Noel, I got a few questions for you. Hit me up.
Flan or tart, what's the difference? You'd have to ask Prue. What's an even bake?
You'd have to ask Paul. Do you even know anything about baking? Not really.
How long you been on this show? Seven years.
Do you still find a soggy bottom funny? 'Course I do, I'm not an idiot.
Has anyone ever been injured by a Hollywood handshake? I'm not at liberty to disclose
that information. Who's Kate's Corner? It's Kate Corner.
Kate Corner's just a woman who lives down my street. What's cake corner?
Cake corner's a corner where we eat cake. What week is it? It's Bread Week.
Can I do the fun part now? Yes, you can. Welcome to The Great British Bake Off.
Did you enjoy that? I really loved it. Me too. Thanks.
Last time...
Come on, custard creams.
..the bakers battled biscuits... SHE GASPS
..and while Josh served up a stunning Showstopper...
Everything about it is spot on.
..it was Tasha...
I think they're delicate, I think they're pretty and I have to...
ALISON GASPS ..shake your... Ah, good for you!
..that earned this year's first handshake
and took home Star Baker...
Gotta put some peanuts on. ..but Keith's lack of finesse...
Ooh, dear. ..and underbaked Showstopper.
I shouldn't be able to push my finger in like that. PRUE: No.
..meant he had to say goodbye to the tent.
It's been so lovely to meet you, Prue.
ALISON: This time, it's bread week.
I'm really nervous. You nervous about this one?
I just don't want him to not like it. Is it all about Paul? Yeah.
The bakers take on a classic cottage loaf Signature...
Oh, I've never been so stressed making bread.
SHE GASPS It's enormous...
Oh, my God. ..a traditional Technical...
SHE CHUFFS
..that leaves some hot under the collar... Cool those balls!
..and a plaited Showstopper...
Help me, lord.
..that has them tied up in knots.
Ah! Oh...
Stressful.
SMASH, SHE GASPS
Chuffing heck. You just want an easy life.
Bread week is one of the most feared weeks, isn't it,
cos Paul's gonna be coming round
poking all our loaves seeing if they're cooked or not.
Love baking my bread, not too sure about doing it in a tent
with Paul Hollywood looking at me, but...!
Paul is the bread king. Ah, so nervous.
I don't know if it's nerves or if it was the dodgy prawn
I had last night, but something's churning.
I've definitely got the bread dread.
Hello, bakers, welcome back to the tent.
It's bread week and for your Signature Challenge,
the judges would love you to make a cottage loaf.
Paul and Prue are looking for a classic cottage loaf shape
that's two stacked cobs
and don't worry, it doesn't have to be an actual cottage.
CHUCKLING
They are not gonna spend a mini break inside your loaf.
ALISON LAUGHS
Your loaves can be flavour and the style of bread dough
is entirely up to you, so go wild.
These are heady times we're living in.
You've got two hours, and, because we're feeling generous,
another 45 minutes.
On your marks... Get set...
Bake!
Right, let's get going with this then.
I do like bread, so hopefully Paul'll like it,
hopefully it'll all go to plan.
I don't make bread. I don't. So this is not my week.
Everyone's scared of eating bread now, aren't they? Not me.
No, not me. I love eating bread. I love it!
That's my bread pouch, muffin, crumpet, baguettes.
It's bread week and the Signature Challenge
is a cottage loaf.
It's two loaves, one on top of the other.
A little round one on the top
and a bigger round one underneath.
The lovely thing about a cottage loaf,
simple though it is,
is it does cover all the skills that really matter in bread making.
You need to spend a bit of time developing that gluten,
mixing and kneading properly.
You don't want it to be too dense.
You want a little bit of spring in it.
The joining of the two balls is important
and they must be stable and grow up rather than flat,
so you want a bit of height to this.
We want perfection to impress us.
They've just gotta make good bread.
Morning, Cristy. Hello. Hello, Cristy. Morning!
Right, Cristy, tell us all about your cottage loaf.
So I'm doing dried cranberries, chopped walnuts and rosemary.
Is this a favourite recipe?
Yeah. My kids love it. I love it.
NOEL: Always a hit at home, Cristy's loaf packed full of
sweet cranberries, rosemary and walnuts also contains
multigrain flour for an extra hit of nutty flavour.
Do you think it hinders the growth of the dough at all
if you add too much flavour?
Yeah. No. I don't know.
It's not a test! OK, you make me nervous!
I just wanna impress you both.
Well, good luck, I think it sounds great. Thank you. Oh, OK!
Thank you. Thanks, Alison. It's not an exam!
I'm nervous. It's cos he just knows everything about bread.
You've got this, you've made it before. You've got it.
I'm full of bread. Not stopped eating it. What,
have you been eating bread? Oh, I love a bit of bread.
I can do it all day long.
Saku's also aiming to impress with a family favourite.
My kids love cinnamon toast with orange juice
so I'm making cinnamon and orange cottage loaf.
She'll add orange zest to her dough for a citrus kick
to complement the warmth of the cinnamon
that she's sourced from somewhere special.
Sri Lanka is very famous for its spices.
Always my cinnamon coming from Sri Lanka. This is from home.
I brought my own rosemary from home
so from my mum's garden.
She has a very small vegetable garden.
She won't like that I've said it was very small,
but it's her pride and joy.
Looking to build on last week's success, reigning Star Baker Tasha
will roast her mum's rosemary with garlic
before kneading it through her seed-packed dough.
But her classic flavour combination faces competition.
I was quietly confident
and then, there are four people doing rosemary and garlic.
But it's fine. It's just a battle of the garlic!
This is wild garlic. Love picking my wild garlic.
Got a secret patch near me no-one knows about.
Foraging fan Dan will add rosemary and smoked bacon to his wild garlic
to flavour his main loaf
and he'll make a wild garlic pesto to fold through his top cob.
Do you go foraging? I do, yeah. Yeah, I do a bit of fungus.
Fungus. You got a basket? Yeah.
What do you wear, speedos? Yeah, leopard skin speedos.
Massive top hat. Yeah, flippers. With a door in it. Yeah!
And then throw the mushrooms in. Goes in, yeah!
Just gonna check how the gluten is doing. It feels pretty good.
Kneading the dough helps to develop the strands of gluten,
crucial to producing the perfect texture demanded by Paul and Prue.
Like a rocking motion just to get right through the dough.
But it's a labour intensive task.
You warmed up now, Nicky? Have I warmed up? You warmed up?
Yeah, I'm getting there. I need to take my jumper off now.
I'm letting the machine do the hard work
and then I'll put it out on the bench for a couple of minutes
and just pretend that I've done it!
I like kneading by hand cos it gives you more control over the dough
and you can feel when it's ready, rather than just guess.
I've done 300 hand kneads. I count them all to make sure.
Abbi taste-tested her garlic and rosemary cottage loaf
with the local village community lunch where it went down a storm.
A success that she puts down to the addition of a special ingredient.
I'm using smoked garlic and it has an absolutely amazing smell.
Garlic, rosemary... Just really nice.
It's a great classic combo, isn't it?
The roasting of the garlic just enhances the flavour
and I've got Scottish sea salt.
Oops, look at that, went in a bit too much.
Nicky will add her roast garlic,
rosemary and Scottish sea salt paste
to her dough after its first prove.
And to ensure even distribution, she's taking no risks.
I am not going to use the stand mixer.
I'm doing it by hand.
