S10.E04: Dairy Week

[Athena]

Quote

Prue and Paul set some tricky challenges for the remaining bakers, including a Technical that dates back to Henry VIII and a Showstopper that's usually found at Indian weddings.

Channel 4 UK air date: September 17, 2019

Netflix USA streaming date: September 20, 2019.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Recipes

Signature challenge
Henry's apple and cinnamon streusel cake
Priya's banana and chocolate cake
Rosie's limoncello and basil cake
Steph's raspberry and chocolate fudge cake

Technical challenge
Prue's maids of honor

Showstopper challenge
Helena's coconut and chocolate ladoo
Alice's coffee and walnut ragsulla

Edited September 17, 2019 by ElectricBoogaloo

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I've used sour cream to make a chocolate cake and it did make it moist without adding a tangy flavor, so I was interested to see the bakers use yog(h)urt, buttermilk, etc. in their cakes. I made a regular cake though, not one in a fancy tin so I thought maybe I'd missed hearing that requirement in the brief, but then I saw that Alice didn't use a fancy tin. It was nice to see Henry and Priya trying to help Michael with his stuck cake, but I thought that's why I would have used a regular pan!

Steph's chocolate raspberry buttermilk cake sounded delicious. Like she said, chocolate is the answer to everything!

Rosie's limoncello cake with buttermilk meringue kisses was simple but pretty. Ha, and she knows the way to Prue's heart - a glass of alcohol!

David's lemon poppyseed cake with limoncello glaze was so pretty. Loved the purple color from the flowers on top.

Phil's rosewater cake was messy looking. The flowers at the bottom were fine but the glaze was kind of slopped on. Although I understand when the judges say they want more of whatever flavor the bakers are using, rosewater is one of those things that you really have to use with restraint or the taste becomes overwhelmingly floral. I'd rather have just a hint of it than too much.

Priya's banana chocolate cake with toffee sauce sounded good, but one of my sister's favorite things to make is chocolate banana bread so I was predisposed to like this.

Michael's raspberry and lemon cheesecake with sour cream sounded good. I felt so bad for him when he couldn't get it out of the tin. Even though he was clearly upset, I liked that he said, "I know it's just a cake." At least it tasted good! I loved when he told Priya not to be nice to him and she said, "I like your shirt."

Helena's almond and buttermilk ghost cake was cute. Although I love Halloween, I'm not a huge fan of her HALLOWEEN YEAR ROUND vibe. But I liked that her ghost cake was cute, not scary, because that made it seem less like Halloween and more like a sweet year round thing.

Alice's lemon caradamom with pistachios was pretty. The biscuit leaves on top added a lot of dimension and texture.

Michelle's apple rhubarb cake sounded good. I liked that she had so many different textures (pecan crumble, rhubarb meringue kisses, apple crisps, freeze dried raspberries). Heh, good to know that the Welsh word for claggy is claggy.

Henry's spiced apple cake looked really nice. Loved the circle of thinly sliced apples on top. 

I've never had maids of honor before. Even though they all looked below Paul's standard, I thought it was ridiculous that he didn't even try Priya's. Just because they look terrible doesn't mean you shouldn't taste them. Maybe the curd tasted good! Although I hate to see the bakers struggle, it seems a bit fairer when it ws clear that EVERYONE did terribly.

Ooh, mishti showstoppers! Now that sounds interesting, but I loooooove condensed milk. I liked that the bakers each had to make three different flavors.

Alice's afternoon tea with carrot cake, chocolate cheesecake, and coffee was a fun twists on mishti.

Priya's presentation with rose and lychee, saffron, and mango looked nice. I agreed with Prue that a lot of the color was in the non-food items (like the bright purple cupcake wrappers.

Michael's mango, pistachio, and lemon rosewater were so pretty. I loved the vibrant colors.

Steph's rose pistachio, date and walnut, and mango mishti. were so colorful and pretty. I liked how different all the shapes were.

David's kewra water, mango cardamom, and carrot on fennel tuile sounded interesting. I liked that he asked his friend how to pronounce kewra correctly.

Henry's orange, coconut, and pistachio raspberry ice cream seemed like a good idea but that ice cream was a huge risk. It's too bad that he didn't have enough time to let it freeze longer.

