S04.E04: Pies and Tarts

[Athena]

It's week four in the tent and the baking is getting serious, as the remaining bakers put on their pinnies to pimp up pies and tarts.

From the country's oldest known cookbook, we discover the almost 700 year old history of the English custard tart. It might once have been popular at the decadent court of King Richard II but it is now a technical challenge in the Bake Off tent, one which causes more than the intended wobble for the bakers.

 

Starting with what should be a home baker staple, their signature double-crusted fruit pies present a challenge to even the most experienced bakers, let alone the one baker who has a deep-hatred of all things fruit, and the showstopper sorts the bakers from the boys, as they set about making a filo pie centrepiece. Mel and Sue come to their aid as the bakers' nerves are stretched tighter than the filo pastry they are making from scratch.

[NYCFree]

Least likely show I would have predicted that during which I would gasp out loud.

Gasped out loud when Tom(?) took out a custard tart and it broke in his hand.

[Jodithgrace]

They never did establish whether it was better to have pre-cooked the custard for those tarts, did they? I lost track of who cooked theirs and how they turned out, though not a lot of people had any success at all with that recipe. I recently made a Clafouti, which is a baked custard dessert with no crust, and I did not pre-cook that custard, but perhaps having a crust makes a difference.

Sorry to see Ali go, but at this point I'm sorry to see anybody go. The bakers are all so delightful.

I was pleased to see Kimberly finally get the win. Though Ruby has rallied amazingly since the first episode. Both have become serious threats to win it all.

We Americans really suffer from lack of imagination when it comes to desserts. Yes, we have a large assortment of ice creams, cakes and pies, but we don't even come close to the bounty of British or European desserts. From Spotted Dick, through Treacle Tarts and Eton Mess, British "puddings" win the prize. And watching these lovely people bake them is a real treat.

Edited September 27, 2015 by Jodithgrace

[Irlandesa]

They never did establish whether it was better to have pre-cooked the custard for those tarts, did they?

No but I went online to look and the closest I saw to pre-cooking was adding scalded milk to the custard mix.  Most of the critiques were about not baking the crust long enough so I think that was more important than pre-cooking the custard.

 

I'm surprised how appetizing those filo items looked.  But how cruel to make them create the dough from scratch.  What a pain.

[Rickster]

We Americans really suffer from lack of imagination when it comes to desserts. Yes, we have a large assortment of ice creams, cakes and pies, but we don't even come close to the bounty of British or European desserts. From Spotted Dick, through Treacle Tarts and Eton Mess, British "puddings" win the prize. And watching these lovely people bake them is a real treat.

I think this is what bothered me about the American version of the show a few years ago. Everything they made seemed so mundane in comparison.

I was interested to see that the American type of flaky pie crust for a fruit pie doesn't seem to exist in the UK.

[jenh526]

I'm glad this pie episode didn't include the meat pies from last year (memories of Martha draining the river of fat from hers).

 

I thought the custard tarts would've been the easiest thing to make. Ruby was smart in putting paper handles in for ease of removal. Wanted to eat both Kimberly's showstopper and her signature caramel apple pie.

 

Edited to add: sorry to see Ali go too, but it was so sweet how Howard broke down into tears. What lovely people on this show.

Edited September 28, 2015 by jenh526

[Zahdii]

The episode is up:

Season 2, Episode 4: Pies and Tarts

http://video.pbs.org/video/2365571191/

[GaT]

So glad Kimberly finally won star baker, she's been doing some wonderful things. It's starting to look like it may come down to Ruby & Kimberly at the end.

 

All signs were pointing to Ali going home, so, no surprise there.

 

Glenn’s apple & maple pie was gorgeous, & I LOVED the way Francis’s pie “in the sky” looked. Too bad neither one was cooked well

 

How do you get the custard tarts out of the pan??

 

We Americans really suffer from lack of imagination when it comes to desserts. Yes, we have a large assortment of ice creams, cakes and pies, but we don't even come close to the bounty of British or European desserts. From Spotted Dick, through Treacle Tarts and Eton Mess, British "puddings" win the prize. And watching these lovely people bake them is a real treat.

They've been around a lot longer, they've had more time to create stuff.

[graybrown bird]

I LOVE a custard tart, so I found this episode unexpectedly tragic - All those lovely little tarts breaking apart as bakers tried to remove them from the pans.  I'm sorry we didn't learn the secrets of custard tarts.