I'm doing the kneading in the mixer just to save me some arm strength,
basically. I like heat, so I'm doing chipotle,
smoked Cheddar and bacon.
This is smoked Cheddar.
It's literally just amplifying that smoky taste,
so if he says he can't taste the flavour, that's a lie!
SHE LAUGHS
Ooh... RATTLE, SMASH
God.
SHE GASPS
I meant to do that! You can taste shards of glass. Yummy.
Starting from scratch, Dana will add smoked paprika
to her second batch of spicy chipotle dough
for an extra hit of smoky heat.
Yeah, I think it should be great, as long as it's not
totally overpowering.
I mean, sometimes, smoke can just be too much.
Well, it's not like a bonfire smoke.
It's more like just a little subtle kick, so...
Have you got a name for your bread?
Um, Bread-ley Cooper. Bread-ley Cooper!
I just thought, a bit of spice. LAUGHTER
I love that.
This is about the stage I'm happy with now.
If you hold it up to the window, it'll stretch out nice and thin
without tearing so you can see through it.
That'll do us. Beautiful.
It's just gonna go now into the proving drawer for an hour.
Will it fit? Yeah.
Now the waiting game.
This is the, like, sit about and have a cup of tea part of the bake.
Which is very, very nice for once in a challenge!
I didn't bring a book to read or game to play.
Let's play tic, tac, toe.
Are you into cricket? Yes. I'm such a good batter.
Really? So, so good. So I'm a bowler, you are a batter.
If you could bowl, I could bat.
It's not gonna work, is it? No. Oh, my God!
It's a complete disaster!
Go on. Oh!
Sorry! SHE LAUGHS
Right in the thigh.
I thought you was gonna do it softly!
I feel like everybody else has got theirs...proving
and I'm still working on mine.
It's a big dough.
I've got, like, 700g of flour in here.
Rowan's large loaf filled with kalamata olives
and sundried tomatoes is inspired by a sun-strewn holiday to the Med.
I went to Amalfi.
The Amalfi coast, it were good... It were expensive.
I mean a sorbet, you had to take out a mortgage, so it was...
It was a place I'd never go back to.
Far from the glitz and glamour of the Italian Riviera,
Josh is recreating one of his Italy's most humble offerings.
I am making a pizza-inspired nduja...
..and honey, cottage loaf.
So I've got nduja-spiced spreadable sausage in there
which is gonna be spread over the dough once it's proved.
You don't wanna put your flavours in in the first prove.
It's gonna affect the way it rises,
so I'll mix it all in on the second one.
Along with spicy nduja sausage,
Josh will throw handfuls of black olives,
basil and Gruyere into his loaf
for that flavour-packed pizza experience.
It's like a meal in your bread. It is, yeah, you've got
a lot of things going on in there.
It doesn't inhibit its rise or anything?
It gets a nice rise. I know it's a bit more of a risk, maybe,
putting bits of cheese in there as well, but I wanted to give myself
a bit of a challenge. All right. Good luck. Thank you very much.
Bakers, you are halfway through.
You can do it guys. Maybe.
HE LAUGHS
I'm just gonna have to go with it.
Looks like all right. Yes.
A lovely first prove that. You can see the bubbles there,
you can see a lot of carbon...dioxide in there!
Remember my elements, then.
It's not as proved as I would like.
But I think the second prove is far more important than the first one
because that's what gives you the shape.
ALISON: But before shaping starts... I'm gonna put my filling in.
..there's one last opportunity for the bakers
to add even more flavour to their dough.
So I've got Gruyere cheese, basil and I've got some olives as well.
It looks like a pizza anyway so.
Who doesn't like a bit of roast garlic? Oh, and with your meat.
This is the smoked Cheddar, so I'm just gonna get that rolled in.
It's just making sure it all just goes through the dough
and there's no sort of empty pockets.
I'm really pleased with this. Just want to be able to get
a really good bit of shaping on it now. Key to creating the classic
cottage loaf shape is both size and proportion.
The top is a bit smaller. It has that little hat.
I'm gonna split it into a third and two thirds.
They're quite big balls. I don't want it to be like
a little stuck on ball on top of the bottom.
Three quarters to a quarter. You have gotta, like,
trust your instinct which is easier said than done
when there's everyone else around you
doing the same thing, but different.
Bursting with olives, sundried tomato and Parmesan,
Matty's keen to add heat to his loaf with the addition
of chilli flakes to his dough.
I think the flavours are great inside.
When it comes to the overall look of it,
tell us about the proportion, your...ball size.
Three quarters bottom, one quarter on top.
Oh, so you've got a little one on top and then...
..a big ball underneath.Yeah! HE CHUCKLES
LAUGHING: They're in proportion though...
They seem slightly out of proportion, the ball size.
Don't be naughty. I'm just saying!
Would you go two thirds, one third?
I don't know. It's entirely up to you.
Not only does a cottage loaf require perfectly proportioned balls...
Hello, wee man. ..but the bakers must ensure
that they stay firmly in place too.
Here we go.
Flour up the old fingers.
Ah, dear.
I'm a bit stuck!
Just three firm jabs.
I hope it will work.
SINGSONG: Going in the proving drawer again.
That's the biggest loaf I have made in a long time.
Right, half an hour in there.
Have you got a proving drawer at home?
No. The kitchen's normally about the right temperature.
Is it too cold in here? It's Baltic, yeah. Do you get ever cold hands?
Yeah, I do get...
If you put your hands out like that,
and pump really hard up and down. You don't get cold hands?!
You don't get cold hands! Really?
Yeah! And an egg comes out.
THEY LAUGH
Bakers, you only have one hour left.
Few more mins. It's a lot of proving, innit, this.
It's a lot of proving. They don't do anything in this, do they?
Yeah, just sort of wandering about, waiting... Like what we do!
SHE CACKLES
It's just about holding your nerve.
If you don't give it the time it needs to rise,
then it's gonna be more like a flat bread!
Hmm, it's a bit flat, innit?
Oh, my gosh.
She's not very cottage loaf-shaped any more.
Hmm...
I'm painting my lovely ball in red, blue and green,
to make it look kind of Italian. I wanted to add a bit of pop.
Did you pop it in the proving drawer? Yes. Did it get bigger?
This is my problem - I can't remember the size of it before
I put it in the proving drawer, so...! Goldfish. I'm kind of like...
It's getting there. I know. Oh!
Wish I had a photogenic memory, then I'd be like,
"Yes, you know what, that's risen by an eighth..."
Can you have a photogenic memory? No, a photographic...! However...
In it goes.
It'll bake for about 50 minutes because it's so huge.
Three more minutes.
Pancakes for breakfast everybody. Here she is.
What shall we name her? Janice.
Right, I'm gonna score it.
ALISON: Scoring the dough is key to maintaining
the unique cottage loaf shape.
It's letting it breathe a little bit
so that, when it bakes, it can expand out.
..and deep precise cuts will produce better shaped loaves.
Are you scoring it with this?
I've got a lame.
I've just got a sharp knife that I... Yeah, but that's all right.
SHE MIMES SLASHING
Looks cottagey. We're going in for 30 minutes.
40 to 45 minutes IS what it usually does at home.
Oh, there you go, Janice.
Maybe the oven will solve all ailments.
Just, it's now gotta watch it bake. Oh, God.
I'm going to sit here and watch and pray.
SHE LAUGHS
Oh, it's looking great! I've just turned it round.
