S10.E03: Bread Week

[Athena]

Quote

The bakers tackle a signature bake designed to be shared; a deceptively simple summer staple in the Technical; and an ambitious Showstopper

Channel 4 UK air date: September 10, 2019

Netflix US streaming date: September 13, 2019

[halopub]

Handshake! Michael's really turned it around from episode one. I liked Steph and Michelle's breads this week. And while her nerves continue to make me nervous, Rosie produced a charming elephant showstopper.

I prefer a darker burger bun but I know that's not what the judges were looking for.

Not knocking a good cinnamon roll but I thought David's storyline was supposed to be healthier baking? I guess that was just week one.

Alice was never going home this week but I could use a break from her. She seems like a lovely person with interesting life experiences but the teacher's another one whose naturally dramatic fretfulness agitates me as a viewer.

Were those Amelia's parents?

Are we really supposed to believe Henry's only learned to bake bread in the two weeks before Bread Week?

[oldCJ]

Love the surprise handshake and Henry’s reaction to it. Not at all surprised to see his family reads the Telegraph.

Amelia’s breads were very disappointing. Why didn’t she at least flavour her showstopper?

Steph and Rosie’s showstoppers really were showstoppers. They were beautifully decorated. 

Noel was over the top this episode. His jokes were less in good humor and almost bordered on offensive. The “joke” about grabbing of Paul’s bottom for example. Usually I find him very endearing, not so this week. 

[Aulty]

The challenges this week were really cool and I am sure people will try them out at home in the next few weeks!

If my bakery had breads as creatively scored as some of the contestant's I would buy one each week. I will definitely try something like the african mask inspired 2 tone breads the next time I do a proper bread. Maybe with some cute animal design like Rosie's.

Loved the tear and share breads, but I will have to check the recipes whether there is something worth trying. My favourite sweet tear and share recipe - even though it is not a yeasted dough - is from one of season 6 winner Nadiya's cooking shows, Mocha swirls.

I am always a bit torn about using charcoal. It looks great, but be careful if you have to take medicines or birth control, because it can mess with it.

[ShortyMac]

I am so glad Amelia is gone. I just did not take to her as a person at all.

Helena is too one-note for me with 'Halloween everything.' I've grown tired of it, and hope she'll branch out and use other themes.

Loved Rosie's and Steph's showstoppers. Michelle's, too.

[TVbitch]

Dear Show, I need a better look at the bakes!!! They show them for a couple seconds and sometimes from not the best angle. It is not enough time to appreciate them and check out the details, especially in the showstoppers.

I can't be mad at Helena this week, cuz she titled hers "Every Bread is Halloween" an ode to one of my favorite Ministry songs. ("Every Day Is Halloween" ...bowp ..bowp bowp.) Yes, okay, I was something of a goth chick in my clubbing days!

[Corgi-ears]

Goodness, Steph, I thought you said "hentai." That would indeed have been a showstopper.

[Margo Leadbetter]

I always look forward to bread week since I'm a hobby bread baker and this one didn't disappoint. Well, except for the very unappetizing gray breads. I've baked with charcoal powder and you need to add enough to get a good, solid black. Gray is just…no. That's one of mine, from back when I was blogging (not color corrected, it really was that black and the charcoal powder didn't affect the taste).

I was very impressed with the scoring, even the ones that weren't so great, because it's still my nemesis. 

I agree that Noel was pushing it this week. As much as I love him, he really needs to dial it back sometimes.

Edited September 12, 2019 by Margo Leadbetter

[dleighg]

On 9/11/2019 at 8:07 AM, oldCJ said:

Not at all surprised to see his family reads the Telegraph.

Can you explain for a Yankee? What would be the equivalent in the US? i.e. The NY Times vs The NY Post?

[dleighg]

I would love to try to make Michaels Kerala bread. It was gorgeous. Is the recipe out there anywhere?

[Aulty]

1 hour ago, dleighg said:

Can you explain for a Yankee? What would be the equivalent in the US? i.e. The NY Times vs The NY Post?

Dunno what the US equivalent would be, but the Telegraph - where Boris Johnson is a columnist - is conservative, right leaning.

[dleighg]

2 hours ago, Aulty said:

Dunno what the US equivalent would be, but the Telegraph - where Boris Johnson is a columnist - is conservative, right leaning.

then NY Post 🙂 

[Lois Sandborne]

LOL that the Hollywood Handshake now seems to have its own little musical sting.