 

I was impatient as people were cutting out little shapes to decorate their fruit pies, knowing they barely had time to bake the pies.  I would think it's more important to get it into the oven so the pie itself would have time to brown well, top and bottom. I'm also wondering if that wasn't the problem with many of the custard tarts - people left themselves too little time for a good bake, so pastry and custard flopped.

[shandy]

Wow, Paul H was snarky in this ep. Glenn and Frances got smoked.

 

Kimberly is a real ray of sunshine. I was ??? why someone as experienced as Christine would put so much watery fruit into a pie. Glenn and Howard are comedy gold dust. Ruby is irritating me less. Frances is irritating me more. I so wanted Rob's algebraic showstopper to work out but like the octopus, sometimes his ideas are more sophisticated than his techniques.

 

Howard and Christine crying over Ali's departure - how rare this inter-generational inter-ethnic inter-faith 'love' for another contestant would be on other reality shows - it is very life-affirming. Even though Paul stomps around like Simon Cowell lite, this show has such a generous heart.

 

I think there is a special masterclass episode somewhere where Paul and Mary make chocolate custard tarts. 

[Athena]

I think there is a special masterclass episode somewhere where Paul and Mary make chocolate custard tarts. 

 

Yes. The masterclass episodes air after every season ends in the UK. They are very helpful since both judges make all their technicals and versions of Showstopper/Signature classes. I hope they show them on PBS at some point because they are educational.

[Qoass]

Usually I'm drooling over the dishes on this show but custard tarts hold no appeal whatsoever for me.

 

 

[Rinaldo]

I'm intrigued by the intricacies of pie/tart baking technique -- specifically, when it is right to pre bake (blind bake) the crust to ensure that it's crisp and won't be soggy, and when one bakes it all together, as with the custard tarts for instance. What is the principle that makes the difference? (I recall seeing an American cookbook that recommended baking a custard filling, even for a full-size pie, separately from the crust, and sliding it in just before serving. But this has never become standard practice; and I really wonder whether it's even possible to do and have a good-looking result.)

[Frost]

I love this show!  There's drama and tension and fun and yet the participants aren't douche bags who aren't allowed to sleep and are given buckets of alcohol to consume as they are cloistered in some high rise luxury reality show prison!  It's astonishing!  I not only enjoy watching it, I don't feel as if I need to have a shower afterwards.  Have I mentioned how much I love this show? 

 

I heartily dislike orange so the fact that so many of the bakers use orange as a flavoring puts me off, but I am so impressed by the flavors they think to combine.  I can follow a recipe but I am not a creative cook!

 

Paul and Mary give real criticism and I appreciate that.  They don't sneer and don't appear to spend all of their off hours thinking up 'witty' put downs.  They are direct with their comments, which might at the time hurt but are helpful in the long run.  For example, Frances and her style over substance.  It's all well and good to have a dramatic show stopper, but if you under bake your pie, well then, bloody pay more attention to baking your pie!

 

And by the way, I love this show!

[Qoass]

Me too!

 

And when Mel (? the brunette) referred to Paul and Mary getting trigger-happy, I giggled like a fool.

[Rinaldo]

And when Mel (? the brunette) referred to Paul and Mary getting trigger-happy, I giggled like a fool.

Mel is the blonde. (I used to mix them up, till I trained myself to remember that the one with the boy's nickname is not the one with the boyish haircut.)

[Pallida]

Howard and Christine crying over Ali's departure - how rare this inter-generational inter-ethnic inter-faith 'love' for another contestant would be on other reality shows - it is very life-affirming. Even though Paul stomps around like Simon Cowell lite, this show has such a generous heart.

 

I liked that Christine also said "if you don't keep in touch, I'll kill you."

 

Even though I don't tend to like hipster styling, I do enjoy Frances' whimsical take on things.  I didn't think her plan for peach pie by keeping the peaches simply cut in half made any sense though.  In certain American cooking competition shows, they really seem to focus more on appearance, so I'm actually quite happy that she was reminded that she needs substance to back up her style.    

[Ritalin Smoothie]

Ali--such a sweet boy, but g*dd*mn who would admit to the judges that because he doesn't like fruit pies, he didn't taste his own creation?!

Ruby--anyone who can make filo/phyllo sheets in her dorm room deserves kudos.

Kimberly--well deserved win, and she seems to be a sure bet for the final.