I'm trying to give it a really good colour.
I know Paul likes a lot of colour on his bread. Yeah...
I'm excited. Are you excited? I'm really nervous.
You nervous about this one? I just don't want him to not like it.
Is it all about Paul? Yeah. Good luck. Thank you.
I can't wait for this.
Bakers, you've got 15 minutes.
Till Paul Hollywood comes in with his mahogany fists
and smashes your dreams.
Oh, mine's so lopsided.
I'm feeling happier than earlier.
I don't think Paul's gonna be very happy.
The top's merged into the bottom. I'm a bit annoyed.
Rise!
Oh, bloody hell she's massive. It's really ballooned.
It's enormous bread! Oh, my God...
They're not done.
Oh, it's disastrous.
It's literally come off. THEY GASP
What do I do? Shall I rod it?
Well, I'm a bit panicky about this.
He's rodding it. Oh, that's a good shout.
Oh, I've never been so stressed making bread.
Chuffing heck, this is a bit high pressure.
You just want an easy life!
Oh, it's cooked. I think it's done.
I have to check temperatures because a lot of bakers
tap the bottom and listen to the sound.
Sounds hollow inside. Like that.
I can't do that. Oh, it's hollow.
Lovely!
Oh, my God this is actually diabolical. I might scream.
Bakers, you've got one minute left, just one minute.
Coming out in 30 seconds.
Just waiting till literally the last second.
These are the flowers from the wild garlic.
Oh, it's such a pancake.
It's coming out.
Here we are.
I don't know. Really happy with that. Perfect.
Oh, my gosh. It's just so big.
Bakers, your time is up.
That looks amazing.
SAKU: I am happy with that. Hopefully they will like the taste.
ROWAN: You look around the room, you start going...
See, it's all... They're all kind of perfect. Oh...
This is the failure corner.
Oh, dearie me.
The bakers' cottage loaves now face the judgment of Paul and Prue.
Hello, Saku. Hello.
I think it looks pretty good.
The cuts have gone slightly awry,
but overall, I like the colour and I like the height.
Go on, then, Hollywood. Right, let's have a look. Cut it.
Smells good. It's really cinnamony.
I don't get the orange very much, but the cinnamon's there.
I did get the orange. It's a hint. Certainly there in the background.
The cinnamon is good. So your flavour combinations are spot on.
But, your bread itself is slightly underproved.
You can see where you've put your finger in
and it's concertinaed down at the bottom.
Overall, it's a nice loaf.
I think you were ten minutes away from something that was very good.
Well done. Thank you.
Whew!
Well, it's certainly rustic.
I think you've fumbled a little bit when you cut this
cos it's gone all over the place.
Doesn't look too bad.
It is a lot of filling, but, actually, it works.
Nothing is overpowering anything else.
Oh, chilli's coming in right at the end. It's lovely. Thank you.
It's split here quite badly
and this is down to underproving it... Mm-hm.
..so it needed another ten minutes or so.
I think you've got a great bake on it though.
Certainly cheesy. DANA CHUCKLES
Smokiness comes through beautifully, and the cheese and the chipotle
as well. It is a bit doughy, but your flavours are good.
Hmm.
It looks monstrous.
How much flour did you use?
Uh... Nigh on 700g.
It's a big loaf.
But actually the structure is spot on. Great colour.
The olives come through beautifully.
The sundried tomatoes not so much.
I can taste the sundried tomatoes,
but I don't think the little S's add anything.
You should've just written "Paul is king". Bread king.
Thank you, Rowan. Well, thank you.
"Monstrous". It's fine, I've been called worse.
It's quite dense inside. Yes.
I'm getting...salt.
Hmm, quite a lot of salt. What's the level of salt you put in?
The original prove was just 7g
and then after that I just went...
Oh, you added more? In with the paste. Yeah, that's...
So just did a wee... ..probably why we're picking it up then,
because you just went over that balance. Yeah.
Colour, I love. Cuts, I like, they're nice and deep.
I think it looks really appetising.
Think it needs a little of salt.
Considering you had cranberries, walnuts in there,
it's just a little bit bland, but overall, I think it's a decent loaf.
EXHALES SHAKILY OK.
This is flat Janice.
Her cottage is a bungalow.
LAUGHTER
Let's have a look at it.
How much of the garlic did you put in it? All of it?
Not all of it, I think I did, like, six cloves. It's quite strong.
Can't taste the rosemary. Oh, OK. Um...
When it comes to salt, it's quite a bland loaf. Yeah.
All you get... Is garlic? ..is garlic.
You haven't got enough salt. Yeah.
And actually that, it's affected the structure
and that's why it'll look like this.
Taste it with a bit of the crust though, cos that's really nice.
Ooh, yeah. Bit of salt on it, it'll be lovely.
Hmm.
Good job, Janice.
Lovely colour.
It's turned out quite nicely.
You've pretty much got the proving right.
I think the flavour is great. Mm-hm.
Nice balance of cheese and chilli.
There is considerable heat in that.
And I like it. I think it's lovely.
And I'm surprised because I thought the cheese and olives
are going to hold it down, it's going become claggy...
But it's really lovely. Well done, Josh. Thank you.
Wonderful, thank you.Well done! HE EXHALES
Do you know, if you saw that in a baker's shop you'd buy it,
just because it looks so rustic and so appetising.
Looks quite appealing doesn't it, yeah. Hmm.
Let's have a look.
I think it's quite clever the pesto going through it.
My issue is it only stays in one place. Yeah.
You have to distribute it amongst the whole loaf. Yeah...
I think it's a really interesting delicious loaf.
Flavour-wise, and texture-wise, you've done a great job.
It just needed to be more uniform with... Distribute, yeah.
..your filling. Just pop it in the mixer, all your ingredients,
once you've proved your dough
and just slowly turn it to introduce it and then you shape it.
I should've belled you beforehand, shouldn't I? You should've done,
yeah! I was only across there. Oh, were ya?
Give you a shout next time. Oh, thank you very much.
That'll do me.
Because you've put weight
in the dough as seeds,
I'm thinking that this is gonna be quite dense inside.
But...the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
Come on, then.
I would be so proud of that if I'd done it!
It is dense, but nevertheless, it's delicious.
It's not perfect. But it is 90-odd-per cent there.
Mm-hm. I wish I'd made it.
Thank you. Well done. Thank you. Thank you.
WHISPERED: Wow. She wishes she'd made it! I'll take that!
Think that went pretty well!
That's good feedback.
Thank you, Prue. Oh, it was lovely!
It went well. Phew.
"Monstrous". I'd rather be monstrous than mediocre.
That was pretty good. He liked the look of it,
it had good colour on it, one down, two to go.
Oh, flat Janice. I'm definitely at the bottom.
But last week's Technical I won,
so hopefully, do a better job. Smash it.
The bakers were able to practise their first challenge,
but now, they face a mystery shrouded in gingham.
Hello, bakers, welcome back to the tent.
It's time for your Technical Challenge, which, today,
has been set for you by the bad boy of buns himself, Mr Paul Hollywood.
Paul has been preparing some incredible words of wisdom.
Over to you, Paul.
It's all about the timing.
I'm gonna put that on my Instagram.
NOEL LAUGHS
As ever, this Technical will be judged blind
so we're gonna have to ask our judges to leave the tent. Bye-bye.
Thank you.
To make sure there's no cheating,
they will be lowered into a medieval well.
