The Great British
Baking Show loves to play up Paul Hollywood’s imposing persona, showing
bakers quaking in their boots over his critiques. Though the show and Paul
himself have mellowed over the seasons, this approach is still profoundly felt
during “Bread Week.” He stalks around the tent, surveying the bakers with an
expressionless face and implacable gaze, playing to his reputation and giving
the editors plenty to work with. Most of the bakers laugh this off, as is
intended, but the specter of Paul’s judgement lingers over the entire episode
and the added pressure causes many to falter. There’s still a lot of
meaningful, creative baking in “Bread Week,” but a failure to execute that
leaves a disappointing aftertaste.
The episode begins with a delightfully dorky opening, as
Noel and Matt play with the famed Hollywood Handshake. Paul joins in on the
fun, and this is a lovely way to introduce bread week 11 seasons in. The
viewers know what to expect, and the show’s already burned through every bread
pun imaginable, so why not go goofy with it? As the bakers head into the tent,
some are excited—Marc and Laura—while others are worried. For the third episode
in a row, however, the judges are kind with the signature round. The bakers
will have an hour and 45 minutes to make two freeform soda bread loaves, one
savory and one sweet, and a butter to go with them. Series six, or PBS season
three, or Netflix collection three, had quick breads as a signature, but this
is the first official soda bread challenge, and it’s a smart and generous
choice.
The bakers set to work right away. As Paul explains, they
have a tight window to finish two breads, so they’ll need to get their dough in
the oven right away. Prue is hoping for some creative flavors to add variety to
such a familiar challenge, while Noel admonishes the judges that no one under
40 eats bread any more. Four of the bakers take inspiration for their bakes
from locations. Mark celebrates Ireland with his sausage and Irish cheddar savory
loaf and his chocolate and Irish stout sweet loaf. Linda mimics Welsh tea cakes
for her bara brith-inspired sweet loaf and goes spicier for her chili, cheddar,
parmesan, and coriander savory loaf. Rowan channels Italy with his bakes, a
fennel, sausage, olive, and caper savory loaf and a polenta, raisin, honey,
lemon, and saffron sweet loaf that has Paul a bit skeptical. And Marc looks to
Cornwall for his bread, a grated beetroot and Cornish Kern savory loaf and a
milk and white chocolate and dried cranberry sweet loaf.
Hermine may not have a specific city in mind for her bakes,
but she goes all out with her flavors, using chopped smoked salmon and grated
gruyere for her savory loaf and cinnamon and orange liqueur-soaked dried fruit
in her sweet loaf. Sura also goes big with her Middle Eastern-inspired soda
breads, opting for za’atar and chopped olives for her savory one and dried
fruit and walnuts for her sweet one. Laura has her Nana Peg’s favorite flavors
on her mind, with a chopped chorizo, chili-infused cheddar, and spring onion
savory loaf and a glacé cherry and grated marzipan sweet loaf. Meanwhile,
Lottie tries to capture the taste of summer with her Balsamic red onion, smoked
Applewood cheese, and Kalamata olive savory loaf and blueberry and maple bacon
sweet loaf. Peter thinks outside the box for his gluten-free oat, black pudding,
walnut, and thyme savory loaf and his ginger beer and crystallized ginger sweet
loaf, and previous Star Baker Dave opts for a back bacon, gruyere, dried dill,
and chive savory loaf and a date, hazelnut, and dark chocolate sweet loaf.
As has become standard this season, the range of
inspirations and flavors is impressive. The bakers will need to avoid over-working
their dough, lest they become dense and fail to rise, and they’ll need to be
careful with their ratios, but they seem to be on track. This remains a
charismatic and friendly cast, and with the pressure dialed down for the
signature, there’s room for some quality banter with Paul. Sura is avoiding his
steely gaze lest she get intimidated, Lottie is uncertain about her proportion
of blueberries to flour, and Peter manages to make Paul self-conscious when he
reminds Paul that Bake Off has been
on the air for more than half of his life. The bakers move on to their
butters—Laura wins relatability points for wondering, “I mean, it’s lovely, it’s
very twee, but why would you make butter?” and Linda gives a lovely nod to the
eliminated Mak by using his honey in her butter—and before long, it’s time for
judging.
On the whole, the bakers do well with their flavors, but for
many, their execution is off. Laura’s sweet loaf is delicious, but her savory
loaf is a little under. Lottie’s savory loaf is beautiful, but her blueberries
aren’t evenly spread in her sweet loaf and she should have incorporated her
bacon into the dough. Linda has a similar problem with her sweet loaf, having
over-worked it, which pushed her fruit to the exterior. Her savory loaf is
tasty though, if a bit under. Sura continues the trend of under-baking, her
only misstep on her delicious loaves being her too-low oven temperature.