Rob and Frances--getting too clever for their own good. 

[GaT]

I love this show!  There's drama and tension and fun and yet the participants aren't douche bags who aren't allowed to sleep and are given buckets of alcohol to consume as they are cloistered in some high rise luxury reality show prison!  It's astonishing!  I not only enjoy watching it, I don't feel as if I need to have a shower afterwards.  Have I mentioned how much I love this show?

 

Howard and Christine crying over Ali's departure - how rare this inter-generational inter-ethnic inter-faith 'love' for another contestant would be on other reality shows - it is very life-affirming. Even though Paul stomps around like Simon Cowell lite, this show has such a generous heart.

 

I liked that Christine also said "if you don't keep in touch, I'll kill you."

This is what makes this show so wonderful to watch IMO, these people only see each other for 3 days a week, yet they always manage to form close bonds & are always respectful of each other. It's so nice to be able to just watch a competition without hearing trash talk & seeing manufactured drama. Even when there is an opportunity for drama (like when someone accidentally uses someone else's custard) the show acknowledges it, but doesn't linger on it or turn it into a battle, they just go right back to the competition.

[Jesse]

I LOVE a custard tart, so I found this episode unexpectedly tragic - All those lovely little tarts breaking apart as bakers tried to remove them from the pans.  I'm sorry we didn't learn the secrets of custard tarts.

 

I was impatient as people were cutting out little shapes to decorate their fruit pies, knowing they barely had time to bake the pies.  I would think it's more important to get it into the oven so the pie itself would have time to brown well, top and bottom. I'm also wondering if that wasn't the problem with many of the custard tarts - people left themselves too little time for a good bake, so pastry and custard flopped.

 

I wonder if it would have helped to put the bottom crust in the oven to start baking, at least while they did other tasks? Like cutting out the decorations or making the custard? 

 

I also loved Ruby just popping her custard tarts out by the strips of paper, while everyone else was poking and prodding. 

[some1105]

They never did establish whether it was better to have pre-cooked the custard for those tarts, did they? I lost track of who cooked theirs and how they turned out, though not a lot of people had any success at all with that recipe.

 

I've had the episode on near-constant repeat since it aired yesterday, so I looked out for this.  Francis is the one that cooked her custard partially on the stove top before baking--she has a little video moment of noting that others are not doing it.  She came in first in the technical and, despite not having the fantastic little paper handles Ruby devised, managed to get her tarts out without destroying them, so I'm going with the answer being to follow Francis' method: pre-cook custard enough to thicken, and then bake.

 

I was surprised that Ruby was the only one who thought to come up with a removal aid prior to baking--not because I would have thought of it myself, but because the others' surprise at the difficulty of removing the tarts suggests that not one of them had ever made custard tarts before.  They are delicious.

[Frost]

 

I was surprised that Ruby was the only one who thought to come up with a removal aid prior to baking--not because I would have thought of it myself, but because the others' surprise at the difficulty of removing the tarts suggests that not one of them had ever made custard tarts before.

Ruby's tarts were soggy on the bottom though, so I, at least, never learned the secret of getting them out of the tart pan.  I would have thought a tart crust had enough fat in it to come out easily after baking but apparently not.

[Rinaldo]

Does he have something against fruit, or is it just fruit in pies?

I can't speak for Ali, obviously, but I don't like fruit pies. I like fruit a lot in general, but somehow if it's cooked it feels slimy and unpalatable to me. I recognize that I'm illogical, and in fact if someone served apple pie when I was a guest, I would eat it without fuss, in the interest of politeness. I've done it plenty of times, over the years. So I would think he could suck it up and taste a bit of what he was cooking, even if he's not crazy about the thought.

[meep.meep]

I have been told by many people that I make the best pecan pie in the world, and you could not get me to try it.  It's four kinds of sugar with a few nuts on top!  Just follow the recipe and hope everyone else is happy.

 

There was someone on Top Chef who was allergic to an ingredient (shrimp) that she was required to use and had to have someone else taste the dish.

 

Couldn't we make a drinking game out of Paul saying cooostard?  

[LittleIggy]

I like American desserts just fine! Custard tarts and meringue balls don't appeal to me. Love this show (and Paul!) though. Go, Kimberly!