Paul would like you to make a batch
of eight delicious Devonshire splits.
Ooh, I love Devonshire splits.
I often do the splits while I'm eating Devonshire splits.
Now, the judges are looking for soft,
light, enriched dough buns
that are split and then filled with a home-made strawberry jam
and freshly whipped cream.
Mmm. You have two hours and 30 minutes.
On your marks...
..get set...
..bake!
That's not a lot of ingredients, is it?
I'm familiar with the Devonshire split. It's a bit like a doughnut and I love doughnuts.
I live adjacent to Devon.
I've never seen one before.
Bit worried, I need a good technical cos I had a mediocre signature,
so I'm just looking round.
"Do not confer," it says but it doesn't say "don't look."
So, Paul, Devonshire splits, what a treat.
I grew up on these.
My dad used to make these in his bakery and they're just delicious to eat.
Where they're going to come unstuck on this particular challenge is timing.
We've allowed for two proves in this.
So for the first prove?
Well, you do it roughly 45 minutes.
As it starts to rise, carbon dioxide begins to be formed
and a little bit of flavour comes into it.
Then they can prepare the rolls. So divide it into eight,
roll it into balls, and prove it again.
45 minutes on the second one and it stabilises the dough
and gives it better flavour.
It's all down to the proving.
The oven bake's for around 15 minutes.
We want them beautifully round and symmetrical.
You don't want any tears in the side at all
and you want a nice flash of colour going all the way down to the bottom.
I would not have thought a Devonshire split could be so complicated.
Now, there's no cutlery with this.
This is when we get cream all over the show.
Mm-hm.
Oh, yeah.
It's soft in the mouth, slightly chewy.
That is heaven.
Beautiful sweetness from the strawberry and then the cream as well.
I'm going to sit here and eat the lot, I tell you.
Not all of those, but all of this. All of this.
Step one, make the dough.
It's an enriched dough which means it's enriched
with milk and butter and I'm adding that to my flour,
yeast, salt and sugar,
then bring it together to form a scraggly dough and then I'll get that kneaded.
Get your hands in, get in there.
Going to need to work quite quickly.
I'm just very keen to get my dough proving.
You all right, Abbi? Hello, Alison. How you doing darling?
All right, thank you.
Devonshire splits, have you ever made one of these before?
No, I haven't. Have you ever done the splits before? No, I haven't.
But you've got to impress Paul with this though, ain't ya? I know, need to get myself back on track.
This is a big one. After flat Janice. Well, do you know what? Janice tasted amazing.
She was very garlicky, which is the way I like it. Probably not what Prue wanted.
So you've got to get this right haven't ya? So, yeah. Keep kneading babes, keep kneading. Thank you.
Perfect Devonshire split dough...
You can feel that changing already under my hands.
..requires lots of kneading.
That's like a workout.
Not enough and they could end up with tight buns.
Oh!
We're looking for something very smooth and elastic.
You don't want it to tear.
It's looking all right, that.
Step five, prove.
Thank you very much. For all that information.
I'll give it as long as I humanly possibly can cos I want it to be quite light and fluffy.
I'm going to leave this for 50 minutes.
Start with 30 minutes, check.
It'll probably need longer than that but whether we've got time to do it longer than that...
There's going to be a lot of underproved buns today.
Next is to make the strawberry jam.
I've chopped up my strawberries
and put them in a pan with some jam sugar
and hopefully I have the setting temperature branded into my brain.
I'm trying to get this to 104 centigrade.
Here we go. It's bubbling away now.
Bit longer.
Looks all right.
Hopefully it will work.
Steaming up, yes.
SHE CHUCKLES
Jam is ready.
The dough's proving.
Jam cooling.
Should've been a rapper.
Wow, what's this? We're giving you a double whammy. Oh, looks lovely. That is my strawberry jam.
What's your favourite jam?
Mmm, Blueberry jam. Blueberry? Yeah.
That is quite a bold statement. Why? How often do you make blueberry jam?
I don't make it, I'm buying from shop.
Bakers, you are halfway through.
Sh. Love watching her work.
see how much it's grown.
If the bakers underprove their dough...
We're looking pretty groovy there.
Looks good.
..They'll fail to produce the light
and springy texture Paul and Prue expect.
Well, it could do with longer really
but I can see quite a few people shaping
Which is a bit stressful.
Divide the dough into eight pieces and shape into each ball.
604 divided by eight.
I can't do it, I can't physically do the maths.
That's terrible, I'm gonna have to book a course.
75.4 grams each.
I'm just going to eye it.
It could do with another ten minutes but we don't have another ten minutes
so now I'm going to shape them into little balls.
Key to an even rise
and avoiding any tears in their dough
the bakers must create a smooth, taut skin.
I make a lot of bread rolls at home so I'm quite used to this.
That looks a wee bit wrinkled.
Wrinkly balls. Wrinkly balls.
So we've got a pair for Prue and a pair for Paul.
This is like a dream I've had.
Paul's balls are out on a baking sheet.
I'm really pleased with those. Nice and even.
Second prove, we're going in.
The most important prove in my opinion.
I'm going to do the second prove for half an hour.
I've just got to wait now.
Oh.
I'm just trying to stay zen before it all goes crazy in a minute.
Omm.
Make them work.
Mmm.
I'm doing a dance for you just to keep you occupied. Nice one.
Nice, nice.
Thank you.
They're getting there.
I'm giving them another three minutes.
Five minutes left on the clock but I'm going to live by the seat of my pants I think and go for it.
We're going in with them, big boy.
Can't believe Dan's in, that's so stressful?
Oh, my God.
Bakers, you've got half an hour left.
Drama there, weren't it? That cut through the tent.
Yeah. Like a hot knife through butter.
Half an hour left.
I'm happy with the rise of the dough balls.
They've risen up, not as much as I would like.
I'm not that upset with them.
They're just a little on the small side.
Going in.
In they go.
Don't know how long they'll take in the oven. I reckon about 12, 15 minutes.
Going for 14 minutes cos that's my lucky number.
So next, make the Chantilly cream. This is whipped up,
bit of icing sugar, vanilla,
and lo and behold you'll have a Chantilly.
I want it to be a little bit above soft peaks.
Medium peaks.
Looks good.
Oh! Just joking.
That's looking quite good.
You're going to use this? Yeah.
In here? Fill it with Chantilly. Should I just use a wooden spoon?
Just use a wooden spoon. It's convenience, innit? Thank you.
What about a bigger one? What's this?
That's what... that's where I write my... Some poems in here. Go on, read one of the poems.
"Dear Paul,
you look so good today in your double denim.
I think about your desert boots all the time."
That one gets a bit racy. Does it?
They're done.
They're not big anyway, they're quite dainty.
Get them out, get 'em nice and cool.
Dan's are out. I know, he's speedy Gonzales.
Like he's so speedy. Do you know what?
I'm pretty sure I've not put the caster sugar in?
Hence why my buns are a little bit small.
What a doughnut I am.
Dough-nut.
Bakers, you've got ten minutes left.
Oh, my God.
OK, I'm getting them out.
OK. We're good, we're good, we're good, we're good.
They've not baked very evenly. Here is a little bit under.
All right, now we've got to let them cool.
Is it all about cooling? Yeah. Before assemblage.
You don't want to put cream into a hot bun.
And drip out the other side, yeah.
Cool those balls.
You've not been on Bake Off until you've done the waft.
