S08.E11: The Great Christmas Bake Off

[ElectricBoogaloo]

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Former GBBO bakers Paul Jagger, Beca Lyne-Pirkis, Selasi Gbormittah and Val Stones will face three yummy yuletide challenges - but will a Christmas miracle help them to ace it this time round?

 

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- Paul Jagger, 51
Job: Prison Governor / Series: Series 6 / Week eliminated: 8 (Patisserie)
Previous GBBO highlight: Paul is best remembered for his jaw-droppingly detailed Lion bread creation

- Beca Lyne-Pirkis, 35
Job: Has her own Welsh language cookery show titled Bexws / Series: 4 / Week Eliminated: 9 (French pastry)
Previous GBBO moment: Beca’s macaron were also described as “Exquisite”, which subsequently lead to her nickname ‘Becaron’

- Selasi Gbormittah, 31
Job: Banker / Series: Series 7 / Week Eliminated: 9 (Semi-final, Patisserie)
Previous GBBO moment: Selasi’s cool and calm approach to each challenge saw him through to the semi-final of Bake Off

- Val Stones, 67
Job: Retired Teacher / Series: Series 7 / Week Eliminated: 5 (Pastry Week)
Previous GBBO highlight: Val’s dancing whilst baking and emotional goodbye speech tapped at the nation’s hearts. She said “When you bake, you always bake for a reason. You're giving it to people, so you make it best you can. And you make it with love"

[ae2]

8 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

- Beca Lyne-Pirkis, 35
Job: Has her own Welsh language cookery show titled Bexws / Series: 4 / Week Eliminated: 9 (French pastry)
Previous GBBO moment: Beca’s macaron were also described as “Exquisite”, which subsequently lead to her nickname ‘Becaron’

Forgive my ignorance... but is Welsh still widely spoken? Wikipedia tells me that fewer than 20% of people in Wales can actually speak it. A Welsh cooking shows seems like very niche novelty.

Really excited to see Paul & Selasi again! Paul's lion bread still may be the most beautiful thing to come out of GBBO.

[Athena]

1 hour ago, ae2 said:

Forgive my ignorance... but is Welsh still widely spoken? Wikipedia tells me that fewer than 20% of people in Wales can actually speak it. A Welsh cooking shows seems like very niche novelty.

Really excited to see Paul & Selasi again! Paul's lion bread still may be the most beautiful thing to come out of GBBO.

Welsh had a small resurgence in the 2000s. It is taught in schools and Wales itself has a lot of bilingual signage with the language especially in more rural areas. There are also Welsh TV channels. Compared to English, it is not large at all but there is a lot of movement and interest to keep it going. The 19% accounts for about half a million speakers in Wales. 

[sum]

I didn't expect much, as special shows often can be uneven. Yet I absolutely loved this one, possibly my favorite episode of the whole series. I don't know if it's the familiarity but the hosts, the judges and the combination of the contestants worked fantastically well together. Lots of fun, some sweet moments with the right amount of tension and competitiveness. Some clumsy results but overall they were satisfying to watch. And going by the judges' words, all of them tasted great. Loved the festive atmosphere in and outside of the tent as well, even though it was clear to see that it was filmed way ahead of the season.

 

+ I enjoyed this one off show, too. Mary, Mel and Sue's Big Christmas Thank You
A bit slow going but it was nice to see them together again and the story warmed my heart.

[Mabinogia]

On ‎12‎/‎21‎/‎2017 at 3:01 PM, ae2 said:

Paul's lion bread still may be the most beautiful thing to come out of GBBO

It is seriously the one piece from all the seasons of this show I have seen that I can recall vividly. That lion was amazing!

I love all four of these people. I have got to find this somehow to watch. I'm in the US and I see it says "unaired in the US" booo

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Yay, I was so glad to see some familiar Bake-Off faces on my screen! When they did the first walk around to check on the bakers, it occurred to me that of all the people gathered around Selasi's work station (Paul, Prue, and Sandi), Paul was the only one who was around when all of these bakers originally competed on the show.

Yule logs! What a great choice for the signature challenge - very Christmassy and yummy. I loved all the extra bits that the bakers added. I felt like that was kind of missing from the most recent season of GBBO. I know the main point of the competition isn't fiddly decorative bits but I felt like last season, most of the bakers weren't even attempting anything like that.