I kept expecting the Soggy Bottom Boys to turn up and sing their hit "I'm a Man of Constant Sorrow." ;-)

Edited September 29, 2015 by LittleIggy

[tenaciouseee]

I'm intrigued by the intricacies of pie/tart baking technique -- specifically, when it is right to pre bake (blind bake) the crust to ensure that it's crisp and won't be soggy, and when one bakes it all together, as with the custard tarts for instance. What is the principle that makes the difference?

 

You would generally blind bake in the instances where either the pie filling is unbaked (i.e., a mousse-type filling) or the moisture in the filling would cause the crust to become soggy before it bakes all the way through (i.e., custards or fruit fillings).  

 

I always blind bake except in the case of a double-crust pie, where an uncooked top crust will not adhere to a cooked bottom crust.  In these cases I will preheat a baking tray in the oven and place the pie on top to assist in thoroughly baking the bottom - also making sure I don't have too much liquid in the filling :-) 

 

Hope this helps!

Edited September 29, 2015 by tenaciouseee

[Mondrianyone]

I thought it was very clever of Rob to remove the bottom of the pan completely and just put his pie directly on the heated cookie sheet (over parchment) to get a better browning on the pastry bottom.  I'm going to try that sometime.  I have tried that trick where you brush egg white over the inside bottom to minimize sogginess, and it seems to work fairly well.  I was a little surprised that no one deployed that one.

 

I laughed at that shot of Howard pushing up his glasses with his middle finger after the critique of his work.  I thought, Whoa, he's sneak-flipping the judges the bird!  Probably just me projecting my shady Noo Yawk self onto that sweet Englishman.  Because it's what I would've done.

 

If I could climb through my TV screen and live in this show, I would.

[Violet Penner]

Ali seemed like a nice guy, so sad to see him go. However, I thought he maybe cheated on the showstopper. I thought they called time and then showed him twice putting orange zest on his pastry?? I kept waiting for the hammer to drop but it never did.

Love to see how supportive everyone is of each other. I was laughing when the one guy couldn't bear to watch (Howard?) get his pastry out. Also love the even handed, fair, direct criticism. More of this type of judging please on all reality shows!

[Rinaldo]

Ali seemed like a nice guy, so sad to see him go. However, I thought he maybe cheated on the showstopper. I thought they called time and then showed him twice putting orange zest on his pastry?? I kept waiting for the hammer to drop but it never did.

I may have posted this somewhere already, but I do think this is one of the rare aspects of the show that gets "enhanced" for greater drama and suspense: the editing after Mel or Sue calls "one minute to go!" At this point the music gets louder and faster, and we see quick cuts of everyone being impossibly industrious, scrambling to complete all their finishing touches, back and forth among all the contestants through "time!" and just after. We are, I think, seeing activities that may have happened any time within the last few minutes, maybe not quite as frantically last-second as they're made to seem. I deduce this partly because once or twice over the years the continuity has betrayed itself: we see someone's creation all decorated, and then we see an excitingly edited montage that shows them running to add that decoration.

 

I don't mind this, by the way; everything we see really did happen, just maybe not in the same 15 frantic seconds. Also, in reference to the quoted sentence above, I do think that if someone really did keep going for a few seconds past the calling of time, it wouldn't be a fatal disqualification -- they'd just be reminded to stop. (I recall exactly that happening once or twice over the years.) It's not run in quite that cutthroat a way.

[Mabinogia]

Also love the even handed, fair, direct criticism. More of this type of judging please on all reality shows!

 

I love the judging on this show. Yes, two or more didn't finish all their little custard tart things, but the judges looked for the best one and tried it and critiqued it instead of acting like it was a personal affront for the baker to present a half assed effort to them. I'm imagining the judges on any American cooking show and can just hear the rant about "I'm not going to eat that! If you can't show us enough respect to present a beautiful dish I'm not going to show enough respect to judge what you did do."

That said, that Technical round was a disaster. lol worst I have ever seen on this show. But I like that they are judged best to worst, so even if they all bomb, there is still one who did best and one who did worst and they are ranked accordingly. I also like the blind judging of that and the first part and then the presentation judging of the final challenge. It seems more fair to me.

This ep provided more drama for me than any shouty, backstabby reality competition show. I was heartbroken for those who couldn't get their little custard thingys finished and every time one broke apart I cringed. I could barely watch them move Howards cake and actually clapped when it landed in one piece. I'm invested in all these bakers, just like I was last season and was sad to see one go rather than furious that they kept someone on for drama (like I am most reality shows). Bravo to this comfortable, rootable little baking show.