Dave is the exception to the flavor rule, his soda breads
well made but lacking the punch of the other’s bakes, while at the opposite end
of the spectrum, Peter’s gamble with his gluten-free savory loaf does not pay
off, his texture lacking despite his delicious flavors and tasty sweet loaf.
The baker with the most trouble, though, is Rowan, whose savory loaf is
under-baked and whose polenta-heavy sweet loaf Paul compares to, “eating a
lemon drizzle cake in a sandstorm.” Only a few bakers nail both of their loaves:
Mark and Marc get high praise and Hermine wins the round with her first Paul
Hollywood Handshake (PHH). Both Paul and Prue rave over her flavorful and
creative bakes, which are novel to both of them, no small feat considering how
long both have been around the baking world.
After Hermine’s requisite PHH freak out, it’s time for the technical.
For “Bread Week,” Paul has requested six rainbow-colored bagels, made with five
layers of brightly colored dough that gets shaped, boiled, and baked. The
bakers have two hours and 45 minutes, a comparatively long time for a
technical, and Paul warns them to be mindful of their timings. Series three, or
PBS season five, or Netflix’s The Great
British Baking Show: The Beginnings, had a bagel showstopper for its
bread episode, but given that the bakers won’t have had the chance to
practice these, and the added difficulty that comes with boiling bagels, this
is a good choice of challenge.
Most of the bakers seem okay with the brief, despite not
having made bagels before. They understand the process in theory, the question
will be their execution. Everything seems to go smoothly, more or less, until
it’s time to prove and boil their bagels. Unfortunately for the bakers, once
their bagels are proved, they’re only supposed to be boiled for 15 to 40 seconds.
Paul omits this instruction, however, and many over-do the boil, leading to
wrinkly dough that flattens out in the oven. Those who manage to navigate the
boiling run into trouble in the bake, as the brightly colored dough obscures
the golden color they’d usually look for to tell them the bagels are done.
When Paul and Prue return to the tent for judging, hoping
for a table of “happy bread,” as Prue says, they have quite a reaction. Prue
switches into cheerleader mode, finding at least one element to commend in each
bake, and Paul dials back his critiques to avoid being overly harsh. Rowan
winds up in last place, which is unsurprising considering his assessment that
his aren’t even really bagels. Dave is in ninth, having overproved his bagels,
and Sura’s in eighth, her bagels having a good texture, but lacking the
trademark twist. After her PHH, Hermine’s seventh place finish is quite the
come down, her bagels over-baked and tough. Then there’s sixth-place Laura, who
lost her way during shaping and struggled with the boil. Lottie’s bagels aren’t
bad, despite being a bit crispy and over-baked, which puts her in fifth, and
Peter’s overproved “hula hoops” taste good enough to put him in fourth. Only
the top three really pull off the technical. Mark is in third place, having
slightly over-boiled his, Marc is in second place for his delicious, if
oversized bagels, and Linda takes first, the clear winner of the bunch. Linda
is absolutely thrilled—she’s come a long way since her shaky start in “Cake
Week”—but aside from the top three, the technical seems to be more or less a
wash.
The next day, the bakers are looking to put their best foot
forward for the showstopper. While a few bakers distinguished themselves on day
one, most of the group is about tied. For the showstopper challenge, the bakers
will have three and a half hours to make a large, decorative bread plaque in
the style of a traditional harvest festival sheaf. They must portray something
they’re grateful for, and their bread must be impressive in size, visually
powerful, and as always, delicious. Paul’s main priority is for everyone to
finish their plaques, and he’s excited to see what tools and techniques the
bakers bring to the challenge. Prue, meanwhile, warns against getting too
complicated. They need to make sure their design is workable in bread.
Once again, the bakers have compelling inspirations. Marc is
making a Buddhist dharma wheel with fennel, coriander, and caraway seeds. While
he isn’t Buddhist himself, a book on Buddhist philosophy really helped him
while he recovered from the accident where he lost his leg and he’s applying
lessons in breathing and mindfulness to his experience in the tent. Linda is
calling back to her childhood working on her uncle’s farm with her black olive
braid and tiger bread animals. Rowan’s love of Worcestershire inspired his pear
tree bake, with blue cheese and pear bread, chestnut bread, and potato and
truffle oil bread, and Hermine’s yearly road trips to Paris prompted her
brioche twist, mixed herb focaccia, and parmesan bread stick plaque.
Musical theater fan Laura goes bold and graphic for her
showstopper, with bright red curtains, golden pulls, and comedy and tragedy
masks made of fougasse, red chili oil, and pancetta and cheese focaccia. Laura
has seen around 70 performances on the West End, including Matt’s turn as M. Thénardier
in Les Misérables, which she loved.
Paul hasn’t seen any, which sets Matt to planning a must-see syllabus for him.
