It is patisserie week, Bake-Off’s semi-finals.
“The chances of going to the final have never been higher,” Dylan said, with a bit of an edge in his voice. “You have a 75% chance of getting into the final. But then the chances of going home have also never been higher. You have a 25% chance of going home.”
“They have upped the stakes. And patisserie is it,” Gill said, sounding similarly worried.
Georgie is nervous that the day’s challenges will be hard, what with the intensity of patisserie.
The Signature Challenge: Laminated Breakfast Pastries
The judges, Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith, are looking for eight laminated breakfast pastries, with at least one filled or topped batch. Because it is patisserie week, the pastries must have a, “fantastic finish,” according to co-host Alison Hammond. And, according to co-host Noel Fielding, this is, “the most ambitious,” signature challenge ever set on the Great British Baking Show. While the bakers usually have around 2-3 hours for the signature challenge, this patisserie challenge requires an hour to prep dough and overnight to let the dough rest.
“This is undoubtedly one of the most difficult challenges that the bakers will face,” Leith said, with a hint of a smile on her face.
“Now the yeast in the dough will grow and the butter will melt, and create a beautiful honeycomb,” Hollywood said. The butter should not be too hard that the bakers can roll it with the layers of dough, but not too soft that it melts in the bakers’ hands — patisserie is tempermental and requires patience.
The judges are also looking at every single layer, making sure there is a crispy golden outer layer, and that the inside, “packs a punch with the flavoring.” Each layer requires dough layered with butter, and enough time to cool each new layer in between. But, the time taken to layer their dough, shape their patisserie, and prove them is one minute less to bake.
“No one can afford to make a mistake in the challenge,” Hollywood added.
Georgie created a pan Suisse with chocolate chips (and hopefully the perfect cross lamination — meaning the layers are seen on the top) and pin wheels with dalgona, whipped coffee, and hazelnut cream. In order to prepare for this patisserie challenge, she said she made nearly 200 to practice. Despite some undercooked pastry, hers were tasty and crispy. With a little extra time, it would have been right.
Christiaan created a Danish with saffron-roasted rhubarb.
“I love sweet things but I also love experimenting with other flavors and seeing how far you can take it,” he explained.
His other pastry is a gruyére cheese swirl, flavored with za’atar.
“If I saw them in a pastry shop window, I’d want them,” Leith said, while judging the look.
And the inside was almost perfect. The judges also liked the rhubarb flavor.
Gill created pastries with flavors inspired by her hometown. One being fennel and sausage whirls with a bramley apple sauce, and the other being Danish pastries filled with banana crème pâtissière and decorated with brûléed bananas. Because it was a bit rushed, the layers weren’t properly laminated and there was probably too much sausage inside. Her banana pastries needed more proving.
Dylan, who misread the rules for this challenge, has been practicing his bakes in two hours instead of three hours. Because of that, he only planned one shape: a croissant. One, filled with hazelnut crème pâtissière, dipped in chocolate and hazelnuts; the other with cinnamon. The judges didn’t really like his pastries.
“I think it’s probably one of the worst things I’ve made on the show,” Dylan said, after his croissants were judged.
The Technical Challenge: Opera Cake
Hollywood’s advice for this week’s technical? Be careful of the layers and be, “extremely,” accurate.
The challenge is to make the exquisite French classic: gâteau opéra, or opera cake. This includes eight layers of jaconde sponge, coffee, crème aux beurre (buttercream), and a dark chocolate ganache. Each layer of the cake is sponge, topped by buttercream, and then topped by ganache. On top of the cake goes tempered chocolate. The instructions are basically to, “make jaconde, make crème aux beurre, and make ganache,” Leith said, counting off on her fingers.
Unfortunately, Georgie had some struggles with the jaconde, having never made one before. But Hammond was able to talk her down from leaving.
While making the buttercream, they all had to figure out how much coffee extract to include.
As always, the technical challenge is judged blind. Here are the results:
- Dylan
- Gill
- Christiaan
- Georgie
The Showstopping Challenge: 12 Fruit-Shaped Entremets
“Entremets” literally means, “between servings,” and each baker needed to create twelve to look like their chosen fruit.
“Say they’re making a tangerine,” Leith said, explaining the patisserie. “It must look like a tangerine and it must taste like a tangerine.”
Hollywood said that it’s truly about textures and must include smooth layers. A classic entremet includes a silky mousse and a separate complimentary center.
Gill, inspired by picking strawberries with her family (and the time her dad lost the car keys), decided to make strawberry entremets. Her strawberry entremets are held in a buttercream basket and the strawberries will be covered in a mirror glaze. Inside the entremets will be a strawberry and mint gel and a strawberry, mascarpone, and white chocolate mousse. The strawberries themselves are set out on lemon shortbread keys. The patisserie turned out well, with good balance of mint, and they were, “exquisite,” according to the judges.
Georgie, needed to wow patisserie after a bad technical, decided to make two: Lemon entremets with a limoncello kick and Welsh-whisky-soaked chocolate cake with blackberry confit and mousse. Her fruits are set inside a chocolate basket. The judges found the design to be clever and the flavors were also wonderful and delicious. To top it off, the proportions are perfect, according to Leith.
Dylan created choux buns coated in caramel for the centers of an avocado, that included an avocado mousse, for this patisserie challenge. His orange entremets, made with an orange and white chocolate whipped ganache and genoise sponge soaked in orange liqueur with an orange jam on the inside. A nougatine pallet box holds his fruit. Unfortunately, he had some time constraint issues and forgot one of his oranges. The avocado turned out looking quite realistic and both the orange and the avocado tasted wonderfully. However, the judges didn’t notice the missing orange during the judgement.
Christiaan, also bringing in tastes of Italy, went for a pesto flavoring. He filled lemon entrements with bergamot and basil for his first and sour apples for his second. The apples are filled with an apple compôte and orange liqueur. His display will also include a lemon biscuit tree with lemon meringue leaves. Both of his entremets had a pistachio dacquoise biscuit base. The judges loved how the look turned out. They also liked the flavors, something very, “elegant,” according to Hollywood.
“I don’t think you’ve put a foot wrong,” Leith told him, with a smile.
Every baker was given fantastic feedback from the judges, “probably one of the best showstoppers [he’s] ever seen,” Noel said. Which means that the decisions are that much more difficult.
This patisserie week brought Christiaan his first Star Baker-ship!
But unfortunately, Gill is going home. “Patisserie got me,” she said with a sigh (and a smile). “But I can’t be sad. I’ve had the absolutely best time.”
After thanking everyone in the competition, she gave a big hug to the camera man, and took a lavender bowl from the set home with her.
Next week, the finals means a winner!
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