I LOVE mascarpone, so I was all for Selasi's rum raisin filling. I'll be honest though - I am not a fan of orange and chocolate together (I know, I'm weird) so the orange genoise sponge was not appealing to me with the dark chocolate ganache. Loved the marzipan and meringue mushrooms! The cranberry compote was a nice added bit of color since Yule logs can be a bit dark and blah in color. I liked that by turning his Yule log on the side to make a stump, Selasi was making his different but not going too weird. It's a good thing he made two sponge cakes because the first one he rolled was an absolute mess. I liked the shards of chocolate instead of ganache too.

I've never heard of warming eggs to make a genoise instead of beating the batter over hot water. I don't understand why Val said she didn't have time for the hot water though. Start boiling the water while you're putting together the batter! Val's black forest yule log with chocolate genoise sponge, cherry kirsch ganache, and chocolate cherry truffles sounded delicious, but I LOVE chocolate. The biggest drawback was that it looked simple but messy.

Beca's gingerbread latte Yule log with chocolate and ginger buttercream, coffee buttercream, and gingerbread sponge sounded very spicy. Ha, but Noel had the right question: no booze? Mary would have been very disappointed. Her joke about resurrecting the Bake Off squirrel totally cracked me up. Loved her mushrooms with popping candy! Her spiral inside was so perfect.

Paul's nutty Yule log with chestnut buttercream, chocolate sponge, and spiced ganache was the best looking of the bunch. It was so elegant, which is not the way I would normally describe a Yule log.

I don't love mince pies so I wasn't too excited about the technical challenge, but I loved that the ingredients were under giant boxes. This may be the most stripped down recipe I've ever seen: 1. Make the mince pies. 2. Make the brandy butter.

One thing I love about the Christmas specials is that the bakers are so much more relaxed. Obviously they still want to do well, but they're not as stressed as usual. Even though the technical instructions said not to confer with each other, they were still checking in with each other. Technically they weren't breaking the rules (like when Selasi asked Beca if she was using the food processor to make her pastry and then her brandy butter), but it was nice to hear Selasi ask everyone how they were doing. I love that even these four bakers are from three different seasons, they were all still helping each other and rooting for each other.

The pictures of the bakers with the different holiday accessories during the technical challenge were so fun.

Selasi's snow globes with snow on the outside were another example of him making it a little different without going overboard. The wreathes didn't really look like wreathes since they were all white.

Beca's snowmen globes were so impressive. The macaron snowmen were so tiny and adorable. Her globes were really well done. I agreed with Paul that by having exposed layers,

Paul's penguin snow globes were so impressive. Hand blowing the globes was so awesome to watch.

Heh, Val knows to bribe the judges with booze! Such a pity that everything started melting and getting smushed.

I had to laugh when the bakers walked out of the tent into the pitch dark. Definitely not the same as the regular season finales when it's sunny outside!

I knew Paul would win because he kicked ass this week. His Yule log was so classy, he won the technical challenge, and the judges loved his snow globes. I don't think anyone else even came close. Val was clearly out of the running because her showstopper was melting everywhere. Although the judges liked both Beca and Selasi's showstoppers, they pointed out flaws in each. It was so cute to see everyone dancing together afterward.

[ae2]

I loved that Selasi was already prepared to clap for Paul when the winner was still being teased.

[Writing Wrongs]

I hate that I can't find these shows anywhere to watch.

[Lois Sandborne]

I can't believe I forgot to look for these specials at Christmastime!  I was pretty busy this past holiday, but man, priorities.

I loved all four of these folks in their original seasons, even Val, who I normally would find kind of maddening, but what can I say, she's irrepressible and irresistible.  It was wonderful to see them all again, especially Paul and Selassi, who I always felt got a bit of a rough shake during their seasons.

Beca still Beca-ing, I see, with the pop rocks in her mushrooms, and her macarons of course.  I agree that Paul's yule log looked fantastic, but I liked the style of Selassi's as well, and his explanation about imperfect trees.  I did laugh when Paul H. said he'd missed those little stories of his.

Those mince pies looked so wee!  I couldn't believe them trying to make a fiddly little lattice on top of what looked like a 3-inch round.  And only Selassi's looked fully baked to me, but then I do like my golden brown to be brown.

