S08.E02: Biscuit Week

[halopub]

TVGuide.co.uk:

Quote

It's week two, and the sandwich biscuit signature challenge sees bakers trying to blend biscuit and filling. There's a technical task set by Paul Hollywood that no one has tried before. And a final showstopper challenge that takes the biscuit and is literally game changing. Paul and Prue Leith cast a critical eye over the contestants' efforts, while new hosts Sandi Toksvig and Noel Fielding settle into their roles. As ever, it remains to be seen which of the unlucky bakers will be shown the door.

Some nitpicks before the episode:

1. Someone has tried the technical biscuit before as their showstopper.
2. In the teaser at the end of episode one, Sandi's voiceover calls Paul's challenge an oriental technical - another example of Brits & Americans being divided by a common language. Love Productions should consider how effing awful that word is for GBBO's global audience.
3. While the technical has its roots in a regional Japanese cookie, it really is an example of Californian entrepreneurs deploying self-exoticization in their marketing.

[Occasional Hope]

I've never actually seen a fortune cookie before.  They don't look very nice.

I was impressed by Sophie's baking this week.  Her lemon signatures were just perfect, although Steve's chessboard was spectacular.

Flo was quite lucky to escape this week.

[sum]

Seriously though, all those sandwich biscuits in the signature challenge looked so neat and delicious, the sudden craving for a biscuit was tough to squelch.

[Corgi-ears]

At this admittedly early stage, it really seems like a two-horse race...and Flo is not one of those horses, her teeth notwithstanding. (I'M SORRY. I DON'T KNOW WHY I'M SO CRUEL.)

[Ceindreadh]

2 hours ago, Corgi-ears said:

At this admittedly early stage, it really seems like a two-horse race...and Flo is not one of those horses, her teeth notwithstanding. (I'M SORRY. I DON'T KNOW WHY I'M SO CRUEL.)

Who do you think the two are? Star baker guy for sure (can't remember his name). 

[Athena]

Steven who has been star baker and Sophie the ex military seems to be the two frontrunners. They have been consistent both weeks. Though we could be surprised at who could grow and land the third spot. 

I really liked Noel's rose jacket. One of the arms was piping roses. 

Without Mary, the judging is boring. Paul does seem a bit lighter. I don't believe anything about how he didn't get on with Mel and Sue, but I think Paul is making an extra effort to be more congenial in certain areas. He knows this show is his bread and butter. 

[halopub]

23 hours ago, Occasional Hope said:

I've never actually seen a fortune cookie before.  They don't look very nice.

With the orange and almond, these aren't typical. But yeah, I've never gotten why people like the taste. Someone on Reddit compared the flavor to a manila folder and while I haven't partaken in any office supplies lately, that sounds about right to me.

The regional Japanese cookie that Californians based them on likely tastes better, with miso and sesame in the batter.

In the sixth season,

Spoiler

Nadiya made them the second week as part of her showstopper. They actually looked appetizing after being dipped in chocolate and nuts.

 

1 hour ago, Athena said:

I really liked Noel's rose jacket. One of the arms was piping roses.

He does seem to be channeling Mary Berry's bomber jackets. I missed the piping arms and found a clear screenshot:

I agree that Steven and Sophie have been been strong so far. I haven't warmed up to Steven, though, for some reason.

Some other quick thoughts:

• I felt for Chris when the judges spat out his fortune cookies - if it was obviously raw, why did they taste them to begin with? I'm glad Chris got to at least really impress Sandi with his chocolate.
• It's very interesting that the first two weeks have seen the departure of two avid bread bakers.
• Yay for everyone who helped Tom get his signature on the plate.
• "That’s Scotland leaving England." Heh.
• I'm still getting used to Noel's voiceovers. I'm continually surprised that he can enunciate and wouldn't be out of place on NPR or BBC Radio.

[Primetimer]

The bakers' time gets squished when they have to make sandwich biscuits, fortune cookies, and edible board games!