Cut a deep slit through the centre of each.
I think this is right, I don't have a clue.
Oh, these are shocking.
No sugar in it.
I'll tell you one thing, it's too late now.
Bakers, you've got five minutes left.
Have we really?
You know when you feel sick?
Jam time.
Nice thick jam anyway.
The jam is perfect.
Generously fill each bun with whipped cream.
I want it to look neat.
Pipe it directly into the bun.
Oh, gosh, it's splodging.
Oh, sodding hell. It's so bad.
Bakers, you have one minute left.
One minute, OK, we can do this.
Decorate with the strawberries.
Come on, strawbs.
Must move quicker.
I don't know this is the right way.
Oh, my gosh.
# Shaky hands. #
Oh, just hide the mistakes with icing sugar.
That's monstrous to another level.
Bakers, your time is up.
Please come and bring your Devonshire splits
and place them behind your photographs.
Oh, dear.
The garish A&E look.
Forgot the icing sugar.
Wow, that was awful.
Well...
Did my best.
It's time to judge the bakers' Devonshire splits.
Hmm. We've got an array here, Prue.
We certainly have.
NOEL: Paul and Prue are looking for eight equally sized,
light and springy buns
filled with perfectly-set strawberry jam and Chantilly cream
And they have no idea whose is whose.
OK, let's start down this side.
Bit irregular in shape these, actually,
and it's underproved,
you can tell by the cracks on the bottom.
They probably needed another ten, 15 minutes.
But they're soft inside. They've got a lovely flavour.
Jam's lovely. Some of these are a bit odd.
These are really small.
This one's a bit peculiar.
They're massively underproved.
Soon as you press it, it goes back to dough again.
And they're very dense. They are dense.
Right. Now, the size of these is better, much better.
They're quite light, Paul. They are.
They're proved well. They're big and light.
Good jam.
Yeah, the jam looks good.
That's a decent one, the size is good. I like that.
It's just a shame the cream's not looking nicer than it is.
But it does look like lots of cream, which I like.
Too small. These are way too... These are like golf balls.
This is... It's really dense. Needed much longer proving.
You can tell when you look at the bottom there. It's ripped.
And it tastes yeasty.
Mmm.
And now when you move on to this...
These are very neat. They are neat
and they are round but they're a little bit small.
That's the old thing of not proved enough.
I'm not quite sure what these are. They're not round.
And they're...they're a bit flat.
They've almost been undermixed.
It crumbles rather than stretches.
Don't taste very good them. Quite dry on the mouth.
I don't understand.
These are not bad, these buns.
Underproved slightly, but it's got a good texture inside.
Lovely texture.
The jam's good. That's delicious.
They just needed icing sugar.
And moving on to this, again underproved.
See the split but they are large.
Nice flavour. Nice jam. Yeah.
OK, moving on to these guys.
A bit underproved again.
You see it's blown there again, it's ripped.
It's a little bit small.
Not bad, though.
Moving on to these,
again underproved, ripped.
That's quite dense that. Look at that one.
They're neat but it's blown.
It's a shame. OK.
The Devonshire splits will now be ranked...
All of them are slightly underproved.
These are the best.
..from last place to first.
In 10th place we have this one.
Dan, they're too small,
underproved, bit tough, good jam. Brilliant.
In ninth place we have this one.
When you look at it, it looks good, but turn it upside down and you realise there's a few issues there.
Yeah.
Abbi is eighth,
Matty is seventh,
Cristy sixth,
Nicky fifth,
Josh is fourth
and Dana is third.
In second place we have this one.
Tasha,
they were very, very good.
No icing sugar for some reason.
And in first place we have these.
APPLAUSE
The bun itself was excellent.
You've got a nice tension in there and the flavour on the mouth was good,
So it was well proved.
I think you did really well.
I'm so happy.
Disappointed that I forgot to put the caster sugar in.
Just got to dust yourself down and go again, haven't you?
I think they're too kind to me actually.
It really was like eating cement when I tried it so fair enough.
look, I know I'm crying it's just cos I get really emotional really easily.
I know that I'm definitely at the bottom of the pack now.
Oh!
I just need to really smash my Showstopper.
Just one challenge remains before someone's named Star Baker of bread week
and someone's time in the competition is up.
This is your week Paul and... It's all about Hollywood.
What did you think of the standard?
The standard's been pretty poor in the technical.
THEY GIGGLE
Uh... Don't mince your words. But I do think Tash is doing really well.
Josh is there or thereabouts. I think Saku's the same.
OK, so going into the Showstopper who needs to pull it out of the bag?
Abbi who had the problem with the salt.
Yeah. And I think Abbi had a problem with the technical as well
which puts her in a very precarious position.
It's not just her, though, I think Rowan, Dan, he had a terrible technical.
He started well but he's fallen off a cliff.
Which is crazy, right, cos he's been so consistent. Yeah.
But they're all in trouble. I love when you get really strict Paul. Oh, right.
So nice. Turns you on, does it?
A little bit.
Wow.
Hello, bakers, welcome back to the tent.
It's time for your Showstopper challenge.
Today the judges would love you to make
a visually stunning,
plaited bread centrepiece.
Now, your Showstopper can be sweet or savoury,
it's entirely up to you,
but it must have two different types of flour
and include your incredible bread plaiting skills.
If you want to practise your plaits,
me and Alison are going out on the razz tonight so...
We are. ..you're welcome to sort our barnets out.
We're going to be in the corner with a tea towel round our shoulders all right?
You've got four hours for your Showstopper.
On your marks...
..get set... ..bake.
Pssh!
Oh, here we go again.
I'd say the hardest part about this challenge is plaiting.
It's not something I've got much experience of.
I've watched so many YouTube videos
and I still can't plait my own hair
so I'm hoping I can plait bread today.
The Showstopper challenge is a plaited centrepiece loaf.
Now, this is their chance to really show off to Prue and I
what they can actually do with dough.
The focus for this challenge is on the plaiting.
Of course we want the bread to be delicious.
It could be flavoured as they like.
They can put fillings in there.
God, it smells good, don't it?
I could just put my face in that.
But what we're really looking for
is some intricate and amazing plaiting.
There are numerous plaits they could do
to create an image that they want.
It's like painting a picture with braids.
I want to see something that makes me go,
"How did they do that?"
Morning, Abbi. Hello, morning. Hello, Abbi.
Tell us about your plaited Showstopper.
I am making a tree
because I love trees.
Wherever I go I always have like my favourite tree so that's kind of what it represents.
What is your favourite tree? Right now that lovely pink horse chestnut out there
that I can see from my bench. Beautiful that one, isn't it?
So I'm making a walnut and stilton trunk and branches.
The leaves are going to be made from wild garlic and nettle
and then this is made with dock flour from the seeds of dock leaves.
Have you been out foraging for these yourself? Yes, I've picked these this week. Brilliant.
Abbi will make dock flour dough mushrooms to sit at the base of her tree.
Its leaves made from nettle and wild garlic three-strand plaits,
while its trunk will be plaited from no less than nine.
Nine strands? Nine strands.
Nine, I've not done before.
Honestly, Abbi, it's wonderfully ambitious.
And it sounds as if it could be terrific.
I do need it. I'm really hoping that today I can just smash it.
You want to stay, don't you?
I do. I've got so many more different foraged things that I want to.
Just concentrate on this and get it done the best you can. Right now this is what I'm focusing on.