Michelle's chocolate passionfruit, raspberry, and tonka bean rice pudding were not my favorite. Like Paul, I didn't like the rice pudding in the little pots. I appreciate that she was trying to do something different but it didnt work for me.

Helena's coconut chocolate, parma violet, and lemon sherbet with biscuit spoons looked a little messy. I think it was mostly the cupcake wrappers that I didn't like.

Rosie's orange, rose, and sweet milk custard cocktail mishtis were a fun and creative idea..

Phil's elderflower, pistachio, and blueberry garden mishti was such a fun and colorful idea.

Awww, congratulations to Steph for winning star baker! I had to laugh when she told her mom not to swear on tv.

Phil seemed like a nice man, but I think he only lasted this long because other people had much more disastrous weeks.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Phil's exit interview

[halopub]

Quote

That's not a sentence many boys say to me.

Sandi's a good mom! I like how she knows when to goof off and when to empathize.

The showstoppers were by and large pretty, though I'm not sure about Steph's pink "hot dog." Also Prue comparing Phil's whimsical work to playdoh was harsh but I could sort of see what she meant. I'm glad Michael was able to save himself with sweets he doesn't like.

The technical was...yeah.

Right now Steph and Michelle seem the most reliable to me. Rosie continues to speak very quickly and I don't feel like we know Priya or David at all. Alice still comes across as a contestant from a Food Network show but I don't think she's exaggerating her mannerisms for TV.

I'm going to steal Helena's biscuit spoons. I was surprised by how much I was charmed by her this week. The ghost didn't bother me and while her showstopper wasn't the neatest, it was delightfully colorful.

Closeups of the showstoppers:

Edited September 18, 2019 by halopub

[Aulty]

I didn't get their use of fancy complicated tins either. Especially Michael after he had problems with the cake sticking to the tin in practice. Most of the cakes had so much fancy decoration (its fascinating how much more elaborate the decorations have become in the signature challenge compared to the early series), that they could have gotten away with a simpler shape.

Although I am not keen on dairy I do bake cakes and (soda) breads with buttermilk and joghurt, so I might check out some recipes from the Signature challenge. While the Mishtis don't tempt me at all, it was nice to see them tasked with something comletely different (like the mochis on Canadian Bake Off) for a change.

The maids of honor reminded me of the portguese custard tarts the did a few series ago.

[Athena]

6 hours ago, Aulty said:

The maids of honor reminded me of the portguese custard tarts the did a few series ago.

Yeah, I was surprised like Prue and Paul that they were all so shallow. At first, I blamed it all on the technical recipe they were given because if all of them were so shallow, then they really should have specified the cutter size or given more detail about the tarts. On the other hand, making a tart is not unusual and a couple of the bakers should have known how to do it. The pastry will shrink even with the blind baking and they all cut their rounds way too small.

Henry: I've never done a rough puff before.

Oh, Henry. I really like him and he's a big favourite on the Bakedown podcast with Jane and Howard, but it does seem like he didn't come in wholly prepared. However, he is definitely one of the most natural bakers in the tent. Too bad about his ice cream, but he really should not have done a frozen element with such a short amount of time. He'd have needed a blast chiller to have gotten those set in time.

Did anyone notice Paul said "Thank you, Prue/Priy" to Priya both at the Signature and the Showstopper? Was this a mistake or is Paul allowed to called Priya this nickname? A bit odd.

I'm not shocked about Phil since he was basically coasting middle of the pack this episode and last few episodes. Both Michael and Priya were rescued by the fact that they did well with their mishti flavours. I think Phil would have struggled going forward as he was becoming less ambitious. It was harsh what they said about his mishti though.

I still can't stand them showing the bakers crying especially poor Michael.

[Aulty]

3 minutes ago, Athena said:

Henry: I've never done a rough puff before.

Oh, Henry. I really like him and he's a big favourite on the Bakedown podcast with Jane and Howard, but it does seem like he didn't come in wholly prepared.

I was wondering whether they deliberately cast contestants that were less experienced and more relatable, especially with their back to basic challenges.

I'm sure Henry is a Hufflepuff has experience with full puff pastry though.