I liked the look of all the snow globes in the end, but I do feel that with shows like this when you start getting into isomalt and infrared lamps, for crying out loud, you've gone a bit too far.  Let's bring our expectations back just a bit.  But then, they all did manage to turn out something spectacular, so what do I know.

I'm happy for Paul's win!  He really was the only choice going by all three challenges, and now he can be known for something besides that incredible bread lion.

[Sharpie66]

These are on Netflix now!! Just finished watching this ep. it was so nice to see these four back in the tent. Everyone was so laid back compared to the regular show, even giving Beca enough time to dust her mince pies with sugar. Paul’s win was well deserved—his Yule log was lovely, and his hand-blown globes were so well-done! I loved his penguins, too.

[dleighg]

3 minutes ago, Sharpie66 said:

These are on Netflix now!! Just finished watching this ep. it was so nice to see these four back in the tent. Everyone was so laid back compared to the regular show, even giving Beca enough time to dust her mince pies with sugar. Paul’s win was well deserved—his Yule log was lovely, and his hand-blown globes were so well-done! I loved his penguins, too.

yes the energy was so much "less" in this. Everyone was having a good time. Those globes looked very difficult to do! 

But I call foul on the technical-- the judges complained if the pie was shallow OR if it didn't have enough lattice top. Seems to me that they didn't give enough dough to do BOTH at the same time!

And for a non-Brit here-- is mincemeat actually not meat? Not a stupid question I hope. Looks like dried fruits and booze?

[ombelico]

Watched this last night and really enjoyed it. I agree that the bakers wanted to do well but didn't seem as stressed out, which was much more enjoyable. Paul was the clear winner here, and it was great to see him take home the win.

The show has done enough seasons now that I wonder if they would be willing to do an "all-stars" season, selecting from those bakers who didn't win in a previous season. There have been many bakers who were very talented but had 1-2 bad days that took them out of the competition, and it would be great to see if they have learned more and improved in the intervening time.

[GaT]

Yep, I watched & enjoyed this too, going to watch the other 2 episodes tonight.

On 11/30/2018 at 3:53 PM, dleighg said:

But I call foul on the technical-- the judges complained if the pie was shallow OR if it didn't have enough lattice top. Seems to me that they didn't give enough dough to do BOTH at the same time!

Yes, I agree, everybody really struggled with the amount of dough, they should have given enough ingredients to have a little leeway.

The globes were really tough, I wonder if Paul had to bring him own equipment to blow them?

[hendersonrocks]

This was such a fun holiday surprise - thank you, Netflix! It was perfect to watch today with the snow coming down outside at my house. (Though they were totally piping in fake snow for that ending, right?!)

Paul was just exceptional throughout, which made it seem like an easy decision. Selasi had flashes of brilliance again, and Beca was so competent and good, and Val was so very Val...but Paul was just so much better. 

On to the Festive show!

[2727]

4 hours ago, GaT said:

Yes, I agree, everybody really struggled with the amount of dough, they should have given enough ingredients to have a little leeway.

I wonder if the bakers ever get to see the example bakes in person? For all I know, the segment with the judges at the table explaining the technical is shot way ahead of time, but the lattice on those mini mince pies was so perfect! It seems like it would be an inspiration to the bakers even after they've completed their own work. Same with that Danish pistachio ring thingy, which looked really pretty

The most frequent comment after a technical is, "I'm never baking that again!" but it's fun for me to imagine that some of the bakers are motivated (perhaps stubbornly) to master it.

[theatremouse]

If they see the samples it must be after the fact, since we see plenty of times where part of the challenge of the technical is not necessarily knowing what it should look like, and contestants guessing or wondering if they've got it right.

When Paul said he wanted this to be as memorable as the lion (I'm paraphrasing), my immediate thought was there is no way you or any other contestant will do that.

[GaT]

20 minutes ago, 2727 said:

I wonder if the bakers ever get to see the example bakes in person?

I don't think so, we always hear them talking about how they've never seen or tasted whatever it is.

[Rinaldo]

On 11/30/2018 at 6:53 PM, dleighg said:

And for a non-Brit here-- is mincemeat actually not meat? Not a stupid question I hope. Looks like dried fruits and booze?

