The Great British Bake Off/Baking Show – Week 3 – Bread 2024

We said farewell to Jeff last week who left due to illness and Hazel was eliminated after a poor showing with cookies. This week was bread – which is never my favorite week. There is always too much under or over proofing and far too many shots of Paul’s fingers diving into the dough. I feel so much stress for the bakers.

Signature challenge: 12 savory buns made with yeasted dough in 2 hours and 45 minutes

Jenny: Georgie received the first Paul Hollywood pat. She would have qualified for a handshake had she added more Parmesan to her pesto garlic brunch buns.

Dylan however did receive the handshake for his gochujang-garlic buns which had beautiful color and outstanding flavor. While chatting with Noel during the bake time, Dylan mentioned he wanted to be a chef. Noel replied that Dylan was too good looking to be a chef. “Have you seen Gordon Ramsey? He looks like an omelet with human eyes.” While not a kind thing to say it cracked me up. I think GR has “the look” (sexy bad boy) and Noel admitted to the screaming chef’s sexiness as well.

I still am girl crushing on Nelly – her “My time is coming” made me smile – her buns were light and received praise however Paul expected more punch. Id like to punch….

Overall, all the bakers received nice comments and delivered impressive buns.

Darcie: I have mixed feelings about bread week – I like it when the challenges are not focused on structural or weird shapes, so I was fairly pleased about this episode because the bakes seemed reasonable.

I think the first challenge shows that the judges don’t explore a lot of different cuisines. I would not think that someone of Paul Hollywood’s expertise would think gochujang was that exotic. I live in rural Minnesota and can buy it in the supermarket, so it can’t be that unusual. Dylan’s buns looked rather plain other than the color, but of course I couldn’t taste them so can only guess about the flavor. I liked Sumayah’s sunflowers and Gill’s “mustard custard” sauce, but I winced when they cut into John’s buns and saw the big gap above the filling. I have experienced a similar problem with pepperoni rolls and am still trying to get those right.

Overall the bakers did an amazing job on the signature – as the judges later commented, this was the best bread week ever in terms of the bakers’ results.

Technical challenge: A Seven-strand plaited wreath in 2 hours and 30 minutes – set by Paul, of course.

Jenny: There were no plaiting instructions, but for the first time ever Paul did a very quick demo on plaiting. Prue was impressed when she walked out to the judging table stating that Paul may not be so impressed. Many bakers had some size and plaiting issues and the hole in the middle magically disappeared.

Darcie: I think the “demonstrate and bake” is a great idea – it’s always easier for me to watch someone execute a technique like this rather than try to read how to do it. I think this was true for most of the bakers, except Dylan who crossed the strands in the middle and got a funky lump. Nelly’s plaiting was exquisite, and Andy did a great job considering he had to start over because he used the egg meant for the glaze in the dough itself. Most of them struggled with losing definition or not having a big enough hole in the middle. This shows how proofing and shaping technique is as important as kneading and ingredients when making bread.

Jenny: Judging saw Dylan is last place for his uneven, underproved wreath. Coming in third was Andy, Sumayah in second and my girl Nelly in first. Nelly was in tears.

Showstopper: Cornucopia (horn of plenty) with two different breads inside in 4 hours and 30 minutes.

Jenny: John had an emotional time as his bagels sank when he went to boil them and Alison comforted him. He knew it wasn’t going to be his week and he needed to take a breather outside.

Nelly’s display was deemed amazing and both breads – a poppy seed with orange bun and a sweet cheese and cinnamon with a walnut crumble were both declared delicious. Even her cornucopia made with onion and potato was great.

Georgie, Gill, Illiyin, and Sumayah all received favorable judging. Mike had issues with his fougasse his shape was good but texture was not. Andy’s pretzels were renamed cinnamon buns and were great but he had several issues. John’s bagels had been overproved resulting in the sinking and frisbee like quality.

Dylan’s display looked amazing and he received high praise for his donuts and knots with the bone marrow whip.

Darcie: I think this challenge may be a repeat, but what can you expect over this many seasons? It’s a good bread challenge, and I think overall the bakers did well and there were only a few total flops, which unfortunately included John’s bagels. I am not sure I agree with Paul’s assessment about them being underproved but since I can only see a snippet of what happened I can’t definitely know what the problem was. I can only sympathize with John when he knew this issue could (and did) cost him dearly.

I thought overall the look of the horns was great but I didn’t think Dylan’s was as fantastic looking as the judges did. He didn’t plait the dough and just had concentric circles and a few dough balls on the end – it was pretty boring. Illiyin, George, Gill, Mike, and of course Nelly had far better looking cornucopia. Andy’s horn was…not great and I thought for a bit he might be going home for that garish display. The items he used to fill the cornucopia were also deemed poor, in part because he named them things that they didn’t really resemble. That “Chicago style pizza” was a far cry from an actual deep dish pizza, and the cinnamon pretzels were merely pretzel-shaped, not really pretzels.

Jenny: At the end of the day, Dylan was declared star baker which I disagree with – while he made a fantastic signature and showstopper – his technical came in last. Nelly did very well in all three challenges and should have been given the honor or at least a handshake or pat – or wiggle. John was sent home because bread just wasn’t his thing.

Darcie: I agree with Jenny that Nelly got robbed – she did better than Dylan overall and was far more technically adept in her bakes. I don’t see how you can get last place in the technical challenge but star baker overall.