And Abbi's favourite tree has a friend.
I am making a rowan tree,
a bread rowan tree.
So I'm just popping the spices in
for my sweet curry wholemeal loaf.
I've got a hefty amount going in.
I want to punch 'em right in the jaw with the flavour.
Fighting to stay in the competition
Rowan's flavour-packed tree also features
a six-strand plaited marzipan challah trunk
supporting a bacon and Parmesan three-strand crown,
complete with red rowan berries.
How big is it going to be in total?
It's about this tall.
Wow. My goodness. It's huge. Proper showstopper. Yeah.
And it's going to be lying down not standing up?
Standing up. I got my dad to make me a structure. A frame.
This is going to be colourful and huge.
Massive. And delicious.
Yeah. I like it.
Ah!
This is one kilo of flour. Which is quite a lot to do by hand.
With at least two different doughs to make,
the bakers have their work cut out to mix
and knead them before the crucial first prove.
It's not easy kneading with this great big lump.
Look at these. These been in the proving drawer?
They've been in the proving drawer. Yeah, they have. Look at the guns on that.
I've never been to a gym in my life. Just make bread every day.
The longer they take, the less time they'll have
to create the intricate plaits Paul and Prue want to see.
It's a lot of dough, yeah.
Just want to get it proving.
All right, it's going in. It's my wholemeal bread.
I have decided to make today
a highland cow called Angus.
I always wanted one as a pet.
This big, hairy animal just in your back garden,
chomping on your grass and keeping it down.
I'd love one.
Nicky's highland heifer will be both savoury and sweet,
with hair and ears containing Comte cheese and lardons,
and the face and horns packed with pecans and dates.
Two flours, what two flours have you gone for?
I did wholemeal for his face. Yeah. Healthy.
And his horns. "Horins"? Horns. "Horins"?
I can't say...
Horns?
EXAGGERATED ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION: Horns.
I love the way you say it. Horns? "Horins".
I'm excited about this. Especially seeing his horins.
Saku's also been inspired by an animal close to her heart.
I am going to make a peacock.
I love peacocks. They are lovely, colourful creatures.
Saku will recreate the peacock's beautiful tail feathers
from white dough flavoured with garlic and rosemary
and the branch her bird will sit upon from seeded spelt dough.
And she's hoping her years of plaiting experience
will give her an advantage.
I'm doing this from aged 16.
And my daughter's 21.
Still I do her hair.
Aw, my baby girl!
Right, that's my wild garlic dough. This is going in.
As the last of the bakers' doughs hit the proving drawer,
some are ready to come out.
It's risen. Looks really lovely. All nice and bouncy.
I don't know, I don't want to underprove.
I don't know, I'm going to put it back in.
But before plaiting starts...
OK, we're going to add the stilton.
..there's the chance to add extra flavour.
So, this is cranberry and orange dough.
Orange is coming only from the zest,
and then I've got my cranberries soaked in orange juice as well.
I'm mixing in pastrami and cheese.
Which is a little bit messy.
While the rest of the bakers add their fillings
before rolling their strands...
Just trying to distribute this as evenly as we can.
..Dan's decided to add his one at a time.
So, what I'm going to do is individual strands in
the fillings in each strand,
and then roll it up to make a lattice-type, braided loaf.
So they crisscross each other.
It's going to form two round, circular wreaths,
and I'm going to make my word "pizza" out of the remaining dough.
Looking to bounce back after yesterday's disastrous technical,
Dan's going all-out with an ambitious, five-piece Showstopper.
He'll pack his first plaited pizza wreath with fennel and sausage,
nduja and mozzarella, and his second with truffle salami,
truffle Cheddar and smoked provolone.
Love making pizzas, love cooking outdoors, so I'm just bringing the
flavours we've really enjoyed with our pizzas to this bread, basically.
And Dan won't be dining al fresco alone.
I'm doing a picnic basket.
This is green chutney dough.
It's just what we called sandwiches growing up.
So it's just a filling of coriander paste
with all the different spices and everything, literally
in two pieces of white bread, and it was sensational.
Filled with plaited wholemeal bagels, Dana will weave plaits
of her green chutney and sundried tomato dough
over a mixing bowl to give her picnic basket its shape.
I am just doing a three-strand plait.
Only cos it's what I know and it's the fastest and I have to
cover the whole basket.
So I want to go for speed.
I'm going to do an eight-stranded plait.
Which I thought was a good idea at the time.
To sit snugly inside her complicated,
eight-strand honeyed challah,
Cristy will also bake a chocolate and almond babka,
both traditional Jewish plaited sweetbreads.
My grandpa's Jewish.
When I was younger, my grandpa lived in a beautiful home in Primrose Hill
and after Sunday lunch, we used to go and walk through the park,
so it's like to represent all the lovely memories.
Hopefully, I can do it justice.
Oh, gosh.
Start plaiting.
Help me, Lord.
Bakers, two hours left, you're halfway through.
Is there anything you'd like to say? No!
If you want to speak to me, you go through my lawyer.
So, this is the trunk of the tree.
It's quite long and remember, this has got to stand up.
So the nerves are setting in.
Whether the bakers have been ambitious
with their choice of plait...
There's six strands alternating, some go above, some go below.
Quite a complex one.
..or have gone for something simpler...
These are three-strand plaits to make the feathers of the peacock.
..Paul and Prue will expect to see beautifully even braids.
This is going to be my central trunk. So, I'm doing nine strands.
I've really enjoyed the bread plaiting aspect of this.
You just learn the rhythm and then it's easy.
Uh...
Go across there...
This is like maths to me, I don't know what's going on. Um...
The basket is taking shape.
I had a dream last night that my bread picnic basket
was going to collapse.
It has once on practice.
I'm hoping it doesn't.
I'm just shoving pecans in the horns.
As the bakers put the finishing touches to
their first plaited pieces...
That's it done. Get that to prove.
I just hope it's big enough.
..Dan and his ambitious, five-piece Showstopper...
I'm making my inside wreath.
But I need to get my outside plaits round them as well yet.
..are falling behind.
I am feeling pinched for time.
There's a lot to do.
So, yeah. Best get a wiggle on.
Oh, what a day.
The bakers have just 90 minutes
to finish their plaited bread Showstopper.
One down. Not long enough left.
So, these are going to prove. Next is the leaves.
What have I done?
It's meant to be a four-strand plait
and it's gone from a four-strand to a three-strand into a four-strand.
I've never messed something up so badly.
But it's a root, it's meant to have informalities.
How you feeling, you all right? It's a marathon.
Bit stressed, but just get it done. Well, I've just walked in here
and I'm not being funny, the atmosphere is very tense, isn't it?
Everybody's really concentrating on this today.
It's because of Paul. Yeah. He's the bread king. Do you know what I mean?
Everyone wants to impress him, isn't it? Hmm.
I'm plaiting snakes.
I'm making a Medusa.
Snakes. My grandma saw one of my practice bakes
and she thought they were prawns.
My mum thought they were something else entirely.
So we'll see how they turn out today!
Inspired by a love of Greek mythology,
Tasha will plait Medusa's face and hands from rye
and wholemeal milk bread filled with pastrami and cheese,
while the green snakes will be made from spelt dough
flavoured with pistachio pesto.
Are you hoping to turn the judges to stone?
So, I'm deliberately covering her eyes.
So, Paul and Prue are... Are safe? Yes, exactly.
