S02.E03: Bread Week

[Athena]

Quote

In the Signature Challenge, the bakers create a dozen perfectly sized dinner rolls incorporating unique flavors and spices, including those traditional to Portugal and India. In the Technical Challenge, it's Johnny's Christmas Stollen, a traditional German Christmas fruit and nut bread. Finally, the competitors must create elaborate sculptures with bread!

ABC is treating this show as its second season so season numbers have been changed accordingly.

[AwesomO4000]

Did this show air? For some reason, I didn't realize that it was on Wednesdays (?). I tried to check it out on "On Demand," but our stupid On Demand had two cookie episodes listed instead of a bread episode, so I might not even be able to watch this. Of course, if this episode hasn't happened yet, that might explain things a bit.

[DeLurker]

It aired tonight.

[mertensia]

This episode showed why I would never ever make it in this show. Bread showpiece. I'd be all "um. Bread slices! That sounds good." 

Maybe it's my TV but Ashlyn's tree looked like a really unhealthy shade of green to me. 

[GaT]

Now we know how they decided to handle Antoinette having to leave the show, I think Jennie was really lucky because her showstopper looked like some kids tried baking, it was crap. 

1 hour ago, mertensia said:

Maybe it's my TV but Ashlyn's tree looked like a really unhealthy shade of green to me. 

You're being kind, it looked like puke green to me, really ugly & I wouldn't have wanted to eat it.

I can't believe next week is the finale already.

[Trini]

11 minutes ago, GaT said:

I can't believe next week is the finale already.

Whoa -- you scared me there for a minute. The show has 8 episodes.

[GaT]

25 minutes ago, Trini said:

Whoa -- you scared me there for a minute. The show has 8 episodes.

There was a commercial that said next week is the finale, I thought it was strange, but that's what it said.

[Rinaldo]

I was confused for a moment by the promo at the end -- it did sound as if this show's finale was next week. But while they were showing next week's baking, an announcer was saying that the season finale for Notorious (a different series) was coming next (i.e., right away).

I too did not find Ashlyn's showstopper appetizing-looking. It must have tasted amazing. But others seemed to taste good too, and had a better look (to my eyes).

[starri]

I didn't care for Ashlyn's Showstopper.  Actually, I don't care for Ashlyn.  Her mentioning the Southern thing every third word is grating.  I know that Jeremiah and Prachi are doing something similar, but they only do it in the context of "This is a Portuguese recipe" or "This is a flavor we like in India" not "I'm glad they liked my Southern style" and "But I'm a Southern girl."  I think she's literally the only one of them I don't like.

Jeremiah's pretty much going to win this, isn't he?

You know, the fact that Mary seems to genuinely like Johnny helps a lot.  I assume they bent over backward to get her to agree to do the show at all, and I'm sure in that case, she got to approve the other judge.

I'm sorry that Antoinette's father passed away and that she couldn't continue, but I'm glad the vacancy gave them a cushion to give everyone a bye this week.  Because I honestly don't think any of them deserved to go home.  Nobody had a disaster at the Showstopper, and even if some bit off more than they could chew (*cough*Stephanie*cough*), the actual breads made up for it.

So I guess I'm rooting for Stephanie, Jeremiah, and Michael.  They check all of my boxes:  Nerd, Gay, and Brooklyn Doctor.

[BusyOctober]

I kept thinking Ashlyn was wearing one of those Amish caps because of her fancy headband.  With her hair pulled back like that, and the way the headband <<just>> peaked out on top of her hair when they had a close up of her, and the long shots of her with the apron, Ashlyn looked like she decided to spend her Rumspringa baking in England.

I too am tired of them all tying whatever they do to their ethnicity. If you are explaining an unknown regional spice or special item, OK.  But not necessary in every explanation.  "Well, in my culture, we boil the water first, then add the dry pasta.  That's the way my Nonna taught me when I spent my toddler years in her Hoboken kitchen." 

[Primetimer]

Pass the butter and dig in to some savory, some sweet, and some stunning sculpture.

View the full article

[Lemur]

Santa Superman. the Elder One Cthulu, all the same thing ...

[Dave in Chicago]

I for sure thought Steph was trying to make Cthulu Santa, because she's the sci-fi person. Apparently not? Or did ABC edit around that so as not to upset family audiences?

[Rinaldo]

From the recap:

Quote

I'm always incredibly sympathetic during the technical challenge, because badly written recipes make me crazy, and they make these vague on purpose to mess with the bakers.