[Corgi-ears]

I'm beginning to suspect that Michelle may be Welsh.

I liked it a lot, but I'm also amazed that the cinema operator allowed Noel to wear that seizure-inducing shirt on TV.

Speaking of what they allowed: Prue's critique of Phil's showstopper ("The rest of them are all so classy, they couldn't do it") was not, as Sandy diplomatically said, a "backhanded compliment," but struck me as straight-up savage. That Prue said this about, and to, the baker who was probably the most blue-collar, working-class of the lot makes her comment, at the very least, thoughtless.

Edited September 18, 2019 by Corgi-ears

[TVbitch]

I thought this might be the time to get rid of two, but I think the judges wanted to save some favorites. 

Thanks for posting the video of the bakes @halopub. I was complaining that they show them so quickly that I can't really register the details. Is there somewhere that shows the signatures, too? They are often as beautiful as the showstoppers these days.  

I had no idea what Mishtis are, and I still don't. This is where I REALLY miss how the old show would do a short piece on the origin and history of the bake.  

[halopub]

1 hour ago, Athena said:

Oh, Henry. I really like him and he's a big favourite on the Bakedown podcast with Jane and Howard, but it does seem like he didn't come in wholly prepared.

----

Did anyone notice Paul said "Thank you, Prue/Priy" to Priya both at the Signature and the Showstopper? Was this a mistake or is Paul allowed to called Priya this nickname? A bit odd.

It makes me wonder if he's really the "GBBO super fan" that the media portrayed. Rough puff has done in enough bakers over the years that Henry ought to have at least attempted it before the tent. That and his claim that he'd only had "one or two weeks" of bread making experience before bread week make me wonder.

I'd have to rewatch but I initially thought that maybe Paul was mumbling or caught himself as he misspoke. If Paul were older and Priya had an 's' in her name I would think it was slippage of some dental work.

@TVbitch, I've only seen the show post closeups of the showstoppers but I'll let you know if I spot photos of the signatures.

Edited to add: I was just looking at Phil's gram and given time he's capable of some elegant work! It'll be interesting to see if any of the classism comes up during Extra Slice.

Edited September 18, 2019 by halopub

[Danny Franks]

I'm glad Priya survived, although I don't think I've seen someone give up quite as completely on a technical as she did. 

I loved that little moment where she was telling Michael it would be okay and he said "don't be nice to me yet." She said, "okay.... I like your t-shirt." It was such a cute, natural interaction, and one that I think sums this group up. They all seem to get on really well.

I like Steph, she really reminds me of a girl I knew at university, and was deserved star baker.

As soon as Henry said he was making ice cream, I knew he'd be in trouble. My girlfriend and I have a running joke, for Bake Off and Masterchef, that ice cream never works.

As for Phil's showstopper, it was obviously not great. Garishly coloured, stencil cut shapes on a vaguely themed, flat board, isn't going to impress anyone, garden gnome or no. It looked crappy, and apparently didn't taste that good.

Those milk sweets didn't appeal to me at all, and as a whole, I thought the choice of dairy as a theme was underwhelming. I don't think I'd be queuing up to eat anything that they made this week.

[oldCJ]

4 hours ago, Athena said:

Yeah, I was surprised like Prue and Paul that they were all so shallow. At first, I blamed it all on the technical recipe they were given because if all of them were so shallow, then they really should have specified the cutter size or given more detail about the tarts. On the other hand, making a tart is not unusual and a couple of the bakers should have known how to do it. The pastry will shrink even with the blind baking and they all cut their rounds way too small.

Every baker made them wrong which makes me think it was an issue with the recipe or the tools provided to them. 

[Lois Sandborne]

I think I love poor Alice. Or something. I definitely want to give her a hug at least, after she stands there, week after week, nodding mutely at whatever Paul and Prue say. You are a good baker, Alice! You are!

In these early episodes, there's always someone I'm 100% sure has never been on the show before and was just added to mess with me. This week, that's David.

I lol'd at Noel starting to go up and comfort Michael in his time of distress but thinking better of it and ducking out of there unseen.

