The Great British Bake Off/Baking Show – Week 5 – Pastry 2024

It is Pastry Week! Nelly strolled in wearing a beret, sunglasses and enough gold jewelry that even from the grave, Joan Rivers would be impressed. She’s my girl.

Signature Challenge: 12 frangipane tarts with pastry, frangipane filling and one additional element. (We have 670 online recipes for various frangipane tarts in our Library.)

Illiyin and Dylan both had to remake their pastry shells. Judging was tough. Most pastry shells were either overbaked or too thick. A few bakes received good comments – Gill, Dylan (except they couldn’t taste his frangipane), and Georgie made the nice list. The others were on the naughty – Christiaan was told that his topping looked like fried mushrooms and the filling was reminiscent of sardine pâté – and the remaining bakes had overbaked or wonky shells.

Darcie: Two hours may seem like a long time to make a simple tart but there are so many ways they can go sideways as evidenced here. I liked Gill’s description of frangipane: “it looks weird, and then it gets weirder, and then it gets better.” Georgie did well but still no handshake for her. Christiaan went for a bold flavor but the judges were not keen on it. I am fond of black sesame but obviously this didn’t measure up to the judges’ discerning tastes. He may have had more luck if he had covered the frangipane because it wasn’t attractive.

Technical: Set by Paul – to make Spanakopita and tzatziki in 2 hours. I didn’t hear them say anything about tzatziki but the GBBO site includes tzatziki with the spanakopita recipe and the bakers had little bowls of what I assume to be tzatziki next to their bakes.

Many of the bakers had issues with rolling the dough and received comments about their spirals being too small. Judging had Gill coming in last, Andy in 7th, and Georgie in 6th. The top three were Nelly, Christiaan and Dylan in first.

Darcie: This is why I buy phyllo. I’ve made strudel before which is similar because it is also stretched and it’s always challenge to get it thin enough without tearing. To do it in 2 1/2 hours? Yikes! The bakers all struggled, but Andy and Gill really had trouble. Only a couple of the spanakopita were both flaky and appropriately sized. Gill noted she went straight from the top to the bottom “from hero to zero” while Christiaan noted he was “always the bridesmaid and never the bride” because he had come in second in the technical three times so far.

Showstopper: a Paris-Brest with a custard filling and an edible stand. We have 45 online recipes for Paris-Brest in our Library.

Three bakers – Christiaan, Georgie and Sumayah had to remake their choux pastry. Andy kept calling his mousseline “Mussolini”, and had so much trouble with his toffee structure. I felt horrible for him. Gill received a round of applause from Paul.

Several bakers received the judge’s praises. Nelly’s was deemed elegant but a bit short. The flavors were great – but her choux was underbaked in the center. Christiaan was lauded for his elegant stand and his flavours were fantastic. Sumayah’s was amazing and her filling was perfect, however her choux was overbaked. Andy, of course was nicked because his stand wasn’t complete but his bake was good. Georgie’s stand was exceptional and had good flavours, but a dry choux. Dylan’s showstopper was too small and he needed more choux to balance out the center. Lastly Illiyin had issues with her stand cracking and it had to be carried up in two pieces. Her flavours were beautiful and her choux well-baked.

Darcie: Making a Paris-Brest is hard enough so it was a shame they had to build edible stands which adds another level of complexity. I’m just not a fan of structural baking challenges. It seemed like Dylan’s choux was too wet and I think that’s part of the reason it collapsed. In fact, many bakers had trouble with the choux and when they piped it, it was already spreading out, which is not a good sign. I don’t know what the temperature or humidity levels were in the tent because they could have affected the outcome. Gill seems to be refining her technique and is getting better every episode. Nelly was a riot as always and it was good to see her do well. Andy said he didn’t have enough money to bribe the judges, so he knew his position was precarious.

I smiled when Andy called it ‘mussolini’ but I will never judge anyone’s pronunciation of foreign words. I have no idea how to say feuilletine or millefeuille, among other French terms. I grew up with German-speaking family members so while it’s easy for me to say ausgezeichnet, Romance language words are another story. The terms for the various custard fillings are also a source of consternation, not for pronunciation but just to remember the differences between crème diplomat, crème mousseline, crème chiboust, and chantilly cream. So many crèmes/creams! Here’s a quick guide:

• Crème Anglaise is an egg and dairy custard without any thickener other than the yolks
• Crème pâtissière is an egg and dairy custard that is thickened with flour or cornstarch
• Crème mousseline is crème pâtissière mixed with whipped butter
• Crème chiboust is a crème pâtissière lightened with Italian meringue
• Crème légère is crème pâtissière lightened with whipped cream
• Crème diplomat is a crème pâtissière set with gelatin and lightened with whipped cream
• Bavarois (Bavarian cream) is crème Anglaise set with gelatin and lightened with whipped cream
• Cremeux is crème Anglaise that has been thickened with butter, gelatin or chocolate
• Chantilly cream is sweetened whipped cream

Star baker went to Gill and sadly Andy went home. It wasn’t his week.

Jane’s translation service: Noel said Nelly looked like a character in the Guess Who? game. This is a board game where players have to question each other to guess the character on their card. Noel also said he may get a job on Taskmaster – this is a British TV show (18 series so far) where contestants (usually comedians) have to carry out challenges.