I'm not British either, but I've had to look it up over the years to understand British cooking shows (Wikipedia has a good article with some historical detail). Originally, as the name suggests, chopped meat would be among the ingredients, but modern mincemeat generally is just what you said (possibly, but not necessarily including animal fat, which would be the only vestige of meat). The mixture can be bought in jars, even in the US.

[jhummerbird]

That was a delightful way to spend a Sunday afternoon! Selasi and Beca's yule logs sounded particularly delicious. I was surprised they all struggled so much with the lattice tops -- I mean obviously the tiny size of the pies and the scarcity of dough made those lattices particularly hard, but at least a couple of them said they had never made a pie lattice before, and they were using a crazy technique of making the lattice on a pastry board first and then trying to lift it onto the pie. The GBBO bakers can usually do so much more than my own limited skills, but a lattice pie crust isn't that hard to do IMO. I tried googling "British lattice pie" and got a recipe that called a lattice top "nostalgic" so maybe they aren't as common in British baking anymore. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

5 hours ago, jhummerbird said:

The GBBO bakers can usually do so much more than my own limited skills, but a lattice pie crust isn't that hard to do IMO. I tried googling "British lattice pie" and got a recipe that called a lattice top "nostalgic" so maybe they aren't as common in British baking anymore. 

The technique is also used in arts and crafts. I remember using the under/over technique for some art project we did in elementary school.

Edited December 3, 2018 by ElectricBoogaloo

[Rammchick]

13 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

The technique is also used in arts and crafts. I remember using the under/over technique for some art project we did in elementary school.

 

I recall doing that at camp to make pot holders.

Edited December 3, 2018 by Rammchick

[Iseut]

This was so fun; I needed some more GBBO in my life! Those snow globes were gorgeous. Can't believe they're a thing though...who would ever have the patience and energy to create them in "real" life, and who would ever be so heartless as to crack one open to eat it?!?

I'm glad Paul got redemption, and it was cool to see that he was still improving and adding new techniques...amazing that he didn't even win star baker on that week he did the bread lion!

Living in the Pacific NW, I know that it's pretty much impossible for it to snow and stick after a day of hard rain like they had on Saturday, so the snow the next day had to be fake. But I still got warm fuzzies when they brought their treats out into the "snow" with the children's choir and everyone all bundled up. This show just makes me happy. 

[dleighg]

19 minutes ago, Iseut said:

Living in the Pacific NW, I know that it's pretty much impossible for it to snow and stick after a day of hard rain like they had on Saturday, so the snow the next day had to be fake.

Oh yeah I was certain it was totally fake!

[meep.meep]

Completely fake, I agree!  This was fun to watch!

On ‎12‎/‎2‎/‎2018 at 5:38 AM, Rinaldo said:

I'm not British either, but I've had to look it up over the years to understand British cooking shows (Wikipedia has a good article with some historical detail). Originally, as the name suggests, chopped meat would be among the ingredients, but modern mincemeat generally is just what you said (possibly, but not necessarily including animal fat, which would be the only vestige of meat). The mixture can be bought in jars, even in the US.

Mince meat used to be something you had to make ahead to use at the holidays.  Minced up meat and fruit, then soaked for weeks in booze - like fruitcakes have to be.

On ‎12‎/‎2‎/‎2018 at 2:39 PM, jhummerbird said:

That was a delightful way to spend a Sunday afternoon! Selasi and Beca's yule logs sounded particularly delicious. I was surprised they all struggled so much with the lattice tops -- I mean obviously the tiny size of the pies and the scarcity of dough made those lattices particularly hard, but at least a couple of them said they had never made a pie lattice before, and they were using a crazy technique of making the lattice on a pastry board first and then trying to lift it onto the pie. The GBBO bakers can usually do so much more than my own limited skills, but a lattice pie crust isn't that hard to do IMO. I tried googling "British lattice pie" and got a recipe that called a lattice top "nostalgic" so maybe they aren't as common in British baking anymore. 

Lattice tops are very common on our "disgusting" American fruit pies.  On the more typical British meat and vegetable pies, you need to seal the top, so no lattices.  The ones on Prue's sample pies looked like they may have been rolled into cylinders before attaching.  Or just done by people who weren't in a desperate rush!