I had such hopes for Dairy Week to be interesting. I saw caramels, cheesecake, parfaits, cream puffs, mousse, creme brulee, and all sorts. But instead, we got "bake a cake with yogurt." It wasn't a very imaginative set of challenges. I'm glad Michael and Priya scraped by though. I don't have a real argument for saving either one of them over Phil, but what can you do.

Color me clueless on mishtis too. I still don't really get it. Some of them were just whatever kind of random custard, like Michelle's rice pudding, and some were the solid bars and shapes made with the cooked milk. I couldn't really follow how well or how poorly anyone was doing, because I didn't know what they were supposed to wind up with.

[Margo Leadbetter]

2 hours ago, Lois Sandborne said:

I had such hopes for Dairy Week to be interesting. I saw caramels, cheesecake, parfaits, cream puffs, mousse, creme brulee, and all sorts. But instead, we got "bake a cake with yogurt." 

But they all seemed so totally flummoxed by “bake a cake with yogurt.” I’m surprised they all turned out so well, but are yogurt-based bakes not that common in the UK? 

While the challenges were sort of meh, one thing I’m sure of is that this group as a whole is probably my favorite of all 10 seasons. I don’t even think the legendary Season 5 group gelled so quickly and seemed to care about each other so much. They’re all so quick to jump in to help or give comfort or kudos. Every one of them (even the ones that kind of annoy me) is delightful.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

19 hours ago, Margo Leadbetter said:

they all seemed so totally flummoxed by “bake a cake with yogurt.” I’m surprised they all turned out so well, but are yogurt-based bakes not that common in the UK? 

Which really makes no sense since (1) you can easily find recipes for cakes made with yogurt/sour cream/buttermilk so there’s no guesswork involved in figuring out how much of the dairy product to add and how long the baking time needs to be adjusted and (2) this was the signature challenge which means they were told about it ahead of time and had the opportunity to practice it at home before making it on the show. 

[dleighg]

On 9/17/2019 at 8:15 PM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I've used sour cream to make a chocolate cake and it did make it moist without adding a tangy flavor,

The standard family birthday cake that I've had the recipe for since I was a child 50 years ago is chocolate made with sour cream. It's perfect.

[dleighg]

On 9/18/2019 at 3:39 AM, Aulty said:

I didn't get their use of fancy complicated tins either.

Yes, it seems almost everyone went that direction. I guess it makes it easier to do fancy decorations on top.

[anniebird]

This was probably my least favorite episode of GBBO ever - the way everyone, without exception, screwed up the technical challenge makes me think there was a mistake made in production and I still don't know what a mishti is or what it is supposed to be/look like. 

[illdoc]

3 hours ago, anniebird said:

I still don't know what a mishti is or what it is supposed to be/look like. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mishti_doi

[krankydoodle]

Steph's joke about Henry's concern with size seemed staged, painfully so.

And I didn't like that Michael was judged last for the signature to up the drama. Though, again, maybe that was just random. Or have they also done that kind of thing in previous seasons?

[dleighg]

39 minutes ago, krankydoodle said:

Steph's joke about Henry's concern with size seemed staged, painfully so.

I noticed that. It was a continuous camera from her comment to his face. Seemed hardly coincidental.

[Margo Leadbetter]

5 hours ago, anniebird said:

This was probably my least favorite episode of GBBO ever - the way everyone, without exception, screwed up the technical challenge makes me think there was a mistake made in production and I still don't know what a mishti is or what it is supposed to be/look like. 

I seem to remember that almost every time they've done a challenge involving tartlets it's been a disaster. No one ever seems sure what size cutter they should use so the pastry will fill cavity—it always shrinks so there's not a lot of room for the filling—and then no one seems to be able to get the damned things out of the pan without having a broken mess. One of the things S4's Ruby did right was using paper strips for her tartlets so she could pull on the strips to remove them instead of attacking them with knives like most people seem to do. So if there's a mistake in production it's that they keep doing tartlet challenges. Or at least if they're going to keep doing them, then at least provide pans with removable bottoms (which is what I use). 

[leighdear]

Phil wuz robbed.  I definitely think Priya should have been booted.  I don't like her.  I think Paul is going to let her get away with a lot of crap. 

Glad Steph did well, as I commented last week that she's my fave, I hope she stays in the top.  