[illini1959]

Love to see how supportive everyone is of each other. I was laughing when the one guy couldn't bear to watch (Howard?) get his pastry out. Also love the even handed, fair, direct criticism. More of this type of judging please on all reality shows!

 

AMEN to this!

 

This is the first time I've watched this show. HOW refreshing! From the kindness (compared to American counterparts) to the real looking people (no fake teeth, or very few - no botox, just real, lovely people) I don't mean any disrespect by that comment, I guess I just think about the contestants on Master Chef, for example - some of them look more like characters rather than who they really are.

 

No constant drama, f bombs, snarky comments toward each other. Yes. I'm a fan.

 

Most everything was so different from what I'm used to seeing, it's very interesting to see their creations.

[wonderwoman]

"That said, that Technical round was a disaster. lol worst I have ever seen on this show."

Agreed, which I think says at least as much about the directions the bakers received as their technical skill (or, in this case, lack thereof:) I get that the directions assume a fair amount of knowledge and expertise, but almost every contestant turning out a substandard product defies the law of averages.

[NYCFree]

"That said, that Technical round was a disaster. lol worst I have ever seen on this show."

Agreed, which I think says at least as much about the directions the bakers received as their technical skill (or, in this case, lack thereof:) I get that the directions assume a fair amount of knowledge and expertise, but almost every contestant turning out a substandard product defies the law of averages.

On the technical bake the directions are purposefully vague. They occasionally make a point of how vague they are, stuff like "bake until done" without further explanation of temperature or time.

[wonderwoman]

"On the technical bake the directions are purposefully vague. They occasionally make a point of how vague they are, stuff like "bake until done" without further explanation of temperature or time.On the technical bake the directions are purposefully vague. They occasionally make a point of how vague they are, stuff like "bake until done" without further explanation of temperature or time."

I get the vague directions, and their purpose. However, as has been noted: this particular bake was a distaster across the board. Since the ethos of this show has never been to sandbag contestants, when 2/3 are outright failures, and the other 1/3 only marginally better, it seems to me that assigning this recipe was questionable, at best

[NYCFree]

"

I get the vague directions, and their purpose. However, as has been noted: this particular bake was a distaster across the board. Since the ethos of this show has never been to sandbag contestants, when 2/3 are outright failures, and the other 1/3 only marginally better, it seems to me that assigning this recipe was questionable, at best

I wonder if they thought it would be easier as everyone (there) would be familiar with custard tarts. Ali commented on how much he loved custard tarts, but then he kind of thoughtfully noted "but I've never tried making them before." Maybe it's like bagels here in NY. We all eat them pretty regularly but I only know one person who has tried to make them at home.

[Mabinogia]

The nice thing is, they didn't really berate any of them for not finishing. yes, they commented as they should, since the directions were to have 12 perfect little custard tarts but they never sounded like they thought those who couldn't get them done were idiots or not worth being on the show. It was more disappointment that they hadn't managed to present their best. That is what I like.

 

I don't think the show set them up for disaster. I think they just overestimated what the bakers could do. It does make me wonder how much, if any, study they might do after getting selected for the show. Like, do they go through Mary and Paul's recipes. I know they practice the signature bakes over and over at him, as it's been mentioned often, but is there a way for them to prepare for the surprise technical bakes? At least they are all judged on a curve and not some "well, you all sucked so no winner" thing.

 

The technical actually fascinates me because they are all making the same thing in the same environment with the same ingredients. It's a great test of what they can do and what they know.

[wonderwoman]

"Maybe it's like bagels here in NY. We all eat them pretty regularly but I only know one person who has tried to make them at home."

Perfect analogy!

"I don't think the show set them up for disaster. I think they just overestimated what the bakers could do."

This is what I was thinking when I questioned the wisdom of choosing that recipe. Also wonder about the takeaway from that recipe for the bakers. Some of the results were so FUBAR, were the bakers actually able to learn anything from their failures that they would be able to apply down the road?

[Rinaldo]

This is what I was thinking when I questioned the wisdom of choosing that recipe. Also wonder about the takeaway from that recipe for the bakers. Some of the results were so FUBAR, were the bakers actually able to learn anything from their failures that they would be able to apply down the road?

My answer would be a definite yes, and I didn't find them so irretrievably FUBAR. The problems were mostly in the area of getting them out of the tin cleanly (for which the takeaway might be "plan ahead and use paper strips as Ruby did") and baking the custard the right length of time (which is something they really should know how to do as bakers). They've had plenty of harder technical challenges over the years.

