grey are fairly common, Mabinogia, so I think that likely just lent itself to a relatively easy design, you know?  Not a lot of fussy icing piping to be done on them, just make sure they are a recognizable shape and tie on the tags and you're off.    

Totally love the Flora's name is Flora, by the way.  I love the resurgence of some older, oddly poetic names.  

 

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I do hope Dorritt goes next. I like her well enough, but she has struggled through two eps now and I just don't get the same joy watching her as I do all the others.

 

 

 

I like Dorret also, but unlike Nadiya's adorably comedic looks of what appears to be stark terror on occasion, Dorret seems to fret in a more wearing sort of way.  Something about Nadiya's naked anxiety invites empathy because, let's face it, she looks like the personification of emotions we've all felt.  "I. AM. ALARMED."  "I. AM. RELIEVED."  and then what makes it so winning as a trait, "I. AM. OVERJOYED!"  she's emotionally accessible in a way that I just really like, but she doesn't seem on edge.  Dorret seems apprehensive in a way that brings to mind looming root canals vs.  Nadiya's "We've all felt that way before a public speaking, or big test".  I can't really describe it, but I guess all I'm trying to say is that Dorret's version of anxiety just makes me a wee bit tired.   That sounds more negative than I actually mean it to be because she seems like a perfectly nice woman.   Maybe it's the difference between anxiety that needs to be soothed and anxiety that, while it may be an animating force in someone, has other, equally vibrant evidence in a person?  I'm genuinely not sure. 

Although, part of the reason it even occurred to me to compare the two was the way in which Nadiya handled Sue breaking her cookie dome sort of directly contrasted with Dorret's reaction to her mousse last week as the two most recent disasters.  Also, as things were going wildly freaking wrong for Nadiya from jump with her cookie dome, she just forged ahead making those awesome fortune cookies and trying to fix the situation.  

 

ETA (yes, again, it's that sort of day for my brain, apologies):  Paul, the Prison Administrator also delights me.  First we meet him in a veritable greenhouse full of sugar-paste-flowers he apparently renders as a hobby and now he's dying cookies pink and making romantic cookie gestures to his wife.  It's this fabulous contrast to his exterior because he seems a man of few words and since I interpret the mark on his forehead as a scar, that also sort of gives him a tough-guy-vibe, even as he's making romantic confections and sugar bouquets. 

Edited July 10, 2016 by stillshimpy

[Mabinogia]

Thank you stillshimpy. I thought that might be the case because otherwise it seemed an odd coincidence.

12 minutes ago, stillshimpy said:

 I can't really describe it, but I guess all I'm trying to say is that Dorret's version of anxiety just makes me a wee bit tired.  

I feel the same way. Nadiya's anxiety is adorable. I love how she wears every thought in her head on her face like a flashing sign. Dorritt's anxiety just makes me anxious. It's more like a nervous energy she gives off while Nadiya has a calmness to her, she's just very emotive. It is hard to describe.

[Psychobunny]

I'm still trying to figure out what makes this show so wonderful. I was watching reruns of masterchef and I think there are several things. There seems to be less stunt casting, or at least less exploitation of it ie not having Mat show up in full firefighter garb or forcing people to talk about their inspiration. Second, the talking heads are mostly actually during the competition. There doesn't seem like the producers sit down with the contestants after each bake to ask what went right or wrong which gives less chance for manipulative questions and editing. Of course, there are no real surprise twists or crazy ingredients. There isn't any manufactured rivalry or trash talking, only reaction shots of the other bakers, which makes it look like they actually feel for each other (which may just be because British people are nicer). Finally, there are no commercial breaks which means that they don't have to manufacture drama every ten minutes. It just seems like the show has more respect for the audience than American shows. I am looking forward to two shows a week coming up.

Meanwhile, can anyone point me to the controversy about Marie having a professional baking history? Also, what was the deal with the one who taught cooking? (I forget who it was). Was it that she just led a club after school and not as a job? What is her actual job? I think that she was the one who said that she was bad at math and to ask Mr. Simpson so it looks like she at least works in a school.

[ABay]

So glad others couldn't figure out Ugne's baby either! It was just a big yellow and white blob stuck to the side of the box.

Both Dorrett and Alvin exude anxiety in a way that is really uncomfortable for me to watch. Everyone is nervous to a degree and concerned their cookies, cakes, etc won't come out right, but those two project this life or death fear that makes me feel like one of them is going to have a huge melt down or heart attack and that neither of them are getting any pleasure from baking.

Because my local PBS station sucks, I watch GBBO on the PBS website and this week got to see it on a big TV screen instead of my PC because I got a Roku. All the better to see little black lambs and blobbish alleged babies with.