Tasha's isn't the only Showstopper likely to cause
a few sleepless nights.
I support West Ham, so I'm going for a West Ham badge.
Are you? Yeah. And how they doing?
We've had better days.
They not doing good?
Aw.
By the time this airs, they'll be smashing it.
Keen to make a push for top spot, Matty will plait
the hammers from spiced, wholegrain spelt dough,
while the shield will be made from two different plaited white doughs,
one flavoured with Cheddar and jalapenos,
the other sundried tomato, basil and red onion.
I like the idea of this. The flavours sound good.
And what about colouring it? What colours are West Ham?
They're claret and blue, and on practice it just looked like
what you get at a fairground.
You don't think West Ham is a fairground?
No, we're a serious team now, Prue. Oh, I see. Hmm.
And there's another sports fan in the tent today.
So, I'm doing a tiger cos I'm a Leicester Tigers supporter,
the rugby team. I've been followed the Leicester Tigers
for all my life. We have a little tiger here.
Which is what we'd often take to games. I've had it for as long as
I can remember going down. It's an old tiger now.
Josh will use two different enriched doughs,
one flavoured with cranberry and orange,
the other chocolate and orange,
to create the tiger-stripe effect once plaited.
Is that your inspiration over there?
Yeah, that's my little tiger mascot. Who is that?
He's not really got a name, but... Can I touch him?
Course you can, yeah. He's not got a name? Shall we name him?
You can name him. What shall we name him? Shall we go Paul?
Well, it's Bread Week, isn't it? Hmm, probably should.
Let's call this Paul. Let's get some water.
We christen you...Paul Hollywood.
There you go.
Guys, one hour left. You can do this.
Right, last bit. I'm just doing my letters,
my I, Z and Z. This needs to be done right now.
I'm just going to make a couple of ears. I'll just stick a nose on
as well. I just think it looks like a tiger head.
These are for Angus' hair.
What's happening here? What are these...? Oh.
It's Angus. It's a puzzle.
Imagine if I couldn't do it.
NICKY LAUGHS
NOEL GROANS IN MOCK FRUSTRATION
Yay!
This is the base of a face which mostly will be covered by her hands.
This is worst part because the plaits have to be so fine,
otherwise they end up like massive, club hands.
My back is killing me.
Oh!
As the last plaits prove...
OK, this is the hammers.
Put that in now.
..the first are ready for the oven.
It's going to go in at 230, for about ten minutes,
then we're turning it down.
I'll do 20 but it might be longer.
Cheerio.
The head of the tiger's gone in the oven. That'll have half an hour.
But the bakers have no time to rest.
Look at that, it's a little mushroom. Isn't that cute?
These are going to be the eyes for my tiger.
..and with so much still to bake...
This is the babka.
..their batch-baking skills are being put to the test.
We're going in. About 25 minutes.
I've only got an hour to prove, bake, assemble.
So I'm feeling the stress.
And Rowan's not alone.
Dan's pizza is missing a couple of crucial details.
Not done me little bit for P or me A.
I've literally got no dough left.
Absolute shocker.
Trying to think how I can make the letters.
As the first bakes exit the oven...
Oh, my gosh. She's enormous.
Yeah, reckon that's about done.
..Rowan's giant marzipan tree trunk is finally ready to go in.
This will be until it's golden brown.
I don't work in numbers, I work in visuals.
I'm painting the last of my snakes and then I'm done,
but they just need to bake.
Last little bit of glossing.
Oh.
Go on matey. Do your business.
I'm just going to bang 'em in.
With the pizza wreaths finally baking...
Cross all fingers.
..Dan has a plan for his missing letters.
I'm just going to do some dead dough,
which is essentially just flour and water.
Shape some bits coming off of a P and two for the A.
It's the only thing I can do.
Bakers, you've got half an hour left.
Oh, it's going to be tight.
Last one.
Everything is in the oven, I've just put in my leaves.
This is the top of the tree.
Making it green, otherwise it don't look like owt, really, does it?
With these on top. So, these are my little rowan berries.
It's looking nice. I'm going to glaze it now.
It looks really good.
I'm just waiting for the last one to come out.
It's heavy.
Do you have to take the bowl out?
No. That's the thing, as soon as the bowl comes out,
if it's not cooled down, it'll just collapse.
Right, that's everything out. These are my wild garlic flowers.
I'm using them to illustrate the tree being in blossom.
The letters, I'm going to put 'em in 20 minutes.
Bakers, you've got 15 minutes left.
No, I'm not.
It's coming out.
Should be patient.
It's ever so slightly doughy,
so I want it back in for literally a minute.
I'd rather Paul and Prue say,
"Oh, they've cooked their edges a bit," than go, "They're raw."
Angus, mate, you've risen.
Sounds good.
We're just freestyling.
Doing bits of blue and then we'll do bits of claret.
He's got all his stripes going down, so I'm pleased, yeah.
This is the babka. It's looking nice
but I don't know if it's going to go in the middle.
Stressful.
I can only go as fast as the oven, unfortunately, can't I?
Please be done, please be done, please be done.
Oh, you are done.
Little Angus, come on, matey.
Oh.
Whoa.
Bakers, you have one minute left.
Tight.
Come on.
Ah!
Maybe I should just present it on the side?
It's OK, everything's still quite warm.
Think that's a bit under.
They do actually look like little mushrooms, don't they?
Bakers, that is your time up.
Please step away from your Showstoppers.
Well, I'm happy with that.
It's still up.
I've managed to get it up and keep it up.
It's turned out exactly how I wanted to.
That's all I can ask for, isn't it, every time.
It's judgment time for the bakers' plaited bread Showstoppers.
Josh, bring your Showstopper to the front, let's have a look.
I think it's amazing.
It's really effective
and I think you've chosen wisely with the doughs
to give you that depth of colour with the chocolate bread
and then the cranberry and orange one as well.
And you get the face shape just by plaiting. It's absolutely amazing.
Does this mascot have a name?
It was christened Paul by Alison, so...
It was a beautiful christening. It was lovely.
It's absolutely delicious.
Fantastic flavour. I think it's gorgeous.
Phew. It's very much an enriched dough
but you've managed to achieve the same texture in the two doughs
and that's quite a trick.
It's very clever. I, I think it's ingenious.
I think it's well thought out and well executed. Excellent.
Thank you.
The overall look of that I think is beautiful.
It's really clever.
Let's try this.
Remind me of the flavours.
It's pecan and date.
I've had quite a big lump there and there's just nothing in there.
It tastes lovely if you get a pecan.
So this is Comte cheese and lardons.
Certainly get the cheese.
Do you? It's lovely.
The cheese you get. There is no bacon.
I think your display's incredible.
It's down to distribution of your flavours inside.
I hope you're, uh, allowed back in the ground, mate.
Oh!
That's a bit unkind.
I like your design, actually, it's lovely.
It's like a bit of art.
Let's try this one first.
This looks a bit biscuity.
It's bone dry. Now this looks more promising.
You can see the structure on that is so much better.
I like the chillies. And the bread is just beautiful.
The bread is very good.
Saku, would you like to bring up your Showstopper, please.
Do you want a hand?
Come on, Saku. Stop messing around.
I think it looks great. It's quite striking.
But this is underproved.
You can see that by the split all the way down the middle of it.
Mm. Try that one.
That is spelt seeded.
It's quite gluey in the mouth.
Mm, it's a bit bland and a bit dense.