[ennui]

I love custard.

 

I'm thinking of various custard-type desserts ...lemon merengue pie, you cook the pudding ... pumpkin pie, you don't cook the filling, but maybe you do if you're using fresh pumpkin ...

 

I was a little disappointed in all the apple pies. Apple pies are simple.

 

My grandmother made perfect pie crust, but it must have been technique, because she didn't use a recipe. It was all by feel.

 

I can't imagine making phyllo pastry from scratch. My great-grandmother made puff pastry from scratch by hand, and it took hours. I say, thank goodness for Pepperidge Farm, otherwise our family tradition Christmas tarts would never get made. 

[LittleIggy]

If you want to see another, albeit very different, reality completion where the contestants are very helpful and supportive of each other check out Face/Off. It's about special effects makeup. The contestants actually help each other. The judges are top professionals in the field, too, like Paul and Mary.

[TaraS1]

I felt so - what's the proper British term here, chuffed? - for Kimberley when she won star baker!  I love how positive and enthusiastic she always seems, always with a huge smile on her face.  So pleased for her!

 

It was torture watching almost everyone's tarts fall apart as they tried to take them out of the tins - particularly Christine.  My heart was in my throat, watching her struggle with them.  Something about her reminds me of my mom, so seeing her frustration and disappointment really got to me.  I want all these lovely people to have good, happy bakes every time!

[FoundTime]

I was actually in tears at the difficulty of getting the custard tarts out of the tins. It was just heartbreaking. I had to wonder if they were given instructions not to grease the insides of the tins. It seems that would be the most foolproof way to get the tarts out. Even the parchment underneath (which was a great idea) didn't work 100% of the time. I can also see where there would be enough fat in the crust that they should be able to come right out, but again...not so much.

 

Custard tarts were probably my favorite childhood dessert, but somehow I forgot about them completely until this episode, and then I had a "Proust's madeleine" moment ;-) Now I wonder how they got made. I suspect my parents (not "crust-from-scratch" people) bought the crusts pre-packaged and then made the custard from a box mix. Apologies to any custard tart purists, but they were yummy. (Also, I was a kid.)

 

Glenn totally won me over with a comment at one point about baking -- I even paused the recording so I could get it down verbatim: "Baking's not 'food on the table.' Baking's a bit of love. That's why we do it." Yes! Exactly!

 

I think part of what makes the judges’ critiques so drama-free is that usually the bakers know when their product isn’t up to snuff. This seems to be true on MasterChef Junior too, unlike other "creative" competition shows like Project Runway where a designer will put something horrid on the runway and then "have" to stand behind it, because "It's my vision." (Full disclosure: This now exhausts all the "creative" competition shows I watch.)

 

Finally got around to introducing this show to a friend who can whip up anything in the kitchen and who insists that all reality shows are scripted. Felt it was my civic duty to share one where that is 99% not the case, and which is as lovely on all counts as folks here have pointed out. As we were talking, another friend was nearby and had stumbled on the show in a wee-small-hours rebroadcast and we started talking very animatedly about it. Hope our "love" was contagious :-)

Edited October 1, 2015 by FoundTime

[ennui]

I was actually in tears at the difficulty of getting the custard tarts out of the tins. It was just heartbreaking. I had to wonder if they were given instructions not to grease the insides of the tins.

 

My family makes similar tarts every Christmas (not custard, mincemeat). You don't grease the tins because it ruins the pastry. I think one of the bakers pointed out that they were trying to remove the tarts while still hot -- yes, you do need to take them out of the oven and let them set. Once they are cooled, there's enough butter (or shortening) in the pastry crust that they are easier to remove.

[Rinaldo]

Yes, I went back and looked at the Masterclass that included custard tarts, and there was no special trick to removing them except giving them time to cool.* So it seems that the challenge to the bakers was time management: organizing the given time (possibly through multitasking?) so that 15-20 minutes remained at the end for cool-down.

 

(*Well, one other thing: cutting the shells out big enough so that they extend the full height of the cups in the tin, or a smidgen beyond, and are thus easily reachable.)

[ennui]

I, too, was watching what they used to cut the pastry circles for the tarts. We just use a large glass from the cupboard, something with a thin rim so the edge is a little sharper. We're fancy bakers, here.  (lol!)