Michael's star bread really was gorgeous. As were Rosie's safari loaves. Her chili and manchego thing in the signature sounded good too.

I was never able to take anyone seriously when using the term "burger bap."

[dleighg]

On 9/11/2019 at 7:06 PM, Corgi-ears said:

I thought you said "hentai."

I learn so much from you guys 🙂

[Omeletsmom]

On 9/11/2019 at 6:06 PM, Corgi-ears said:

Goodness, Steph, I thought you said "hentai." That would indeed have been a showstopper.

I was baffled by the "hand-tied."  I was picturing a loose bouquet with a ribbon around the stems.  What is hand-tied about what she made?

[dewelar]

3 hours ago, dleighg said:

then NY Post 🙂 

If I'm remembering correctly, the Post is probably closer to the British Daily Mail. The Telegraph is more center-right, but still traditionally Conservative.

[Danny Franks]

So I think Alice has become my favourite now, just because it's so much fun watching her get stressed out and dramatic. She's like the anti-Selasi. This was the first week where she seemed to have a real manic edge.

I can't help but like Henry, especially for that joke about Paul shaking his hand to jokingly introduce himself, and Henry said "that's the only time I'll get that". But I think he's won two of three technical challenges so far, which is impressive.

Michael was very impressive, particularly considering he didn't think he was very good with bread. His signature bread looked really cool.

Making veggie burgers was a bit daft for a technical. That's not baking. Hell, Paul and Prue even said that themselves. I get that simply making burger buns is underwhelming, but if Paul says it's tricky, just focus on that.

The scoring effect on the showstopper bakes was really effective, even before they were painted.

Rosie really gets on my nerves. That super-quick-yet-precise manner of talking just grates on me. And I think I've had enough of Helena as well, with her unrelenting 'spookiness'. But Amelia was always going to go, with three very underwhelming bakes She just didn't seem to know much about bread, and was fairly pessimistic for the whole episode.

[Quilt Fairy]

5 hours ago, Danny Franks said:

Making veggie burgers was a bit daft for a technical. That's not baking. Hell, Paul and Prue even said that themselves. I get that simply making burger buns is underwhelming, but if Paul says it's tricky, just focus on that.

As a rule I love beans, except for black beans.  I just can't stand them.  And the editing was off when they were making the "burgers".  All we saw was them pulsing up the beans, but they obviously had a choice of spices to put in them and we never got to see that.

Bread week always makes me long for Prison Paul's amazing lion.  "The best thing in bread, ever." 

[Mabinogia]

1 minute ago, Quilt Fairy said:

Bread week always makes me long for Prison Paul's amazing lion.  "The best thing in bread, ever." 

Nothing will ever live up to that masterpiece. 

I was kind of disappointed in most of the showstoppers. I did think Alice's was nice, Steff's was beautifully scored and Rosie's was adorable. Other than those they were different levels of okay. I couldn't tell with Michelle's how much was her bread and how much was that very busy backdrop but hers had visual impact I just can't say that was because of her bread or not. 

Michael reminds me so much of my favorite cousin that I was so giddy when he got that handshake and then Star Baker! Yay!!!! He is absolutely adorable. 

I really, really like this bunch so it's hard to see anyone go but so far all three eliminations made sense. I liked Amelia but she was the next weakest so it was her turn. 

I didn't find Noel any worse than normal. He seemed exactly the same lovable oddball he always is to me. I still haven't really warmed to Sandy. Don't dislike her, just wouldn't miss her like I would the others. Prue, otoh has really grown on me to full fledged love this season. I still miss Mary Berry but I like having Prue as her replacement. 

[Sew Sumi]

21 minutes ago, Quilt Fairy said:

As a rule I love beans, except for black beans.  I just can't stand them.  And the editing was off when they were making the "burgers".  All we saw was them pulsing up the beans, but they obviously had a choice of spices to put in them and we never got to see that.

Bread week always makes me long for Prison Paul's amazing lion.  "The best thing in bread, ever." 

If you have the Create channel, they're re-airing S6 on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons at 4. Next Tuesday is Bread Week, ie. Prison Paul's lion. 😊

[MisterGlass]

I enjoyed Michael's star baker reaction shot.  You could tell he was shocked.  His star bread in the signature was striking.  The red was intense.