View the full article

[Rinaldo]

With "biscuit board game" for a showstopper, I really feel like we're scraping the bottom of the barrel for new competition ideas. That said, some of the results were highly impressive visually (obviously I can't speak as to taste), and Steve's was jaw-dropping.

It's hard to argue with him winning second Star Baker in a row. (What was it at the end that he said about never winning praise before?) There are one or two others who look strong as well.

But it could all turn upside down in Week 3. Bread involves a separate set of skills, and needs experience. That'll be interesting to see.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Normally I don't like the technical challenges where people get really flustered because I love the bakers and I want them to succeed, but a tiny sadistic part of me was laughing at how confounded so many of the bakers were by making fortune cookies. Flo couldn't even get to the "fold the circle in half" part of the instructions. She was using the top of her water class to cut off sections of the dough and then she just kind of squashed the edges together into a dumpling shape.

Re: the bland taste of fortune cookies - I think that's partly due to the fact that they were originally created for palates that weren't used to Asian flavors (aka non-Asian people). It's 2017 and there are still people who wouldn't eat a miso sesame cookie (related anecdote: some people from the corporate office of my husband's company flew out to California for some meetings. The California office had lunch catered. Afterward, one of the guys from the midwest office asked if he could just get a plain ham sandwich without weird bread or "pro-skoo-to." For the record, the sandwiches they had were NOT weird. They were just regular sandwiches made of various meats and bread but nothing crazy).

Remember how in past seasons, we would see the bakers asking each others questions about how they were making the technical? I noticed that this week's recipe specifically said the bakers were not allowed to confer with each other.

Sophie is now officially my favorite. Not only has she been a strong baker so far but the fortunes that she wrote were hilarious:

• Today you will mostly poo candy floss.
• You will get bored of writing fortunes.

[Rinaldo]

I paused and saw that "Please do not confer" message -- on the following week's technical challenge as well. It seems to be new this season.

I wonder how far it extends, what is considered to count as actual "conferring" (no doubt they're told more off camera). We did see them exchanging conversation about what temperature they were using (but it was after they'd started the baking), and similar general info. And of course there's no way to prevent them looking around and seeing what others are doing. And they tell the camera what they've chosen to do. So I'm mildly puzzled by this.

[ae2]

9 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Normally I don't like the technical challenges where people get really flustered because I love the bakers and I want them to succeed, but a tiny sadistic part of me was laughing at how confounded so many of the bakers were by making fortune cookies. Flo couldn't even get to the "fold the circle in half" part of the instructions. She was using the top of her water class to cut off sections of the dough and then she just kind of squashed the edges together into a dumpling shape.

Re: the bland taste of fortune cookies - I think that's partly due to the fact that they were originally created for palates that weren't used to Asian flavors (aka non-Asian people). It's 2017 and there are still people who wouldn't eat a miso sesame cookie (related anecdote: some people from the corporate office of my husband's company flew out to California for some meetings. The California office had lunch catered. Afterward, one of the guys from the midwest office asked if he could just get a plain ham sandwich without weird bread or "pro-skoo-to." For the record, the sandwiches they had were NOT weird. They were just regular sandwiches made of various meats and bread but nothing crazy).

Remember how in past seasons, we would see the bakers asking each others questions about how they were making the technical? I noticed that this week's recipe specifically said the bakers were not allowed to confer with each other.

Sophie is now officially my favorite. Not only has she been a strong baker so far but the fortunes that she wrote were hilarious:

• Today you will mostly poo candy floss.
• You will get bored of writing fortunes.

Wow, that's an interesting change. I kept asking myself why no one was looking at how others were folding the fortune cookies. In previous seasons that would have happened, for sure. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I thought that at the very least, the bakers who were totally clueless about the shape would look around to see how the others were using their water glasses or how they were folding their cookies.

I mean, I get that the technical challenge is not intended to be a group activity but having that new rule now after seven seasons of the bakers asking each other questions and giving each other tips seems odd.

Obviously there is still camaraderie and they are willing to help each other when necessary (as seen when several of them rallied to get all the biscuits onto the plate in the last minute of the signature challenge), but adding this rule so late in the ahow's run seems almost anathema to the spirit of the show.