[AllAboutMBTV]

I enjoyed the episode -- as long as I didn't look out the windows of the tent. Clearly, it was filmed in the summer or early autumn as there were still plenty of leaves on the trees. Yes, I know GBBO isn't a documentary (and heating the tent would be as much of a problem for the sound techs as air conditioning it), but it kinda took me out of the holiday spirit. The foam snow on the ground at the end didn't help either. /Scrooge

ANYway, my mom makes mincemeat pie every holiday season. She buys it jarred (Crosse and Blackwell's) and doctors it with booze and whatnot. Since it is the only pie I'd rather not eat I can't tell you what's in the whatnot. But she lets it sit around for a couple of weeks before she makes the actual pie. Smells nice, even I don't like the taste of it!

[Sharpie66]

Almost all Christmas cooking shows are filmed in September or October, if not earlier. I’m guessing this was filmed around October.

[PaulaO]

I discovered this last night and was so happy to be back in the tent.  I’m glad Paul won.  I’m still bitter that his lion bread lost to Ian’s wishing well.

[stillshimpy]

This was such a treat to find on Netflix!  It was also the first time I enjoyed Prue on any level, so it was like a Christmas miracle.  No, seriously, I think it's just taking me a while to adjust to her as opposed to disliking her but I loved Mary.  It was seeing the contestants they had landed for this that made me want to watch.  What a lovely group to have for a holiday special and they weren't kidding around with the freaking challenges! 

I adore Paul, Bread Aslan Man for the win!  Ever since that complete faceplant on a challenge in his season followed by the super cheerful, "I thought that went really well!" and you could tell everyone, including Paul, just fell about laughing.  I think he cracked up the cameraman.  

I also love Val, who is such a good sport, showing up likely knowing she'd be an also-ran but with the best energy!  

Honestly, this was so delightful that I'm psyched I watched it when my husband was out of town, now I have an excuse to watch it again with him.  

My mom is from Scotland, so I grew up eating mince pies and I still like mince, vegetarian division only, I've never had a version with meat.  It smells like Christmas!  It's got a very sort of heavy chew to it and those little pies they made would be the perfect size.   

Honestly, they could have been making mud pies and I'd have watched.   What a delightful find this was.   

[ABay]

This is the kind of episode that makes me want to move into the tent and never leave.

[MisterGlass]

Fun to watch.  Paul was the clear winner, and I was happy for him.  I agree it was a little more relaxed.  It might be nice to know that whatever happens you don't have to come back next week.  Though, they spent so much time showing globes breaking that I was surprised everyone had sugar globes in the end.  It felt like they over emphasized that a bit.

My Grandmother liked mincemeat, and we'd by a jar for her some Christmases.  It did list beef an ingredient.

I wonder how they chose the bakers to come back for this. 

On 12/1/2018 at 5:56 PM, ombelico said:

I wonder if they would be willing to do an "all-stars" season, selecting from those bakers who didn't win in a previous season.

I would watch that.

[stacyasp]

Netflix 

[Ilovepie]

What a treat to have this to watch on the heels of finishing the most recent season on Netflix (which I didn't really love). I was so happy to see Selasi again! And Val - I love her!!!!

Question: were these two episodes filmed in different years? Because it seemed really weird that one episode was more like a regular season ending where they were outside with family and friends; the choir, etc. The second episode was kind of anti-climatic with the winner being announced in the tent with just the judges, hosts and participants......

[ElectricBoogaloo]

10 hours ago, Ilovepie said:

Question: were these two episodes filmed in different years? Because it seemed really weird that one episode was more like a regular season ending where they were outside with family and friends; the choir, etc. The second episode was kind of anti-climatic with the winner being announced in the tent with just the judges, hosts and participants......

No, these were both filmed in 2017.

[Quilt Fairy]

On ‎12‎/‎9‎/‎2018 at 8:59 PM, MisterGlass said:

I wonder how they chose the bakers to come back for this. 

It's just speculation on my part, but look at the very top post that lists what season they're from and what week they were eliminated.  All 4 of them were sent home in either Pastry Week or Patisserie Week. 

[Rinaldo]

On 12/9/2018 at 9:59 PM, MisterGlass said:

I wonder how they chose the bakers to come back for this. 

It may be as much a matter of "who was willing/able to do it" as "choosing."