This seems a widely held idea, and I don't think it's really true (except in the sense that all the competition conditions are contrived "to mess with the bakers"). The Technical recipes are written as if for a professional baker, who will know the elements and procedures already and just needs to be told what the building blocks are and how they're assembled in this case. So it tests their expertise: can you assemble a crème anglaise without having your hand held? given the proportions, do you know how to create a bread dough and get it ready to prove? do you know how to avoid the pitfalls when caramelizing? do you know how long any given baked item needs in the oven, and what temperature, and how to tell when it's done? These are "recipes for experts," which is what they're all trying to establish that they are.

[dubbel zout]

3 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

I too did not find Ashlyn's showstopper appetizing-looking.

Maybe Ashlyn's showstopper looked better in person? But vivid green bread is never going to be sophisticated, IMO. I think Mary and Johnny were overimpressed that the flowerpot-as–baking vessel worked. 

When they were making stollen, I loved Prachi's "I make this every Christmas. perfect pause No, I don't!" Hee. 

I like all of the bakers, so was very glad no one was sent home. That was the right choice, as things really were super close this episode. No one was so much better or so much worse.

I was disappointed more emphasis wasn't put on making the breads flavored.

ETA: Totally agree with Rinaldo about the purpose of the technical challenge. The recipes say things like "Make a genoise," and the bakers need to know what that is and how to prepare it. They get all of the necessary ingredients, just not every single benchmark the recipe needs to hit to be successful. I think the assembly/decoration is sometimes the hardest part of the technical bake. Remember the tennis cake? The elements—fruit cake, fondant, royal icing decorations—weren't in and of themselves too difficult. The challenge came in figuring out how they all went together.

Edited December 9, 2016 by dubbel zout

[andromeda331]

I love the technically challenge I like that they have one round where they don't know the recipe and have to try and figure it out. Plus, I really like learning different recipes from different countries like the Swedish princess cake or crème anglaise. There's so many recipes out their to try.

[GaT]

6 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

I was confused for a moment by the promo at the end -- it did sound as if this show's finale was next week. But while they were showing next week's baking, an announcer was saying that the season finale for Notorious (a different series) was coming next (i.e., right away).

Ahh, my brain must have heard it wrong.

[Dobian]

11 hours ago, GaT said:

There was a commercial that said next week is the finale, I thought it was strange, but that's what it said.

In the opening credits it says the bakers have 24 challenges and they do three a show, so that's eight episodes.  If they double-up episodes they can wrap it up the week between Christmas and New Year's.

I was happy to see no one go home this week, since no one really deserved to go home.

Edited December 9, 2016 by Dobian

[lh25]

Does anyone know what the white and red decoration on the outside of Ashlyn's pot were?  It looked like frosting, but that would seem odd for a bread challenge to me.  If she said what it is, I missed it.

Thanks

[starri]

8 minutes ago, lh25 said:

Does anyone know what the white and red decoration on the outside of Ashlyn's pot were?  It looked like frosting, but that would seem odd for a bread challenge to me.  If she said what it is, I missed it.

I think it was either frosting or fondant.  Yeah, it doesn't make sense to but on bread, but she basically made a fruitcake.

[proserpina65]

I enjoyed this a lot, although I do wish they'd required the showstopper to use more than one kind of bread like they do on the British version.  Still wildly impressed with Jeremiah despite his too-wet stollen.

[zxy556575]

Oh, Stollen. I assume everyone eats around their slab of marzipan, because who really needs a mouthful of gluey sugar in the middle of their bread?

[Winter Rose]

I actually thought Ashlyn's showstopper was cute, but I think little Christmas trees are cute anyway. The only showstopper that didn't really cut it for me was Steph's and that's probably because of the dough she used.

I'm also glad no one went home. I can't I'm surprised they had a week where no one was eliminated, I usually expect that when someone's had to withdraw and I figure they try to balance that out, but this week I really think everyone deserved to stay. And I don't dislike anyone so I don't feel disappointed at having to "put up with" any of them for another week.

[Texasmom1970]

Sorry, I cannot remember her name, but I must be awful. Because I was kind of happy Ms. bread is my forte was singing a different tune when shit started going wrong. Rule of any competition show never be too boastful or confident it always back fires on ya.

[mertensia]

1 hour ago, lordonia said:

Oh, Stollen. I assume everyone eats around their slab of marzipan, because who really needs a mouthful of gluey sugar in the middle of their bread?

I love stollen and I love marzipan. Most stollen, in my book, could use more marzipan.

[AZChristian]

21 minutes ago, Texasmom1970 said:

Sorry, I cannot remember her name, but I must be awful. Because I was kind of happy Ms. bread is my forte was singing a different tune when shit started going wrong. Rule of any competition show never be too boastful or confident it always back fires on ya.

Agree.  As soon as she said that, I said, "Buh-bye."

[LaChavalina]

Add me to the group that was surprised to hear Ashlyn's showstopper tasted good.