I agree that the challenges were sophomoric and dull.  And I'm so tired of Michael, his waterworks and ridic transparent glasses.  

I was disappointed in this episode. 

[dleighg]

32 minutes ago, leighdear said:

Phil wuz robbed. 

I disagree. I agree with someone upthread that said that his showstopper looked like playdough. Exactly.

[MisterGlass]

I don't know about robbed, but Phil going did surprise me.  There were some major misses by other bakers.  I thought Michael, due to the construction and decoration of the signature, Priya, due to the technical, or Henry, due to the ice cream, were more likely. By comparison, Phil had mainly finish problems on the signature and with the show stopper.  As for the colors and look of the show stopper, I didn't think them significantly worse than Rahul's showstopper in last years finale.  It seems like one of the cases where they are valuing risk taking over caution.

And I must complement Phil that Norman is a great name for a gnome.

On 9/18/2019 at 11:03 AM, Corgi-ears said:

That Prue said this about, and to, the baker who was probably the most blue-collar, working-class of the lot makes her comment, at the very least, thoughtless.

I had a similar feeling. 

I'm happy for Steph, and I'm not sorry that Michael is still with us.

I'm not familiar with mishti.  I had a saffron-milk soaked mini cake brought by a co-worker once, but I don't know if that was a mishti or something else.  These examples were very pretty.

[bybrandy]

10 hours ago, anniebird said:

I still don't know what a mishti is or what it is supposed to be/look like. 

This is me!   Thanks for the link above as this week left me just baffled.

[Quilt Fairy]

On 9/18/2019 at 2:39 AM, Aulty said:

I didn't get their use of fancy complicated tins either. Especially Michael after he had problems with the cake sticking to the tin in practice. Most of the cakes had so much fancy decoration (its fascinating how much more elaborate the decorations have become in the signature challenge compared to the early series), that they could have gotten away with a simpler shape.

They mentioned that many of the bakers were using fancier pans because the cultured dairy was adding more rise to the bakes, so you'd be able to notice the definition of a more detailed pan.  I didn't notice anyone greasing and flouring their pans, but if you do that you shouldn't have trouble getting the cake out. 

BTW, if anyone is fascinated by some of the fancy bundt pans, here's the source.  Although I do find it kind of a rabbit hole where I could spend hours looking at everything they have.  I will caution that before you buy anything directly from the Nordicware site, check Amazon or Williams-Sonoma first, they may have it cheaper. 

https://www.nordicware.com/bakeware/classic-sized-bundts

I know it didn't fit the brief, but I thought Phil's was cute.  

Edited September 21, 2019 by Quilt Fairy

[MerBearHou]

This exit was BS and smacked of ageism or snobbism, IMO.  Priya should absolutely have gone, then Michael, then Henry, and last possibly Phil due to his simplistic showstopper.  An awful episode.

[Quilt Fairy]

38 minutes ago, MerBearHou said:

 An awful episode.

On the Jane & Howard podcast, they both thought it was a sub-par episode.  Jane also called the show-stopper the worst one ever in 10 seasons of GBBO, the primary (but not only) reason being that they didn't, in fact, bake anything. 

[GaT]

14 hours ago, anniebird said:

This was probably my least favorite episode of GBBO ever - the way everyone, without exception, screwed up the technical challenge makes me think there was a mistake made in production and I still don't know what a mishti is or what it is supposed to be/look like. 

This pretty much sums up how I feel.

1 hour ago, MerBearHou said:

This exit was BS and smacked of ageism or snobbism, IMO.  Priya should absolutely have gone, then Michael, then Henry, and last possibly Phil due to his simplistic showstopper.  An awful episode.

35 minutes ago, Quilt Fairy said:

On the Jane & Howard podcast, they both thought it was a sub-par episode.  Jane also called the show-stopper the worst one ever in 10 seasons of GBBO, the primary (but not only) reason being that they didn't, in fact, bake anything. 

When they announced "the first ever dairy" episode, I just thought ugh, not another "first" episode. They never work out.

[Rickster]

8 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

They mentioned that many of the bakers were using fancier pans because the cultured dairy was adding more rise to the bakes, so you'd be able to notice the definition of a more detailed pan.  I didn't notice anyone greasing and flouring their pans, but if you do that you shouldn't have trouble getting the cake out. 

