Yahoo Finance Bake Off's Alice Fevronia On The Weird Thing Bakers Have To Do During The Technical Judging
We’re officially halfway through this year’s Great British Bake Off, and, this week, it seemed like all the bakers were really feeling the pressure. As the competition goes on, it gets more stressful, you sleep far less, and the challenges get much, MUCH harder.
At this point in the competition, the bakers are probably starting to think about the fact that they could actually make it all the way to the final. Anything can happen of course, but we’ve seen some talented people go just because of one bad week. I found that when I was on the show, all I wanted to do was get past the first week – I didn’t even think about getting to week six or seven, let alone the final! Then as you get closer and closer you start moving your goalposts. Last year, Pastry Week was on the eighth week, so getting through that was a ticket to the semi-final, and that felt great.
Perfecting your pastry
There are so many different types of pastry, that you never really know what Pastry Week on The Bake Off will throw at the bakers. A lot of the time with pastry, keeping it cold is the key, and as I’ve said before, controlling the temperature of anything is not really an option in the Bake Off tent! Bakers are given marble slabs, which are kept in the freezer to help them stay chilled, but even then, if you’re multitasking and have limited time, it can be very hard to keep the pastry as cold as it should be. For example, for puff pastry, if the butter melts into the flour, it changes the structure of the pastry and you’re not going to get that puff that Paul and Prue are always talking about.
Crème Pat
Crème patissiere – or crème pat as it’s affectionately known as on Bake Off – always make an appearance. And it usually turns up in a challenge when you have half the time needed to make it. Typical...
Crème pat is a thick, creamy custard used to fill pastries, and it is delicious. But it requires a lot of cooling time and takes great care to make, which makes it so tricky in a timed situation. This week we saw two flavours of crème pat popping up in the Technical. In the end we saw lumpy ones, runny ones, and everything in between. When you have so many things on the go in such a short space of time, even those who have made it many times before can get tripped up by crème pat.
Those pesky Technical Challenges
This week, the Technical Challenge of making both raspberry and salted caramel eclairs was the yummiest Technical yet, in my opinion! Time, however, was not on the bakers’ sides, and it really did look like it was a struggle to get it all done. One simple mistake and it’s all over, as we saw for Linda (I’m still not over her leaving, btw). It looked like she’d made churros with delicious dipping sauce, and, although they definitely were NOT eclairs, who can say no to those, really?
In a Technical where a lot of the bakers have done badly (as they did on this occasion), it can be really hard for the judges to rank them. And did you know that the bakers are made to turn around on their stools and face the back wall while they deliberate? The judges then go back in for another taste. Those few minutes are so painful as the bakers wait to hear their fate.
Last year, we played ‘I Spy’ while they were judging so as to pass the time and drown out the noise of the harsh comments. The back of the tent is full of so many trinkets and props, it kept us going for at least six weeks!
My favourite bake of the week
My favourite bake this week had to be Peter’s Showstopper blackberry and lemon tart. I think Peter is great and I feel calm watching him because he really does seem to know what he’s doing. That tart looked incredible and tasted just as good by the sounds of things.
The bake that needed the most help
As well as many pastry triumphs, we saw some great bakers crumble. Linda said herself that she could make great pastry, and it’s like the tent heard her say that and started playing tricks on her. I thought I could make great cakes, but I had a fair few slated by Mr Hollywood in the Bake Off tent.
It’s hard to pick which bake is at the (soggy) bottom of my list of favourites. There were a few flaky disasters this week, although some of them still tasted great according to the judges. But Mark’s collapsing cage really did make my heart sink. I bet that would have looked amazing if it had worked.
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