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Post by sf on Sept 29, 2018 14:24:41 GMT
Plus the challenges are getting so ridiculous. It's interesting to go back and look at earlier seasons - I caught some of an episode from five or six years ago the other day (on another channel - I know they're all on Netflix too). The challenges have got a lot more difficult. On the one I saw, the showstopper challenge involved making, basically, a gussied-up lemon meringue pie. As a reasonably competent home baker, that's something I could do. I would not dream of - and have absolutely no interest in - attempting the kind of showstoppers the contestants have been asked to produce this series. I can still learn from it - after seeing the contestants make Chelsea buns a couple of weeks ago I looked up Tangzhong dough (made by Kim-Joy, who is clearly very clever, and who irritates the hell out of me) and made it, and I'll certainly make it again - but yes, some of the challenges in this series have been so over-the-top that they've just made me roll my eyes. I am a fairly good cook, and I am certainly prepared to try new things, but I think it's fairly safe to say that I will never EVER attempt to make a chocolate sphere that melts when you pour hot sauce on it. Life's too short.   |
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Post by lynette on Oct 2, 2018 20:16:12 GMT
Subtle changes in the filming this week, seeing them go out leaving the bakes in the hut and trailer the same. And 'language' not bleeped out. Mild I know but plenty of little kids watch this show.
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Oct 4, 2018 20:15:56 GMT
Those coloured pies were bloody hideous. More attempts at style over substance. And Dan’s Salmon looked more like an eel. Truly vile. No one would want to eat that.
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Post by lynette on Oct 5, 2018 13:22:02 GMT
I agree, pies dreadful but the Mad Hatter one looked edible. Just because ..I would love to see more handwashing, not just at the start but in between handling different foods, cooked and raw and so on. I’m sure they do but it would be nice to see it especially for the kids watching. It is a kids' show after all.
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Post by catlover74 on Oct 6, 2018 2:21:46 GMT
Love GBBO. It's just a pity we have to wait so long in Australia to get new series. I've taken to watching episodes on Dailymotion to try and get my fix until we actually screen it over here. Rahul reminds me of me - I'd probably react similarly if I were in the same situations. I can easily see though how it could be endearing at the start, but after a while become irritating as heck. The way he's going, he should definitely make the final (Star Baker two weeks running, and then one of the judges' favourites the four weeks after that). I think Paul's being a bit too liberal with his "Hollywood Handshakes" at the moment. It used to be you'd be lucky to see two or three in an entire series. Now we're almost seeing two or three an episode. Are the bakes really THAT much more impressive than they've been in previous series?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 6, 2018 6:23:05 GMT
catlover74 perhaps Hollywood’s liberal use of handshakes is down to the fact that he has left his wife and is in a relationship with a youngster thirty years younger than him. He is no doubt over the moon, but perhaps you CAN have too much of a good thing. Perhaps all those endorphins have befuddled his elderly brain and he has lost his judgement - a lesson to us all.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Oct 6, 2018 7:20:21 GMT
Dan was the right one to go this week sadly.
It is cruel part of the format that one bad week can wipe out weeks of success.
He is one of the top all rounders of this cohort.
Shame for him. He was one of the two likeable ones left
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Post by theglenbucklaird on Oct 6, 2018 7:44:29 GMT
Dan was the right one to go this week sadly. It is cruel part of the format that one bad week can wipe out weeks of success. He is one of the top all rounders of this cohort. Shame for him. He was one of the two likeable ones left Cruel but good... can only think of being able to trade in three Hollywood handshakes to stave off being kicked out of the tent. (Or one if he gets back together with his wife and has less testosterone than with his younger girlfriend and reverts to three handshakes in total in a series). |
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Post by justfran on Oct 6, 2018 13:43:15 GMT
I was disappointed to see Dan go as he had been my favourite. The “Hollywood handshake” is becoming a joke, do something too often and it loses it’s meaning. GBBO is definitely not as good since the move to channel 4, I miss Mel and Sue.
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Post by lynette on Oct 6, 2018 13:50:30 GMT
The interesting thing is the 'scoring' that is how they make the judgement over three tasks. So the handshake allows us to remember better who did well in a task and is a kind of indicator.
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1,972 posts
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Post by sf on Oct 6, 2018 15:13:08 GMT
Are the bakes really THAT much more impressive than they've been in previous series? I don't know about 'impressive', but they're definitely more technically demanding. |
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Post by oxfordsimon on Oct 6, 2018 16:32:20 GMT
The puit d'amour was certainly not based on a traditional recipe. It looked tasty and I reckon I could give it a go. But in all the time I have spent in France (and reading French baking books), I have never encountered them.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 7, 2018 9:45:57 GMT
The puit d'amour was certainly not based on a traditional recipe. It looked tasty and I reckon I could give it a go. But in all the time I have spent in France (and reading French baking books), I have never encountered them. A bit like the gateau vert technical from earlier in the series, non? |
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Post by oxfordsimon on Oct 7, 2018 15:51:42 GMT
The puit d'amour was certainly not based on a traditional recipe. It looked tasty and I reckon I could give it a go. But in all the time I have spent in France (and reading French baking books), I have never encountered them. A bit like the gateau vert technical from earlier in the series, non? Indeed. They keep upping the ante and making things different for the sake of it. And then taking 15 to 30 minutes off the necessary time to do things well in order to create on screen tension. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 7, 2018 18:16:35 GMT
A bit like the gateau vert technical from earlier in the series, non? Indeed. They keep upping the ante and making things different for the sake of it. And then taking 15 to 30 minutes off the necessary time to do things well in order to create on screen tension. That said, I did the gateau vert from the recipe on their website and it wasn’t that hard. More odd than hard. All that spinach! |
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Post by oxfordsimon on Oct 7, 2018 18:57:25 GMT
It is hard if you haven't got precise timings or any experience with those unusual ingredients. Nothing would tempt me to make a sweet anything featuring spinach.