BTW, if anyone is fascinated by some of the fancy bundt pans, here's the source.  Although I do find it kind of a rabbit hole where I could spend hours looking at everything they have.  I will caution that before you buy anything directly from the Nordicware site, check Amazon or Williams-Sonoma first, they may have it cheaper. 

https://www.nordicware.com/bakeware/classic-sized-bundts

I know it didn't fit the brief, but I thought Phil's was cute.  

Since I own one of the fancier pans used by two of the contestants, I noticed they both used them in one of the earlier challenges, too.

I wondered during the showstopper whether Paul and Pru had enough of a knowledge base to critically evaluate the mishtis. I didn’t find any comments insightful (not that I know anything about mishtis). 

[krankydoodle]

11 hours ago, MisterGlass said:

I don't know about robbed, but Phil going did surprise me.

Phil looked surprised when he was announced, Paul acknowledged that and said it was understandable, Michelle reacted by asking Phil "What the heck was that?" a few times, and Michael admitted to feeling guilty for staying in. What a weird episode.

[bugsmum]

Every time Michael got teary I thought that in the olden days Mel or Sue would have swooped in shouting obscenities to make sure that footage never made it to air.

[PaulaO]

Blah episode, and this season is totally lackluster to me.  The best part of this week was Noel’s shirt.

[Danny Franks]

12 hours ago, MisterGlass said:

I don't know about robbed, but Phil going did surprise me. 

It didn't surprise me. They usually let a good showstopper override earlier mistakes, and Phil's showstopper simply wasn't very good, while Michael and Priya's were.

If Phil had done better, then I think they probably would have opted to send both of the other two home. But he didn't. It was a bunch of stamped, multicoloured sweets and a plastic garden gnome.

Yes, Phil was surprised, but he really shouldn't have been.

But I do think the episode was poor, and the theme was vague and badly thought out. That seems to be a trend with these "first ever" episodes they do.  Sugar free, gluten free and vegan are fine, because they're clear and they change the rules for bakers in ways that make sense.

Edited September 21, 2019 by Danny Franks

[Adiba]

1 hour ago, krankydoodle said:

Phil looked surprised when he was announced, Paul acknowledged that and said it was understandable, Michelle reacted by asking Phil "What the heck was that?" a few times, and Michael admitted to feeling guilty for staying in. What a weird episode.

Re: bolded--That stood out to me as well--usually the contestants who are sent home nod and look like they expected it to happen. For Paul to comment that he understood why Phil was surprised seemed unusual as well.

What is the difference between "stamping" something and simply rolling it into balls? My 3 year old grandson rolls play doh into balls. At any rate, mishti (s) seems like a weird challenge for a showstopper on "bake" off, imo.

The whole "dairy week" theme was perplexing to me. The Gbbo contestants use dairy often in the form of cream, whipped cream, creme pat, etc. I've been making a sour cream coffee cake and lemon sour cream pound cake since the '70s--so it's not something that I thought was new or unexpected at all.

I realize that the judges critiques are edited, but I didn't hear anything that sounded like Phil was going to go home. Not that I expected Phil to go all the way to the final--just not to go home this week.

[MisterGlass]

I've been looking at mishti videos on Youtube.  The one I had was like this.  This recipe calls for the dough to be poached in milk to cook it.  And here is another in which a milk and flour mixture is curdled with vinegar, and then the curds are cooked into a cake.

I don't recall seeing processes like these in this episode.  I think the most cooking I saw was with the deep fried mishtis.  Otherwise there were a lot of shots of milk steaming.

In retrospect I think this would have made a better technical challenge than a showstopper.  They could have picked one mishti that required cooking, such as the poached cake, and then had a direct comparison and shown more of the specific process behind the dessert.  Then they could have had dairy tart batches for the showstopper.

Edited September 21, 2019 by MisterGlass
Grammar and remove link

[theatremouse]

On 9/18/2019 at 11:58 AM, oldCJ said:

Every baker made them wrong which makes me think it was an issue with the recipe or the tools provided to them. 