The non-elimination seemed a foregone conclusion to me, given the unexpected departure last week and the fact that everyone did OK. Though I did think it was ridiculous to tell Michael how he should have made his stand out of bread. Did Stephanie make all her little dowel rods out of bread? Meh.

[AwesomO4000]

On 12/9/2016 at 0:32 AM, DeLurker said:

It aired tonight.

Oh, thank you. Which explains why it wasn't on On Demand yet. I'll watch it this weekend.

I really enjoy this show, so I'm glad I'll get to see it.

[starri]

Has Mary really never seen a cast-iron skillet before?  She seemed adorably perplexed by it.

[theatremouse]

I thought she was just saying she'd never heard of making biscuits in one, which is probably another very American thing, so not super surprising.

[Jesse]

I just heard on a podcast that cast-iron skillets are a very American thing.

[jhlipton]

Was it just me, or did the second-place stollen have better marzipan placement than the first?  It seemed to me that #2's was smack-dab in the center and #1's was way over to the side.  I would have expected that to switch their order.

[BW Manilowe]

12 hours ago, theatremouse said:

I thought she was just saying she'd never heard of making biscuits in one, which is probably another very American thing, so not super surprising.

Plus, "biscuits" in UK English are a different thing (we call them cookies) than "biscuits" are in US English (a form of [usually breakfast] bread/roll eaten with meals, which probably tends to be found more in Southern states than in the rest of the country). That might've added to her confusion over the cast iron skillet.

[theatremouse]

True in US cookie vs biscuit, but my understanding is the UK does use the term biscuit both for what we call cookies as well as the thing we call biscuits. So were there confusion over the word, I'd expect it to be in the opposite direction.

[Rinaldo]

47 minutes ago, theatremouse said:

True in US cookie vs biscuit, but my understanding is the UK does use the term biscuit both for what we call cookies as well as the thing we call biscuits.

Not really; it's more confusing than that. The British term "biscuit" covers both US cookies and crackers. The US "biscuit" as such isn't really native to the UK, but it's closer to their scones.

Mary surely knows that much, though, even if she hasn't come face to face with the Southern tradition of making biscuits (or corn bread) in a cast-iron skillet before.

[windtrix]

I love this show so much because the bakers are serious, normal people and don't feel the need to sing, dance, make faces and act like fools like so many of the food network baking competition shows.

[DeLurker]

7 hours ago, windtrix said:

act like fools like so many of the food network baking competition shows.

And I would rather see these kind of people with their own network shows.  I don't need a carnival barker as a food host.

[ABay]

Finally had a chance to watch it this morning. As others have said, enough with everything being tied to ethnicity and/or family. It makes me think the ones who keep doing that were trying to get on a Food Network competition where that sort of crap is encouraged and is one of the many reasons I don't watch those shows. Can you bake anything that isn't Portugese/Southern/Indian/grandma's recipe?

It also reminds me of how every time Shirley MacLaine's character was on Downton Abbey, every sentence by or about her seemed to begin with "as an American..."

[lh25]

On 12/9/2016 at 7:45 PM, LaChavalina said:

Though I did think it was ridiculous to tell Michael how he should have made his stand out of bread. Did Stephanie make all her little dowel rods out of bread? Meh

I thought the same thing.  They were both basically one-sided, not really 3-D since the backs were flat.

[starri]

11 minutes ago, lh25 said:

I thought the same thing.  They were both basically one-sided, not really 3-D since the backs were flat.

Well, Michael's was basically one sculpted piece, but wasn't Stephanie's a bunch of smaller pieces she was trying to assemble.  They're not quite the same thing.

[theatremouse]

Yeah, I think they both were kind of skirting the brief, but I don't consider them equivalent. It was supposed to be a "structure". Hers may have been doweled to death, but it did stand up. His was on an easel. It's very common for baked showpieces to have dowels or other types of rods inside to reinforce structural integrity, so whatever one's personal feeling about it, it's accepted for this type of thing in the world in general. Put something on an easel that could not stand up at all otherwise, even if you did put dowels or something in it is not the same thing. At the same time, it is a bit early for "this was beautiful and well-baked but doesn't meet the brief so byeeee". They usually ding but don't eliminate for that sort of thing this early anyway.

[Quilt Fairy]

I'm really enjoying the show this season. The bakers are a marked improvement over last year.

[mlp]

On my TV, both Jeremiah's sleigh and the woven basket (forgot who made it) looked very dark, almost burned, but neither Mary nor Johnny said anything about the color.   That made me wonder if all parts of competition-level bread structures don't have to be edible.  ???

Jeremiah is still my favorite so I'm glad he wasn't dinged.  I also liked the lovebirds in a nest.  I didn't care for the dull green tree in a pot but I guess Ashlyn did best over the three challenges so deserved Star Baker.