Mark embraces the apple orchards of his childhood home with his wild garlic
bread, apple and cinnamon filling, and hazelnut bread plaque. Sura also takes
inspiration from her youth with her tomato vine loaf, using olive bread,
sun-dried tomato, and feta. She associates tomatoes with her mom, as her mom
carefully tended a tomato vine in their London apartment when she was growing
up. Dave, Lottie, and Peter similarly are basing their bakes on their homes.
Dave is making his home and his family out of a woven hibiscus and guava bread,
with a mango and chili roof. He’s about to become a father, and he’s very
excited. Lottie’s making her house out of sun-dried tomato and chorizo bread,
with pesto bread palm trees and bushes, and Peter is making a cityscape,
capturing Edinburgh in multigrain bread backdrop and a poppy seed-coated bagel
bread cityscape.
As time ticks down, a few bakers look to be in the weeds.
Hermine’s decision to make an enriched, brioche-style bread remains
questionable, given the time constraints, but she maintains she’ll finish.
Rowan seems to be on finishing touches, and this may be the first time he
finishes his entire design. Peter adds a red egg wash to his rail bridge,
mimicking the rusty red of the actual bridge, and Laura goes for the glitter
with her gold curtain pulls. The concept of a bread plaque seemed a little
strange, at least to this viewer, but the bakers have put together visually
interesting and emotionally resonant bakes. The question will be whether they
taste as good as they look.
Hermine is up first for judging, and while Paul remains
skeptical of her enriched dough, both he and Prue like her focaccia and her
design. Sura is complimented by Prue for her dramatic and effective
presentation and by both judges for her flavor and structure. Laura is praised
for her design and flavors, but her decision to place fougasse theater masks
over her focaccia kept it from rising in the oven, spoiling its texture. Peter
has similar texture troubles, his bagel bread winding up foldable and tough,
despite his effective design and nice flavors. Lottie is next, and she receives
mixed reviews. Her flavored bread is delicious and her design is pretty good,
but while her white bread is beautifully risen and has good texture, it lacks
flavor. So does Linda’s bake, which needs more olives and a bit more proving.
The bake is a bit dense, according to Prue, but she loves the concept and
design, particularly the cow.
The editors save the pre-showstopper leaders and stragglers
for last. Mark is dinged by Paul for his wonky proportions, but Paul likes his
structure and bread, while Prue likes his apple cinnamon filling. He seems like he may
contend, at least until Marc presents his showstopper.
Paul critiques the braiding at the edges, however he likes the flavors and
thinks the middle looks beautiful, while Prue compliments the flavor and
presentation. Marc has this in the bag. Next is Dave, who may be in danger. His
bake gets mixed reviews, with Paul liking the flavor and concept but finding it
over-baked. Prue likes the mango and chili, but can’t taste the guava. Last is
Rowan, who needs to wow the judges if he’s going to stay. His showstopper looks
terrific, a beautiful pear tree. Unfortunately for Rowan, it doesn’t taste
nearly as good as it looks. Prue can taste the cider flavor, but wants more
salt, and Paul wants more blue cheese and walnut, not to mention a bit more
proving.
The episode tries to build up some suspense with the judge
deliberations, but the result is clear. Marc gets his first Star Baker, and
Rowan is sent home. As Paul notes, the bakers’ technique suffered this episode.
Hopefully this episode will prove to be a fluke, driven by their nerves over
baking bread for Paul, which several mention. This remains a particularly charming
and creative cast, and one well worth the benefit of the doubt.
Stray observations
- If it was mentioned previously, I completely missed that Marc
had lost a leg. I’m reminded of Briony from series nine, or Netflix collection
six, whose disability (her
“little hand,” as she calls it) was only noticed by myself and many other
viewers partway through the season. It’s great to see disability representation
on Bake Off. - Marc’s daughters are quarantining with them in their
production bubble? I raised an eyebrow at this, but it was a lovely moment, the
kind we’d never usually get to see on the show. - Prue’s genuine excitement for Hermine at getting a PHH is
much more endearing for me than the handshake itself. - Paul tying the rainbow bagels in to the NHS feels like a
stretch, but I’m good with any excuse to celebrate the U.K.’s publicly-funded
National Health Service. Also, now I want a shot of Noel out on the lawn,
trying to catch rainbows. - As soon as Rowan started slapping his dough, my mind jumped
back to series three, or PBS season five, or Netflix The Great British Baking Show: The Beginnings, and the flicked
streusel dough ordeal. - I enjoy Rowan, but it was definitely time for him to go. His
final sentiment, about being consoled by Noel, is lovely, as was his quote from
earlier, “This is such enormous fun. It’s a shame it’s a competition, really.” - I’m looking forward to seeing everyone take on chocolate next
episode. Chocolate can be very temperamental and tricky, so it’s a great
opportunity for the bakers to demonstrate their technical chops, especially
after this shaky showing.