 

I also noticed that for the fruit pies, they often used what we in the US would call a quiche form, or large tart pan. I didn't see too many of the American standard pie plate.

[Pallida]

I have a mini pie tin and randomly have a mini casserole dish that is perfect to cut out pastry.

I'm all for dual purpose tools in my small apartment kitchen!

[paramitch]

I stumbled on this lovely happy little show last year, and was so delighted when I saw the topic pop up on PTV recently -- sure enough, PBS was airing a new (old?) season, and it's been so much fun as always to watch.

 

And I don't even bake! Like, my version of baking always involves some variation of item involving Crescent Roll dough (sorry), with which I am actually sort of slightly savantlike. But that's it. Meanwhile, the incredible work and finesse these people put into their breads and doughs and pastries boggles me -- it's very humbling yet completely fascinating.

 

I was surprised Ruby was the only one who thought through how the custard darts would be removed. She's so clever. Some of the tarts came out easier than others though it was never really explained why.

 

Does anyone enjoy cooking more than Kimberly? She has that gorgeous smile and lights up no matter what the challenge.  I have not cheated and looked ahead, but I would not be sorry to have her win.  

 

I knew Ali was doomed when he wouldn't taste his pie because he though fruit pies were awful and he told the judges he hated them.  Really?  Honest, yes. Common sense, no.  How do you know if you have the flavors right if you don't do a little tasting along the way?  No one is asking him to plunk raw dough in his mouth, but he should have tasted the fruit. Does he have something against fruit, or is it just fruit in pies?

 

I've loved watching Ruby gain confidence week by week (and not in that fake, hammered-home Fox reality way either), and I loved the cleverness of her using those little tabs of tape or paper to get her tarts out of the tins.

 

I was going to post the exact same thing about how wonderful Kimberly's smile is. It's not just that she has a pretty smile (which she does), it's that she is one of those people who lights up completely when they smile. It's gorgeous and infectious. She just communicates joy and pride in her work in equal measure, and it's delightful.

 

This show and Face Off are by far my two favorites and for the same reasons....contestants who are actually supportive of each other and judges who know what they are doing.  It shows it can be done.

 

I adore "Face Off" for exactly these reasons -- for the technical skill, the kind contestants, and the supportive and knowledgeable judges. And honestly, I don't think Paul is really all that awful. I think he's tough and precise, but he rarely comes across as actively unkind to me, and he's very pleased and appreciative when contestants come through with a great or creative result.

 

(I even watched the American version of this show a few years back, and while I wasn't thrilled to learn about the affair between Paul and the female judge, I actually liked aspects of that season, and thought Foxworthy was delightful as the host).

[jenh526]

Kimberley inspired me to make my own caramel apple pie. Turned out ok - probably would've been better if I'd made the crust myself. And the apples didn't get as soft as I like them. Still pretty tasty though.

[Zahdii]

The next episode is up:

http://video.pbs.org/video/2365541714/

Season 2, Episode 5: Biscuits and Traybakes

 

Remember, for the Brits a cookie is called a 'biscuit'.  A 'traybake' is a type of cake or similar sweet food that is baked in a square or rectangular container and cut into individual pieces for serving.

[DeLurker]

I'm surprised how appetizing those filo items looked.  But how cruel to make them create the dough from scratch.  What a pain.

I did not know it was possible to make filo outside a commercial kitchen.  After seeing what is involved, my conclusion is I have the same chance of making a successful filo as I do of winning the lottery.

 

Does anyone enjoy cooking more than Kimberly? She has that gorgeous smile and lights up no matter what the challenge.  I have not cheated and looked ahead, but I would not be sorry to have her win.  

 

I knew Ali was doomed when he wouldn't taste his pie because he though fruit pies were awful and he told the judges he hated them.  Really?  Honest, yes. Common sense, no.  How do you know if you have the flavors right if you don't do a little tasting along the way?  No one is asking him to plunk raw dough in his mouth, but he should have tasted the fruit. Does he have something against fruit, or is it just fruit in pies?

I so love this girl!  She delights me!  I hope nothing ever ever makes her sad because it will break my heart if I see a sad face on her.

 

The problem with tasting something you don't like is you don't really know what it should taste like.  Plus ignoring the natural unpleasantness of having something you really don't care for in your mouth,  I don't like cooked fruit pies - usually too sweet and always a texture thing for me.