Green in baking is pistachio or holly green for Xmas icing! It isn't a natural colour for sweet things (same as blue in that regard)
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Post by catlover74 on Oct 8, 2018 7:20:22 GMT
So it’s Vegan week next apparently. Wonder what that will throw up for the bakers.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2018 7:29:17 GMT
It is hard if you haven't got precise timings or any experience with those unusual ingredients. Nothing would tempt me to make a sweet anything featuring spinach. Green in baking is pistachio or holly green for Xmas icing! It isn't a natural colour for sweet things (same as blue in that regard) I’d love to see what the recipes they are given look like for a technical. I did a cursory google a while ago but I couldn’t find any. I wonder if the difficulty is in the presentation more than the cooking? Gateau vert is basically “make a cake, futz around with some spinanch, make a filling for that cake, make an odd fondant icing.” |
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Post by oxfordsimon on Oct 8, 2018 7:38:13 GMT
So it’s Vegan week next apparently. Wonder what that will throw up for the bakers. Coconut oil, chick peas and flax seeds at a rough guess. |
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Post by oxfordsimon on Oct 8, 2018 8:08:29 GMT
It is hard if you haven't got precise timings or any experience with those unusual ingredients. Nothing would tempt me to make a sweet anything featuring spinach. Green in baking is pistachio or holly green for Xmas icing! It isn't a natural colour for sweet things (same as blue in that regard) I’d love to see what the recipes they are given look like for a technical. I did a cursory google a while ago but I couldn’t find any. I wonder if the difficulty is in the presentation more than the cooking? Gateau vert is basically “make a cake, futz around with some spinanch, make a filling for that cake, make an odd fondant icing.” Cooling time does seem to be a key issue for many in the tent and not just for technicals. Plus lack of workspace for the bigger challenges. I know the tent is part of it now, but expecting delicate chocolate work without cool conditions is ridiculous and providing a blast chiller would make life so much easier. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2018 8:13:49 GMT
I’d love to see what the recipes they are given look like for a technical. I did a cursory google a while ago but I couldn’t find any. I wonder if the difficulty is in the presentation more than the cooking? Gateau vert is basically “make a cake, futz around with some spinanch, make a filling for that cake, make an odd fondant icing.” Cooling time does seem to be a key issue for many in the tent and not just for technicals. Plus lack of workspace for the bigger challenges. I know the tent is part of it now, but expecting delicate chocolate work without cool conditions is ridiculous and providing a blast chiller would make life so much easier. Yep. Just do it in a studio made to look like a tent! Although I guess you would never have things like Terry’s Eiffel Tower happening then, so the ‘drama’ is lost for TV. Now I want to make a Trifle Tower with a chocolate Eiffel Tower on top. I was thinking they would all be melting every week by this point, but they seem to be coping. Maybe they upped the aircon? |
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Post by BurlyBeaR on Oct 8, 2018 8:30:50 GMT
They’re continually in and out of the freezer though aren’t they. Imagine if you were baking something at home and had to continually bung it it the freezer for ten minutes. The whole “chill the pastry for thirty minutes before rolling” thing is a fairly recent thing because my mum and my Nan never did that. They’d have laughed at the thought of it ( especially my Nan who didn’t even have a fridge). I suppose they don’t have a blast chiller because this is supposed to be home baking, which it isn’t.
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Post by oxfordsimon on Oct 8, 2018 9:55:05 GMT
They’re continually in and out of the freezer though aren’t they. Imagine if you were baking something at home and had to continually bung it it the freezer for ten minutes. The whole “chill the pastry for thirty minutes before rolling” thing is a fairly recent thing because my mum and my Nan never did that. They’d have laughed at the thought of it ( especially my Nan who didn’t even have a fridge). I suppose they don’t have a blast chiller because this is supposed to be home baking, which it isn’t. But they aren't expecting home baking results. With all the emphasis on design and appearance, it is unfair not to give them conditions that allow decorating to be done effectively |
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Post by kathryn on Oct 8, 2018 10:42:29 GMT
I’d love to see what the recipes they are given look like for a technical. I did a cursory google a while ago but I couldn’t find any. I wonder if the difficulty is in the presentation more than the cooking? Gateau vert is basically “make a cake, futz around with some spinanch, make a filling for that cake, make an odd fondant icing.” Cooling time does seem to be a key issue for many in the tent and not just for technicals. Plus lack of workspace for the bigger challenges. I know the tent is part of it now, but expecting delicate chocolate work without cool conditions is ridiculous and providing a blast chiller would make life so much easier. Particularly as these are 'home bakers' and yet they are working in what is basically a TV studio - the TV lights and equipment must raise the temperature in the tent considerably. |
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Post by kathryn on Oct 8, 2018 10:44:55 GMT
They’re continually in and out of the freezer though aren’t they. Imagine if you were baking something at home and had to continually bung it it the freezer for ten minutes. The whole “chill the pastry for thirty minutes before rolling” thing is a fairly recent thing because my mum and my Nan never did that. They’d have laughed at the thought of it ( especially my Nan who didn’t even have a fridge). I suppose they don’t have a blast chiller because this is supposed to be home baking, which it isn’t. But they aren't expecting home baking results. With all the emphasis on design and appearance, it is unfair not to give them conditions that allow decorating to be done effectively It's a typical TV problem, isn't it - in home baking what people care about most is the taste, really, but the TV viewer can't experience that, so it's the visual effect that matters. |
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