Jen Rose Writes🌹

The Great British Bake Off kicked off two weeks ago and, let me tell you, it’s been exciting! There’s been a dodgy looking biscuit baby, a French contestant dropping an ‘F’ bomb (on British TV? Before the watershed? Shocking, I know) and three Hollywood handshakes (so far).

(You can read my thoughts on Week One HERE     and my thoughts on Week Two HERE)

The bakers faced Bread Week this week, the week where Paul Hollywood (whose specialty is bread, don’t you know) was extra intense and, well, judgy!

DISCLAIMER: SPOILERS FOR THE GREAT BRITISH BAKE OFF, SERIES NINE EPISODE THREE, AHEAD!

(Are you bready {get it} for this?)

The bakers

This week it was all about the boys for me, as I was impressed with Rahul (not just because he ‘bakes to make new friends’, which is adorable and relatable!), Terry (partly, who’d have thought it?) and Dan- who earned another Hollywood handshake (are Paul’s hands not getting a bit overworked at the moment?).

One thing I wasn’t too impressed with was Karen’s choice of headwear. I mean, I’m all for ‘you do you’ and those positive mantras but it just felt like her OTT beret was, I don’t know, compensating for what proved (I will stop with the unintentional baking puns eventually) to be a less than noteworthy performance?

The challenges

The first challenge for Bread Week, the Signature, saw the bakers make Chelsea buns. Now I’ve made these in school before (a longggggg time ago!), so they didn’t seem as frightening to me as many of the challenges in the tent usually do.

Saying that, there was a lot of kneading and proofing…not to mention the flavours had to be on point. Plus, worst of all, Paul and his icy blue eyes (I reckon they’re contacts, really) were watching the bakers very intently- so intently Ruby even called him a ‘bear’ at one point (imagine the camera panning out to the vast British ‘outside of the tent’ to find Paul scratching himself on a tree).

The first challenge produced varying results: Chelsea buns heaving with hearts, bright buns and even some without sugar!

For their second challenge, the Technical, the bakers were asked to make a batch of non-yeast Garlic naans (which, even in their worst states, still made me feel peckish!). As with the Technicals, this produced varied results with some a disaster and others (like Terry’s, very surprising indeed!) a triumph. They looked delicious and, with a curry, they’re delightful but- based on that challenge alone- they’re not on my ‘to-bake’ list (and won’t be anytime soon).

The baker’s final challenge, the Showstopper, was a tiered Korovai. After a good Google (plus Sandi’s handy-dandy explanation bit they have to put in just for us), I figured out that it’s an Eastern European sweet bread, traditionally baked for weddings and other celebrations. This challenge produced a lot of different bread based treats, such as Kim-Joy’s ameowising cat wedding cake (her bakes are just adorable, I want her to sell them on Etsy!), Dan’s intricate flowery cake and Ruby’s almondy offering.

The result

When it came to the reveal this week, Rahul was crowned Star Baker for the second week (though I don’t think he’d recovered from the shock of being crowned last week) and though Briony and Karen looked in a precarious position, it was Antony (who called himself the ‘Bollywood baker’, thanks to growing up in India and learning to bake there with his Dad) who left the tent.

The remaining bakers (maybe minus Terry, but I’m going to give him a chance) are all really good this year, so I don’t really know who I’m betting on. The way it’s going, I feel like anyone could surprise us and win this year.

Next week, it’s Pudding Week- which sort of serves as a reminder that cold autumn nights are setting in…

This week, I treated my friends and family to chocolate brownies, so you can expect the recipe up on Sunday.

What did you think of the episode?