I can add 'bap' to my new vocabulary list.  I've never heard that for a bun.

My favorite show stopper was the African animal assortment.  The color and tone for the elephant and the giraffe were great.  I wasn't a fan of the paint on colors on most of the loaves.  I think it worked for Michael because he did a single color.  With Priya's multiple colors it lost some emphasis.

I also couldn't believe that they used matcha as a colorant after it has already been called out in season as something Paul dislikes.

Edited September 14, 2019 by MisterGlass
Really used really too much.

[Sharpie66]

My favorite thing in the ep was Michael’s handshake-earning tear and share—that was simply gorgeous. And yes, his reaction was everything! This week’s podcast ep has Jane and Howard going into detail about the handshake, and Howard even has all the stats for how often it was used in each season. 

I am really enjoying this year’s batch of bakers, and unlike above, I think that might be because I actually prefer the one-a-week format and like spending more time with the show. I don’t have a favorite yet, but the only one who is wearing on me so far is Helena. 

[leighdear]

I just can't warm up to Michael, though he does appear skilled.  I'm also glad Amelia & her hair are gone.  

I just re-watched Prison Paul's season a few weeks back & I'm also pretty sure that lion will never be matched.  

Bap is also a new term for me, and I think it's a new item for this show.  Plenty of rolls, filled and plain, but no burgers that I can recall.  As veggie patties don't have to be grilled, have dripping fat or leak juice, they seem the most logical choice for the challenge.  I just can't stand them.  *LOL*

Steph is kind of my fave right now.  I just like her calm cheerfulness.  

[bybrandy]

Paul said on Extra Slice that he didn't like any of the black bean burgers.    Paul also said that Michael's tear and share was one of the best things he'd had in a long time.   Makes me want to make it, but I'm not a huge fan of coconut and it was the coconut that worked for Paul.

Bread week is my favorite week in theory because I love to bake bread but also a week I dread because I hate listening to all the contestants winge about having to bake bread.   

 

[Quilt Fairy]

1 hour ago, Sew Sumi said:

If you have the Create channel, they're re-airing S6 on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons at 4. Next Tuesday is Bread Week, ie. Prison Paul's lion. 😊

I've never heard of that channel, but I'm watching on Netflix, and they have all the seasons except I & 2.  But even though I've seen all the US-aired seasons several times and have them available on Netflix, if an episode turns up randomly on one of my PBS stations I'll still DVR it and watch it again. 

[GaT]

I don't like Alice. I don't know why, I just don't like her.

11 hours ago, Danny Franks said:

Making veggie burgers was a bit daft for a technical. That's not baking. Hell, Paul and Prue even said that themselves. I get that simply making burger buns is underwhelming, but if Paul says it's tricky, just focus on that.

Making burgers shouldn't be part of the show, never mind the technical, & if it is, the judges shouldn't be judging them. They aren't baking.

[Corgi-ears]

I really think that the burger patties was just to give the bakers something to do while their baps were in the oven. We can't have them sitting around for even a few minutes drinking tea. At best, a second function of the patties was just to given Paul and Prue something against which to measure the size of the baps. They really didn't seem to be judging the patties at all, and even said that they shouldn't be doing so. Did the bakers even make the patties? 

[dleighg]

1 minute ago, Corgi-ears said:

They really didn't seem to be judging the patties at all, and even said that they shouldn't be doing so. Did the bakers even make the patties? 

they said that 90% of the judging was on the "baps." I agree that it was more to judge the presentation (size of bun vs patty). They bakers did make them but they didn't show much of that; just a bit of them pulsing the beans and shaping them. 

[Danny Franks]

12 minutes ago, Corgi-ears said:

I really think that the burger patties was just to give the bakers something to do while their baps were in the oven. We can't have them sitting around for even a few minutes drinking tea. At best, a second function of the patties was just to given Paul and Prue something against which to measure the size of the baps. They really didn't seem to be judging the patties at all, and even said that they shouldn't be doing so. Did the bakers even make the patties? 

On reflection, I think asking them to make burgers and fill their baps was a decent way of making them look more presentable, and did help the audience, because we all know what a good burger looks like.