[theatremouse]

I might be misplacing who she said it to but I thought she did comment on the basket saying it looked overdone, but then she ate it and said "no, I'm wrong." The sleigh maybe was made with darker ingredients so it was just going to be dark no matter what? Not sure. But historically if there's more than one bread they taste them all, but not necessarily every part of the showpiece. Although it used to be if it were uneven and one spot looked burned you could count on them to take a slice from that bit... 

Edited December 11, 2016 by theatremouse

[starri]

48 minutes ago, theatremouse said:

I might be misplacing who she said it to but I thought she did comment on the basket saying it looked overdone, but then she ate it and said "no, I'm wrong."

That was Prachi.

[theatremouse]

But was Prachi the one with the "woven basket"?

[starri]

Yes. This is Pratchi's.

This is Jeremiah's.

[lh25]

5 hours ago, theatremouse said:

It was supposed to be a "structure". Hers may have been doweled to death, but it did stand up. His was on an easel. It's very common for baked showpieces to have dowels or other types of rods inside to reinforce structural integrity, so whatever one's personal feeling about it, it's accepted for this type of thing in the world in general.

Fair enough.  One point I was trying to make also was the either of those could have been laying flat and not changed much since the back side was flat.  If that makes sense.

[starri]

1 hour ago, lh25 said:

Fair enough.  One point I was trying to make also was the either of those could have been laying flat and not changed much since the back side was flat.  If that makes sense.

Couldn't you say the same thing about a lot of the creations for Cookie Week?  Quite a few of them weren't free-standing structures, Stephanie's Deep Space Santa and Jennie's Parisian street scene, just off the top of my head.

[tenativelyyours]

For the first time I actually felt we had contestants perform at a level that would have them viable in the British or Australian show.  The sleigh and the wreath with the turtledoves were both well done.  And even the santa that had structural issues and the brooch had some good work if the details ended a bit muddled. 

I'm not sure about Ashlyn winning.  Did she really have the best dinner rolls?  Her show stopper to me was a huge bit of meh.  I didn't mind the green of the tree so much as that most of it was not actual bread but cake.  And that no bread actually formed a part of making her structure truly stand on its own.  So while I can see the bit of criticism towards the brooch versus the santa and the wobbling Christmas Tree of Pisa, I find it even thinner when they give the win to Ashlyn.  But it also would not surprise me if the producers in what they probably already knew was likely a non-elimination week, said it was okay to be liberal in who "won" since it doesn't matter or affect any overall standing when all is said and done.  And this from someone who actually dislikes how sweeping showstoppers tend to be as the winning push for a contestant in both the British and Australian shows.  But I thought Ashlyn's was more Pinterest than best amateur baker type effort.  Plus her fruit cake looked burnt on one side.  I've noticed that on the British show at least, they are much sharper in how they hone in on flaws .  I know that the British show sometimes downplays how often the two judges can walk through the sets while the bakes (barring the technical of course).  I remember when they showed it a couple of seasons ago and fans were aghast not knowing that often during the show stopper, both Mary and Hollywood would spend the whole time sitting in a corner when not walking around and seeing everything if they wanted to. 

Johnny did say that her fruit cake was panettone like but I'm not sure if he wasn't trying to fit it into the bread category.  She did call it a fruit cake though so maybe she produce something like that, but then I question whether that was intentional.  Regardless I think this show is so bent on being holiday feel good and that drives almost all the narrative within a bake-off mode.  And that is fine for what it is .  Maybe it would be nice to do a more traditional season when they aren't trying to make it all Hallmark and happiness. 

Johnny can be trying a little too hard, but I do appreciate that he has his own version of judgemental looks and it is rather telling as to what he thinks as opposed to that smirking attempt at trying to be enigmatic Hollywood-style. I like that instead of trying to create this dramatic area around himself like Hollywood does, Johnny talks about the certain risks and engages the bakers to consider them or comment on what they have already done to address it.

I do think there is a huge gap between Jeremiah and Stephanie and then the others.  Stephanie is a bit too ambitious but I've noticed little things that makes me think she has a wider and higher level of skill than most of the rest.  Whether she can harness that desire to challenge herself and still bring it under her ability remains to be seen.  And unless Jeremiah has a huge weakness in pastry and chocolate, I'm having a hard time not seeing him take this.  Comparing his sleigh to Ashlyn's pot cake tree and I'm not only confused, I'm hoping it is a aberration on Mary and Johnny's part to not let a little too much Ree Drummond/Sandra Lee slip through all to keep the holiday cheer theme going as defined by some American production member whose job it is to translate the show into something they think the American audience wants and prefers.