In theory, I'm okay with it because we saw this week that there were some people who were never going to figure out how to fold fortune cookies without a lot of help, and that seems fair.

I was surprised that there were some bakers who also never got the cookie baked correctly. There were way more underbaked/raw cookies presented to the judges than I thought there would be. 

[sum]

It's not a new thing though...

Two examples I just found on the net.

On the Extra Slice some bakers said, it's because they tend to get caught up with the challenges, forget to look around, it's like the station becomes an island.

 

Edited September 16, 2017 by sum

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Signature bake recipes:
Steven's amarspressi biscuits
Stacey's sparkly chocolate sandwich cookies

Technical recipe:
Paul's fortune cookies

Showstopper recipes:
Sophie's snakes and ladders biscuit board game

[aradia22]

Quote

With the orange and almond, these aren't typical. But yeah, I've never gotten why people like the taste. Someone on Reddit compared the flavor to a manila folder and while I haven't partaken in any office supplies lately, that sounds about right to me.

There's something a bit addictive about blandness. Like how you probably couldn't eat a very spicy chip but you can easily eat a bunch of Pringles. Fortune cookies have a pleasant vanilla blandness and a nice crunch for snacking. I don't know. Even though I eat all kinds of things and I mostly enjoy things that are flavorful I find something comforting and sometimes addictive about the blandness of foods like potatoes, matzoh, rice cakes, popcorn, breakfast cereal, etc. 

[Tabbygirl521]

I am in the US but happened to catch this episode this week because it’s airing in Canada and I can get the CBC out of Vancouver. For some reason, what I saw didn’t include a technical challenge and I freaked out at yet another Change to my beloved show. But I see here that it looks like there was one? I wonder what’s up with the CBC airing. 

Any Canadians here who saw what I saw (or didn’t see, I guess!)? I’m looking forward to the rest of the series but hope the episodes are complete. 

And for you Americans, how were you able to watch? Our local PBS station (Seattle) is still on Season 3 and I gather they are not going to carry this series after 3 wraps up. Bastards!

Edited July 21, 2018 by Tabbygirl521

[Kohola3]

I watch it on a Canadian station from Michigan. I believe that they have to cut out the technical bake because of time constraints. The show in Canada is only one hour long in when you throw in a lot of commercials that leaves about 40 some minutes. They can't get the whole thing on.

[Tabbygirl521]

Another reason to curse PBS (locally).  Dang it! I don’t know why they can’t carry the next seasons. Maybe it’s a licensing problem, I don’t know. 

[Athena]

4 hours ago, Tabbygirl521 said:

Another reason to curse PBS (locally).  Dang it! I don’t know why they can’t carry the next seasons. Maybe it’s a licensing problem, I don’t know. 

It's a licensing problem. Since the original production company Love Productions moved the show from the BBC to Channel 4, PBS will need to negotiate a new distribution deal for the new seasons. It is probably not cheap.

[sum]

It seems that the situations regarding the show's overseas distribution & format rights are a bit complicated and BBC is still very much involved.

Last laugh for BBC as it retains rights to sell Great British Bake Off format abroad

Quote

Their [BBC's] commercial arm has confirmed it holds the rights to sell the format abroad until 2028. BBC Worldwide has already sold the show's format to 23 countries, allowing them to create their own local versions while remunerating Love Productions and feeding money back to the BBC. The ongoing deal is thought to be worth millions, and is unaffected by the change of broadcaster for the main UK series.

BBC Worldwide will retain the rights for the next 12 years, and will soon begin negotiations for the rights to sell the UK show - as broadcast on Channel 4 - abroad too. 
A spokesman said: “BBC Worldwide continues to hold international format rights (excluding North America) for Bake Off for the next 12 years. BBC Worldwide additionally has an exclusive first negotiation position with Love Productions for the international distribution of future series of The Great British Bake Off.”

(Mod, move this post elsewhere, if it's too off-topic)

Edited July 22, 2018 by sum

[Sew Sumi]

Excluding North America? Interesting. I fear we'll never see the Channel 4 episodes.