9 hours ago, MisterGlass said:

I can add 'bap' to my new vocabulary list.  I've never heard that for a bun.

It's a very northern word for a bread bun like that. Go anywhere in the UK and they're likely to use different words - bun, bap, roll, cob and where I grew up, we call them barmcakes.

[dleighg]

23 hours ago, dleighg said:

I would love to try to make Michaels Kerala bread. It was gorgeous. Is the recipe out there anywhere?

Found it! https://thegreatbritishbakeoff.co.uk/recipes/all/michaels-keralan-star-bread/

[Sharpie66]

Back in the Season 6 finale, when Ian forgot the sugar in one of his iced bun doughs, Paul called it a bap instead of a bun and said it was all wrong. That was the first time I’d heard the term. 

[Rinaldo]

53 minutes ago, Danny Franks said:

["Bap" is] a very northern word for a bread bun like that. 

My first encounter with the word was long ago in Josephine Tey's The Singing Sands. A plate of baps was presented as part of breakfast (before anyone had ordered) in a Scottish railway-station restaurant. "Here's the baps to ya" was the waitress's laconic greeting. And the Scotsman who'd come to meet the traveler remarked that baps weren't what they used to be -- they'd gotten soft, whereas he expected them to put up a battle to get a bite out of them.

[bugsmum]

Michael's tear and share was beautiful, and his reaction to the Handshake was great.  I never disliked him but he's really growing on me.  Not much suspense about who was going home this week; Amelia's weekend was not good start to finish.  She really lost me when she didn't use all the dough for the burger buns.  No way that wasn't going to be a terrible decision.  Although speaking of terrible decisions, did David seriously put buttercream on a cinnamon bun?  That sounds just foul.

Been re-watching S6 and Bread Week is up next; looking forward to revisiting Prison Paul's lion.  That was AMAZING. 

I've heard the word "bap" used for a bread before but never knew exactly what it was.  TV is so educational!  

[libgirl2]

On 9/11/2019 at 1:55 PM, TVbitch said:

Dear Show, I need a better look at the bakes!!! They show them for a couple seconds and sometimes from not the best angle. It is not enough time to appreciate them and check out the details, especially in the showstoppers.

I can't be mad at Helena this week, cuz she titled hers "Every Bread is Halloween" an ode to one of my favorite Ministry songs. ("Every Day Is Halloween" ...bowp ..bowp bowp.) Yes, okay, I was something of a goth chick in my clubbing days!

I wasn't officially Goth but liked to think I was. Loved that song.

[libgirl2]

10 hours ago, leighdear said:

Steph is kind of my fave right now.  I just like her calm cheerfulness.  

Watching it last night, I realized that like her a lot too.  She's not annoying or over cheerful, just steady and calm.

I didn't like them making veggie burgers. Its a baking show, let just bake. What if you had an incredible bap and an awful veggie burger! Though I will say, I think they were pretty basic ones from what I could see.

Edited September 14, 2019 by libgirl2

[Writing Wrongs]

11 hours ago, MisterGlass said:

I can add 'bap' to my new vocabulary list.  I've never heard that for a bun.

Me too. I couldn't figure out what they were saying.

This show always makes me hungry. I love bread, but can't really eat it because of the carbs. ☹️

[chaifan]

Oh, bread week!  It's a love/hate relationship for me.  I know that for some of the most creative bakers bread is their downfall, so you sometimes see an otherwise great baker get eliminated.  I think Amelia was the right choice, and not horribly sad to see her go.  I would have been sad if it had eliminated Henry. 

Black bread - anyone know if squid ink would produce the same color results as charcoal?  I know it's used in pasta.  Maybe it would add too much flavor, though.

I've been trying to place Helena's accent.  It sounds like there's an underlying primary accent under the British accent.  Anyone else hear it? 

The technical challenge was boring to me.  First, not the type of "baps" I prefer, way too light.  Looked more like dinner rolls to me.  But I also thought the veggie burger was nothing more than a time filler and a prop for the buns.  My biggest quibble, though, is that Paul and Prue merely picked at the side of the burgers with a fork to taste.  No one bit in.  The biggest challenge with making a proper veggie burger is not just taste, but consistency.  So many are mushy, almost the texture of raw meat, so when you bite in they smush and just splooge out the other end of the bun.  Taking a full bite out of the burgers would have showed more about the veggie burger part, and would have shown the buns, oh, sorry, baps, doing their job.