I wondered if the recipe assumed they would all be more familiar with these than they were? If you think everyone already knows what it should look like, it'd naturally be more vague. I mean, I know they're always vague but when it's the really obscure stuff they do not at all expect the contestants to know, it seems the recipes are less vague, from when we've heard them reading outloud. It'd be one thing if during prep we saw them being worried they came out shallow, realizing they'd chosen the wrong cutter. But Paul seemed shocked they were ALL bad, and the contestants seemed equally shocked that even coming first was not to be considered a compliment. That much surprise does imply something went very wrong. Tartlets are difficult but if nobody even realizes they've done it wrong, that's a different problem than everyone having it go wrong.

2 hours ago, Adiba said:

What is the difference between "stamping" something and simply rolling it into balls? My 3 year old grandson rolls play doh into balls. At any rate, mishti (s) seems like a weird challenge for a showstopper on "bake" off, imo.

They've shown on the show before to be very against "stamping". Especially in a showstopper when part of the point is for it to look amazing, they expect some sort of decoration and the judges consider stamping a cop-out, decorationwise. Plus they also said his tasted bad. Paul seems pretty consistent that looks terrible but tastes amazing will win over looks good but tastes terrible, and definitely wins over looks mediocre and tastes terrible.

[Writing Wrongs]

There was a lot of joking and laughing in this one. It's weird seeing it from Paul.

I like Michael.

[kittykat]

I liked the episode overall but agree that certain things just didn't feel thought through.  The Maids of Honour technical rivals S8 Stroopwafels in terms of disastrous results.  I know the directions get more vague as the weeks go on but they seemed way too simple this go around.

Also how do people not learn to make puff pastry before the show?  Genoise sponge, Pate a choux, creme pattisiere, rough and full puff pastry, MEMORIZE THEM!

Poor Michael, curse of the Star Baker rears its ugly head but at he didn't go home.  Still choosing a cake you got right one out of ten times doesn't seem like the greatest idea.

Hooray for Steph, she gets better each week.

I know Phil seemed shocked bit after seeing all the blue food coloring and the simpler presentation I knew it wasn't looking good for him especially when Michael and Priya did well.  The showstopper always makes or breaks a contestant.

[Mabinogia]

I hope this is the first and last time we see dairy week. It was not great. I'm still not entirely sure what the point was. I'm not too upset about the technical, as they are graded on a curve, so if they all do badly there is still a first place, second place, etc. So Steph still got credit for being the best even if hers didn't turn out that great. 

She has really grown on me. I find Steph absolutely adorable so I'm very happy for her. Phil wasn't much longer for this competition so this week, next week, doesn't really upset me much. I think his combo of lackluster design element and not tasting amazing outranked Michael's fallen apart but tasted amazing signature or Priya's half baked technical mess. Especially since no one did well on the technical so I think they didn't put quite as much weight into it as usual. 

They have always given credit towards originality in flavor combos and creativity even if it fails, over playing it safe, so I wasn't all that surprised it was Phil. Also, I enjoy both Michael and Priya because I do think they bring more creativity to the show so I was happy they were saved. 

I do wonder, if they weren't already stuck with having to do a double elim at some point, if they might have done a no one gets booted this week simply because the theme turned out to be such a disaster all around. 

[Rinaldo]

On 9/18/2019 at 2:58 PM, oldCJ said:

Every baker made them wrong which makes me think it was an issue with the recipe or the tools provided to them. 

22 hours ago, Margo Leadbetter said:

I seem to remember that almost every time they've done a [technical] challenge involving tartlets it's been a disaster. 

That's my memory too. They have cutters of several sizes, and they seldom seem to realize that they need to choose one big enough to come up to the top of the muffin tins. (Without needing to push them up, which destroys whatever layers they've achieved, and usually shrinks back anyway.) I suspect that there's some domino effect going on with the choice of cutters too -- the size the first baker chooses is likely to be copied by others, on the "If I don't know what I'm doing, at least I won't do worse" principle. Knowing how big a round is needed to fill a certain size muffin cup can legitimately be considered a basic bit of know-how. 

On 9/19/2019 at 5:19 PM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

you can easily find recipes for cakes made with yogurt/sour cream/buttermilk 

They go back a long way, too. There's one made with sour cream in Alcott's Little Men, when one of the little girls is taught how to cook.