Mm-hm. Remind us again of the flavours of this?
Rosemary and garlic.
You've certainly got the flavour but it's quite dry.
I think it's really impressive bread art.
It's a little disappointing to eat.
Well, I have to say it looks absolutely fantastic.
Thank you. And you should be proud of your dad too.
Yeah. Thanks, John.
This is? The wholemeal sweet curry.
It is very strong.
It's hideous, yeah. The dough is raw inside.
It's so, so dense.
There's so much curry in there,
the yeast is going, "Help me I can't rise!"
OK. Mm. This is the...?
Smoked bacon, rosemary and Parmesan.
It's quite heavy. OK.
Over flavoured again.
And yeast is going, "Not on the second time, I still can't rise!"
Is it going to be the same for this, do you think?
Who knows?
This is the marzipan.
Yeah. Now that's more open.
Oh, that looks lovely.
That is such a relief after the strength of your other flavours.
And the crust is absolutely delicious.
But it's not enough to compensate for the other two.
I'm just gonna...
Absolutely, that's what I wanted to do.
The best of it is this beautiful plaiting
and frankly I think you've spoilt it with all this tat.
Tat?! I thought that was one of your earrings, Prue.
This one is...?
Coriander and cumin.
Dana, that is delicious.
Your flavours are absolutely spot on.
I just would've liked a little bit of crispiness on there.
When you're doing a basket,
take it off the bowl cos this has now gone soggy. Yeah.
The bread, as it's cooling, is sweating on the bowl.
But I think it tastes great.
It's beautiful. My mouth's watering.
I actually want to eat it.
But because you didn't get that in there,
you don't see the glory of the centrepiece.
But let's have a quick look at this one first.
That looks beautiful, doesn't it? It's very light.
OK, good.
It's a lovely challah, the flavour's fantastic.
I think the texture's good. Let's just taste that.
Mm, lovely flavour.
The nuts and the chocolate work really well together.
They're both very good breads.
I think overall the design is rudimentary.
This is a what plait?
A nine. That's the walnut and stilton.
Needs to be more stilton in there.
There is definitely a flavour,
but you can get much, much stronger flavour than that.
This is the wild garlic and...? And nettle.
It's extremely green, isn't it?
It feels as if it's doing you good.
Yeah, I like the flavour of that, it's really unusual.
But needs to be more open. It's a bit dense. Cake like.
Mm-hm. I'm so interested in that dock seed flour.
There's a, almost a pepperiness to it.
I do like your flavours.
They're unusual, some of them I've never had before and I like that.
Thank you very much. Thank you, Abbi.
These aren't baked I mean, that colour's wrong.
Did you just run out of time and have to take them out of the oven
before they were baked? Yeah.
It's a shame. Is this all the same?
Yeah. Tuscan sausage, nduja, tomato, mozzarella and basil.
Hmm, it's quite powerful.
It's too doughy. More air, more bake.
I think this one might be a little bit raw.
It's such a pity
because that has the makings of a really good loaf.
It's just so unlike you.
You know, I know, we all know
you can do a hell of a lot better than that.
OK?
I think it's beautiful.
I think it really is, it's a work of art.
The hands are the most beautifully plaited,
look at those little fingers.
The face has real expression, quite sinister.
And the hair, very, very clever.
You've caught some of them in the oven.
It's just gone a little bit too dark. Yeah.
Let's try the pesto one.
Mm, it's a really strong fresh pesto. Just delicious.
That's very good. Now let's try the face, shall we?
That's pastrami and cheese.
Tasha, you are one hell of a bread baker.
Wow. Thank you.
That is beautiful.
Stunning.
Wow.
Never seen anything like that before.
The flavours are good, the textures are good.
You understand bread and I like that.
Thank you. Thank you. Well done, Tasha.
Well done. Thank you.
Well done, Tash, amazing.
Well done, girl.
Yeah, I'm so happy.
That comment from Paul,
I think that's the biggest win of bread week for me.
I understand bread.
Flipping heck.
That's amazing.
Diabolical.
Paul said monstrous yesterday, hideous today.
Gonna get that tattooed.
They did have their criticisms but they really liked my flavours.
I'm aware that because of how yesterday went,
I still might not have done enough.
Pretty gutted to be fair, I was looking forward to bread week.
Prue gave me some nice words cos she knows I can do it.
I know myself I can do it.
But I have a sense I'm probably gonna go today.
Well, bread week's ended up as dread week, didn't it?
Well, some of it was a bit disappointing.
I think some of the bakers got a bit caught up with the plaiting
and ignored the flavour and the texture.
Point in question would be Rowan. Yeah.
Because however great that tree looked, that curry bread was,
I wouldn't say unedible but it was certainly on the way.
I was quite shocked with Dan. Everything was raw. Is he in danger?
He is. He did really well in the signature.
But nevertheless he's put himself down there.
Yeah. Can we talk about Abbi?
Abbi's had a bit of a shocker as well.
The thing I loved was her foraging.
Her flavours were unique but overall it came down to textures.
Who really surprised you today? You loved Tasha's, didn't you?
The flavours she achieved was really, really nice.
And she did it so beautifully.
I mean, those hands are just exquisite.
Amazing. Same size as your hands.
I know! And I felt like Josh is really good.
That was a great loaf.
So now for Star Baker, I think it is between Josh and Tasha.
Going home, it's between Dan, Abbi... Abbi. ..and Rowan.
Well, you've definitely got some big decisions to make. Mm-hm.
Good luck. Thank you, Alison.
If you didn't wrap it up, we'd be here forever.
Hi there, Bakers.
I'm really, really excited to be announcing this week's Star Baker,
and according to the judges they are absolutely smashing it.
So this week's Star Baker is...
..Tasha.
APPLAUSE
Which means I've got the horrible job of announcing
the person who is leaving us.
And the person who is leaving us this week is...
..Abbi.
Sorry. That's OK.
Well done.
I knew it was coming.
You know what? I'm really proud of myself, and...
Sorry, got my hanky this time.
I'm absolutely gutted. Oh, Abbi.
I never thought I'd be able to do this.
It's given me such a massive confidence boost
and I met such amazing people.
I'm going to remember it every day for the rest of my life, honestly.
But I'm quite looking forward to getting back to my vegetables.
What are we going to do without you?
I do feel lucky. It's a bit bittersweet.
I'm devoed, because I love Abbi.
You don't want your friends to leave, do you?
And we're all friends, it's awful.
A lot better next time. Yeah.
Abbi going's really tough.
Love the girl, love her to bits. She's absolutely brilliant.
Did enough to go through but I can't afford another week like this.
Check you out!
Thank you. Two in a row!
Bloody hell.
I got Star Baker again.
What the hell?
Tash, that's amazing. Bloody hell.
I go into things with quite low expectations of myself and...
..I think I need to stop doing that.
Next time...
Guess what? More chocolate.
..it's chocolate week.
I'm not worried, are you?
The bakers are taught a hard lesson in the signature...
Because I don't like tortes, I haven't actually tasted it.
Good luck with this one.
..feel the heat in a cheesecake technical...
..and must keep their temper...
Oh, God. It's not tempering well enough.
..in a chocolate box Showstopper,
that will push the bakers...
My heart is breaking right now.
..to their limit.
Tasha, are you all right?
You can take as much time as you need, all right? OK.
Are you a Star Baker in the making?
If you'd like to apply for the next series of Bake Off, visit...
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