[biakbiak]

12 hours ago, Sew Sumi said:

Excluding North America? Interesting. I fear we'll never see the Channel 4 episodes.

That’s for the format rights, not the distribution of the filmed show, there are already Canadian and American adaptions.

Edited July 22, 2018 by biakbiak

[magdalene]

16 hours ago, Sew Sumi said:

Excluding North America? Interesting. I fear we'll never see the Channel 4 episodes.

No, no, we will be able to see them somewhere in the US legally eventually though I doubt PBS will be able to afford the new episodes.  They must know they have a popular show and they will ask a lot of money for the distribution.  I would guess either Amazon Prime or Netflix is going to get the American rights.

[GaT]

Still trying to get used to the new people, but honestly, I'm not feeling it. Something seems off to me, but I can't figure out what it is. 

If I was making fortune cookies, I would have made all the fortunes say "You will pick me as Star Baker"

Another tough Showstopper, it definitely feels like the show is trying to make them as tough as possible.

[PaulaO]

I like the bakers and I like Prue.  Paul is being toooooo nice.  Noel and Sandi haven’t gelled yet.  I feel like we haven’t seen their true personalities but that’s o.k.  As usual, not enough time for the showstopper.  I was happy to see the loser gone.  They skeeved me out.

[AZChristian]

After watching this episode last night, I asked Mr. AZC if Chris (the gentleman who was eliminated) reminded him of someone.  Yes, he did.  Who?  IDK.  So while sipping my morning coffee, it popped into my head:  Jared Harris.  Anyone else see that?

[Rickster]

31 minutes ago, AZChristian said:

After watching this episode last night, I asked Mr. AZC if Chris (the gentleman who was eliminated) reminded him of someone.  Yes, he did.  Who?  IDK.  So while sipping my morning coffee, it popped into my head:  Jared Harris.  Anyone else see that?

He reminded me a bit of the pre-beard Graham Norton on BBC America.

I thought he should have been the one to go on the first episode.

Edited September 1, 2018 by Rickster

[AZChristian]

1 minute ago, Rickster said:

He reminded me a bit of the pre-beard Graham Norton on BBC America.

I thought he should have been the one to go on the first episode.

Yes!  Graham Norton, too!!!!

[theatremouse]

On 9/16/2017 at 3:15 PM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I was surprised that there were some bakers who also never got the cookie baked correctly. There were way more underbaked/raw cookies presented to the judges than I thought there would be. 

It's sort of like making tuiles. They're supposed to be soft-ish when you take them out so you can shape them, and then they harden. So I'm not surprised a lot of them ended up with chewy/rubbery/underbaked. It's the nature of the beast with that kind of cookie unless you're used to it and know which "soft" is the right soft when you take it out.

[PaulaO]

Chris is a dead ringer for Jared Harris.  Didn’t Nadya make fortune cookies?  Didn’t seem that difficult of a challenge.

[Cyranetta]

Julia reminds me of Mädchen Amick, and her facial expressions are hysterical.

I was really intrigued by the Showstopper challenge. It really did offer a challenge on three levels - esthetic, technique and flavor - and yet allowed for a wide scope of imagination.

[Ceindreadh]

57 minutes ago, PaulaO said:

Chris is a dead ringer for Jared Harris.  Didn’t Nadya make fortune cookies?  Didn’t seem that difficult of a challenge.

Many of the technical challenges are bakes that wouldn't be that difficult if the bakers had the full instructions and were able to take their time and practice in advance.  It's a different story when you're thrown in at the deep end baking something you've never done before, and in some cases may never even have seen or heard of before.

[dleighg]

while I like Yan, I find her "I'm a scientist" schtick a bit wearing. I mean, nothing she's said that's "scientific" is anything that a good baker would be unfamiliar with (and I say that being a scientist, and a baker, myself). I hate when people (or producers) feel a need to package the contestants and make everything they do relate to their "outside life."

[J-Man]

I think it was Sophie who kept referring to "Lemoncino" with respect to her signature sandwiches. What she was describing, and what was on her counter, looked like Limoncello. And Paul used that term (Limoncello) as well. Are these interchangeable terms for the same liqueur? 