[lovinbob]

I'm with those who thought this was a poorly designed episode. "The first ever dairy week" should have been done later on in the series, when they were down to just the most skilled and experienced bakers. The Maid of Honours -- since it seemed no one had ever heard of them, they should have given them a more complete recipe so that it would simply be about technique. It was not fun to watch almost all of the bakers fuck it up.

The mishti--I love doing desserts from diverse cultures, but there was nothing showstopping about them.

9 hours ago, bugsmum said:

Every time Michael got teary I thought that in the olden days Mel or Sue would have swooped in shouting obscenities to make sure that footage never made it to air.

You know, I have read folks saying this before, but I recently rewatched all the old seasons and there was a lot of  footage shown of contestants painfully crying. Brendan comes to mind.

I am with those (including Phil) who was shocked by the ending. I felt like the judges/show were out to get Phil. I didn't think his signature was overly messy (and in fact, Pru was not shown when she made her comment about how his decorations were disappointing, which triggered by conspiracy theory radar--like, was that added after the fact so to better cue up his ouster?

I'm not saying he was the greatest baker ever but he was a refreshing personality. And Michael and Priya had disastrous bakes.

On the flip side, I thought it was rude that they didn't taste Priya's Maid of Honours. How many times have we heard, Don't bin it; it may look bad but it could taste good. I was curious to know if the time spent on her curd was worth it.

[bybrandy]

I think Phil's overuse of extracts hurt him, too.  They never like too much extract.   and when you stamp something bright blue and use too much extract??!?!

[Mabinogia]

3 minutes ago, lovinbob said:

On the flip side, I thought it was rude that they didn't taste Priya's Maid of Honours.

I thought that was odd because I don't recall them saying it was inedible, as in so raw it would make them ill, and they very rarely just refuse something and that is only ever been when it is so uncooked it would lead to possible illness. I didn't get the impression hers were that raw, just that they were a visual hot mess. I could be wrong, maybe they said something so quickly that I missed it, but I forgot until you mentioned it but it did strike me as odd and yes, rude, at the time. 

[Rickster]

2 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

That's my memory too. They have cutters of several sizes, and they seldom seem to realize that they need to choose one big enough to come up to the top of the muffin tins. (Without needing to push them up, which destroys whatever layers they've achieved, and usually shrinks back anyway.) I suspect that there's some domino effect going on with the choice of cutters too -- the size the first baker chooses is likely to be copied by others, on the "If I don't know what I'm doing, at least I won't do worse" principle. Knowing how big a round is needed to fill a certain size muffin cup can legitimately be considered a basic bit of know-how. 

I agree with all this. I think one tip to avoid the shrinking is to freeze the unbaked shell for a while. It also relaxes the dough.

However, I also wonder if there was a fault in the recipe that did not explain that these needed to be deep tarts (since no one had seen one before), therefore they thought shallow was OK.

[dleighg]

4 minutes ago, Rickster said:

if there was a fault in the recipe that did not explain that these needed to be deep tarts (since no one had seen one before), therefore they thought shallow was OK.

but if you need two layers, you need some room, right? I'd make it the height of the tart pan. Even when they were putting them in before baking, most of them only went halfway up

[Rinaldo]

44 minutes ago, lovinbob said:

ou know, I have read folks saying this [that they never used to show bakers crying in the "good old days"] before, but I recently rewatched all the old seasons and there was a lot of  footage shown of contestants painfully crying. Brendan comes to mind.

I was thinking this too, though not having checked recently I felt reluctant to say anything. But Brendan is the one that came to mind immediately. It seemed, and still seems to me, the most egregious intrusion they've done, what with holding a full 30 silent seconds on him unable to articulate words, he was struggling so to collect himself.

As I've spoken in defense of the show on a couple of points, I do want to say that I definitely agree with the reaction that this episode was poorly conceived and presented.

[Quilt Fairy]

2 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

That's my memory too. They have cutters of several sizes, and they seldom seem to realize that they need to choose one big enough to come up to the top of the muffin tins.

That has always confused me.  I've noticed that in every technical over the years they always have a large range of cutters and part of the challenge is to choose correctly.  But otherwise, if they need a piece of equipment, the specific item is provided on the bench.