[dleighg]

1 minute ago, chaifan said:

I've been trying to place Helena's accent.

I am no expert on accents but to me it sounds eastern European. Ukranian, Turkish, Czech etc.

[Rinaldo]

26 minutes ago, chaifan said:

I've been trying to place Helena's accent.  It sounds like there's an underlying primary accent under the British accent. 

She acknowledged this in the first episode with the "fairy/furry" debacle, that her accent might be difficult for them. I couldn't place it either, so I looked online: She was born in Ceuta, a Spanish autonomous city on the south side of the Strait of Gibraltar (i.e., on the African continent), has lived in the Canary Islands and in mainland Spain, also spent time in Las Vegas (as she mentioned), and now lives in Leeds. Her surname is Garcia.

[Enigma X]

Honestly, I personally hate bread week because I hate most breads. 

[hendersonrocks]

For the second week in a row Michelle's showstopper display board actually took away from the visual impact of her bake! The artistry of Rosie's scores was really impressive - I think she did by far the best job with the actual scoring aspect of the challenge. Michael's tear and share was a vision. I also worry Alice is so wound up she is going to straight up lose it at some point.

Sadly, Amelia was clearly out of her element all weekend - I liked her, but it seemed like she was regressing each week instead of getting stronger. 

[LilJen]

I like Michael, and his pull-apart was incredible. Then again, I'm also a sucker for nerdy looking guys with dimples.

[theatremouse]

I didn't mind that they had them make the burgers - they judge them on the flavor and cook of meat when they do meat pies. So the concept of "judged on what's between the bake" seemed fair game to me. HOWEVER, Paul seemed to take the tiniest bite possible - off a fork - out of the edge of each of the burgers. So that's what made it pointless to me. Take an actual bite out of the burger and see how the bun functions. I mean, maybe he did off camera and it's just not pretty, but it was edited to seem he had a pea-sized taste. Even with his saying explicitly it only counts for maybe 10%, the tasting seemed rather bullshit. Barely lip service to having made them make four whole burgers that I'm sure some crew members got to eat.

[lovinbob]

19 hours ago, GaT said:

I don't like Alice. I don't know why, I just don't like her.

Alice strikes me as someone who was cast. She comes off as if she's playing a character, which is offputting for me. (On the other hand, she is my 6 year old daughter's favorite baker.

[Quilt Fairy]

On the podcast that Howard and Jane make, Howard said that bread week involves long periods of waiting for the dough to rise, so over the years rather than have the contestants sitting around talking and drinking tea, they add a non-bread element so they have something to do (and the show has something to film).  Also, neither one of them thought Paul was a veggie burger guy, and I read somewhere else that he said he hated them.  I wonder if maybe the folks who set up they challenges were just messing with him. 

[hendersonrocks]

Quote

On the podcast that Howard and Jane make, Howard said that bread week involves long periods of waiting for the dough to rise, so over the years rather than have the contestants sitting around talking and drinking tea, they add a non-bread element so they have something to do (and the show has something to film).

That makes such good sense, thank you for sharing this tidbit from the podcast!

[bybrandy]

7 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

Also, neither one of them thought Paul was a veggie burger guy, and I read somewhere else that he said he hated them.

He said he hated them on the after show Extra Slice.  

[libgirl2]

4 hours ago, bybrandy said:

He said he hated them on the after show Extra Slice.  

No wonder they barely tasted them. I like veggie burgers but those didn't look that great to begin with. Maybe they should have had them make impossible burgers instead. They wouldn't have to "make" them, just cook them up.

[Sharpie66]

I didn’t mind the added element of the burger, since it seemed to only be judged on seasoning, if it was cooked properly, and how it fit on the bun. The first two things could be judged with just a tiny taste scraped off the end with a fork, so veggie-burger-haters like Paul shouldn’t be too put out with having to taste them. 

[Danny Franks]

17 hours ago, lovinbob said:

Alice strikes me as someone who was cast. She comes off as if she's playing a character, which is offputting for me. (On the other hand, she is my 6 year old daughter's favorite baker.

Eh, I've known enough people like her to have little doubt that she's real. Yes, she's determinedly cheerful and optimistic, and it may well be an act, but I think that's definitely who she is in day-to-day life.