[Sew Sumi]

As far as I can tell from Mr. Google, it's the same drink. The name differences are regional: limoncino in the north, and limoncello in the south. 

[anniebird]

On 8/30/2017 at 4:03 PM, halopub said:

 

1. In the teaser at the end of episode one, Sandi's voiceover calls Paul's challenge an oriental technical - another example of Brits & Americans being divided by a common language. Love Productions should consider how effing awful that word is for GBBO's global audience.

 Oriental is only considered offensive if it's used in reference to people --- it's perfectly acceptable to call a rug, or a cookie, or a technical challenge Oriental.

[halopub]

This came up again in the thread for season 9, episode 1 - but to avoid being off-topic, I elaborated my thoughts further in Baking on Both Sides of the Atlantic.

[Quilt Fairy]

On 9/16/2017 at 5:15 PM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I thought that at the very least, the bakers who were totally clueless about the shape would look around to see how the others were using their water glasses or how they were folding their cookies.

I mean, I get that the technical challenge is not intended to be a group activity but having that new rule now after seven seasons of the bakers asking each other questions and giving each other tips seems odd.

Obviously there is still camaraderie and they are willing to help each other when necessary (as seen when several of them rallied to get all the biscuits onto the plate in the last minute of the signature challenge), but adding this rule so late in the ahow's run seems almost anathema to the spirit of the show.

This is not a change.  They have never been allowed to confer during the technical challenge, the whole point is to test their individual knowledge as bakers.  I don't know if it was always written at the top of the instructions, but that notation has been there for a few seasons at least.  If anything, they are allowing these contestants to confer more than in the past, because I'm several episodes in and asking your neighbor "What temperature are you using?" seems common in the technical, as is unabashedly looking at other benches as opposed to brief furtive glances.  

There are some changes this season, however.  At one point during the showstopper, Prue asks someone if they made their own fondant "Because you know you didn't have to."   That definitely was not allowed before, or at least strongly looked down upon by Mary. 

[Mabinogia]

The change I'm noticing the most, or maybe I just didn't notice it before, is that the pause between saying "and the person going home is" and the actual name seems longer. Now, it could be that Mel and Sue chatted more to make that dramatic pause less noticeable, but I really noticed the dramatic pause several times this season. It felt very un GBBO like to me.

For the technical they were never really allowed to really consult one another, but they often looked at each other's work and talked to the camera about what so and so is doing. They usually seem very aware when they are doing something different than the others.

[Rinaldo]

3 minutes ago, Mabinogia said:

The change I'm noticing the most, or maybe I just didn't notice it before, is that the pause between saying "and the person going home is" and the actual name seems longer. Now, it could be that Mel and Sue chatted more to make that dramatic pause less noticeable, but I really noticed the dramatic pause several times this season. It felt very un GBBO like to me.

This is something they've always done -- always leaving time for the camera to move between close-ups of the two or three faces we've been told are in danger. And the one who's actually eliminated is the second-to-last one... except when it isn't, just to keep us on our toes.

And yes, they've never been allowed to "consult" for a Technical, but that's a fuzzy line (and they seem content to leave it that way): they can't just gather around the one person who knows how and tells them "See, you have to do X and then Y, and bake it for Z" -- but they're free to use their eyes and ears to glean what they can. (The point of the occasional joke that "you were looking at me!" is that it is a joke, nothing forbidden happened.) Similarly, it's always possible to snatch a few extra seconds after "Times up!" to plate or garnish and have nothing worse happen than an admonition to step away and behave yourself; no one has ever been penalized for going a tiny bit over.

[WookieeCookieez]

On 9/6/2017 at 11:46 AM, Corgi-ears said:

... Flo is not one of those horses, her teeth notwithstanding. (I'M SORRY. I DON'T KNOW WHY I'M SO CRUEL.)

I was calling her "Chomps" in my head, so at least you aren't alone in your savagery. 

[meep.meep]

On 9/1/2018 at 6:59 AM, AZChristian said:

After watching this episode last night, I asked Mr. AZC if Chris (the gentleman who was eliminated) reminded him of someone.  Yes, he did.  Who?  IDK.  So while sipping my morning coffee, it popped into my head:  Jared Harris.  Anyone else see that?

He looks like Iain Glen from Game of Thrones and Downton Abbey - he doesn't look anything like Jared Harris. other than a weather beaten complexion.  From his parting remarks it sounds like his forte is bread and pastry.  It's too bad they can't swirl up some of the seasons so that those who are bad at cake/cookies but good at bread have a chance to advance.

I wouldn't ever eat a fortune cookie with all that crap they were dipped in.  Sorry Paul, sometimes plain is best.

I love that when the episode starts, there's a big screen that declares it a "Netflix Original Production."  Sure, guys, you did it all yourselves.  At least you didn't edit out the Technical like CBC did.

[Mabinogia]

4 hours ago, meep.meep said:

I wouldn't ever eat a fortune cookie with all that crap they were dipped in.  Sorry Paul, sometimes plain is best.

Agree. I don't get the appeal of adorned fortune cookies. For me they are meant to be plain. Just a sweet little crunchy treat. I do like them. I should try to make some sometime. At least I know how to fold them now. lol

[dleighg]

I kept hearing fortune cookies are flavorless. I only know them from the local take-out joints, but to me they are lightly almond flavor. Nice, simple. 

[Kohola3]

46 minutes ago, dleighg said:

I kept hearing fortune cookies are flavorless. I only know them from the local take-out joints, but to me they are lightly almond flavor. Nice, simple. 

I love them, at least from my local Chinese take out.  Lovely light almond flavor.  But I do draw the line between a fortune (you will travel to exotic places) and a saying (a stitch in time saves nice).  I only want to see fortunes.

[chaifan]

I wanted to reserve opinion on Noel and Sandi until this episode.  I have no idea who they are, so they are fresh faces to me.  I really didn't care for either of them in the first episode.  I found Noel to be distracting, and Sandi just didn't bring anything to the table.  After the second episode I'm warming to Noel a little more, though he just so sticks out like sore thumb, but I like his casual interaction with the bakers.  Sandi still doesn't bring anything to the table for me.  And, as someone posted above, I don't think they gel together.  They are two separate hosts, not co-hosts.

I wonder if it was any question as to Chris being eliminated.  I thought he should have gone in week 1, but this week was a disaster for him. 

I thought the biscuit board challenge was weird.  I do like that Liam and Paul played a game of naughts & crosses (tic tac toe for us americans here).  They are forming a fun bond - Liam has no fear of Paul like many bakers do.  I hope that turns into something for him after the season ends. 

[MMLEsq]

I was so surprised to see fortune cookies as the technical challenge.  I made fortune cookies -- by myself -- in the sixth grade without much difficulty.  I found the key is to not try to bake too many at once.  Do two or maybe three at the same time -- any more and they'll harden before you get to fold them.

"Fun" bit of personal trivia:  When I left my job to go to law school, my co-workers took me out for a farewell lunch at a Chinese restaurant and the fortune I got in my fortune cookie that day said, "You would make a good lawyer."  I carried that fortune around in my wallet for years.  :-)

[Kohola3]

58 minutes ago, MMLEsq said:

When I left my job to go to law school, my co-workers took me out for a farewell lunch at a Chinese restaurant and the fortune I got in my fortune cookie that day said, "You would make a good lawyer."  

I love fortune cookies with actual fortunes. I get a lot of "sayings" like "If you don't like the road you're walking, start paving another one".  I want a fortune AND a good tasting cookie!

[Crone]

I thought Chris should have gone the first week. When they did the mini chocolate roll technical, they separated the eggs (guess that was in the recipe) and Chris dumped his unwhipped egg whites right into the chocolate mixture. (And he had to repeat the cake and made the same mistake again!) Im not a great baker, but even I know that most of the time when eggs are separated it’s because the whites will be whipped up. 

And no, he looks nothing like the sainted Jared Harris! Lol