On Your Marks, Get Set, Baaaaake! A Thread for Great British Baking Show / Bake Off & all of its sundry delights

i don't get macaroons. why?

i agree! especially as an *added* decoration. Like flora putting them on her tart - idgi

Omg where did these tears come from?? ^____TT

😭😭😭😭

Tamal overall my favorite, he's so lovely and charming, but wow Nadiya's arc is some inspirational stuff.

Yeah she's so uplifing

Oh and sounds you brought it up before I began the season, I was on the look out for any Orientalizing of Tamal and Nadiya with regards to "flavor." She did bring in South Asian spices on a few occasions, but he largely stuck with ingredients and/or spices that I reckon would be familiar or traditional to western European baking. Dates, figs, cardamom, star anise (bleh) were probably the most exotic things he used.

I also remember the judges calling Ian the season's king of flavor.

That said, there's definitely something quietly uncomfortable about using flavor to signal otherness, especially with the bakers of Asian descent.

I love Mary Berry. There was a programme on TV about her life and she's so adorable. There was a bit where she talked about the death of her son though, which was just devastating. It made me love he even more. It's Called The Mary Berry Story. You may be able to find a torrent of it. If you can't then try tvchaos and if that isn't open for sign up then give me a shout as I have invites (it's for uk to torrents).

U.K. Tv torrents rather.

ooh I'll look for it. I'd love to learn about her life story

The A.V. Club interviews Martha

http://www.avclub.com/article/great-british-bake-s-martha-collison-polite-shows--254110

that's pretty cool about Mel & Sue running interference on shots for them <3

Has anyone watched the Master Classes? Are they any good?

idk i get kinda bored unless they're making something i really want to learn about

Sidenote about Mary Berry - her cookbooks are *really* good. The ideas are pretty trad but the recipes *always* work. I've made flavourless monstrosities from Nigella/Jamie/Bittman/etc and can usually anticipate when to changeup a recipe to improve it. But MB's are flawless, almost uncannily so.

otm

and ftr I made Paul Hollywood's fruit mince pies last Christmas and they turned out beautifully

The flavors were spoat-own iirc.

Yeah, I kind of figured that Masterclass would be a little too much Paul Hollywood for the ILX crowd.

New season on PBS last night

Gingerbread collapse-athon was hilarious and sad and beautiful. Pro-tip: never make your doomed from the beginning hail mary showstopper a recreation of your upcoming wedding day D:

Rewatching S1 (Bin-Gate, Nancy, King Luis)

why bcz my dvr had them all there, i had to

season 1 still has some of the craziest technical challenges. Surely that fkn 50-layer broiler torte has to be the peak of baking insanity

i've kinda fallen for this show and boy am i embarrassed

no shame in that

it's a lovable show!

new s4 is v enjoyable, loving salessi (?sp) & benjamina & the woman with the perfect lipstick

just finished season 1. up to date on s4, will likely start s2 tonight. will return to thread once i got em all finished.

Sorely miss having this show in my life.

OTOH, just found out that Sue had a (benign) brain tumor!!! OMG.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vZ9Lz81fKY

what wow :O

i just finished the new season on PBS and predictably bawled during the finale

I'm going to have to wait for them re-air the season. :\

for some reason they didn't air the last few episodes in NYC as far as i could see. i'm sure they did but i missed it. thank god for the torrentz.

the last 2 were aired back to back on my local PBS affiliate

Caved in and found someplace to watch the latest season. I'm glad about the first eliminee, I would've felt obliged to root for him despite everything else about him.

Also, a moment when one baker cuts himself gave me the idea that some day, Paul & Mary will be so impressed with a bake that its creator tells them, "The secret ingredient is BLOOD."

that's a different season than the one they just aired here! but it's still good - poor John & his terrifying blood glove D:

the one they aired here was GBBO season 7 from 2016

Oh and I hope Candice goes far because I can't stop admiring her lipstick. xp

I'm pretty sure M&S said that the season was to see who 2016's best baker was.

And Sue and Mary doing the Brownie's Promise Oath with Paul in the background was too cute.

well candice is the right season so idk how you ended up with John as well! shrug :D

I dunno who John is, I was talking about Rav! lol

ok ok ok sorry confused myself totally

What's with all the chili peppers/powders this season? And why doesn't anybody whack their bakes into ovens/fridges anymore?

AND WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SIGNATURE BAKES AND SHOWSTOPPERS?

showstoppers appear to be 60% of your grade. plus they seem to request and require more showy technique, size and glamor.

still need to watch the last remaining US season (s3/netflix) before reading this thread but this:

it is crazy how good this show is at building flopsweat tension around some of the lowest stakes imaginable
― frankie r. failson (bizarro gazzara), Monday, March 6, 2017 11:47 AM

yeah definitely

The week where Candice wears a nude lipstick is one of the most disappointing things of this season.

lol

still reckon her gingerbread pub was one of the coolest things i've seen

Her pub was impressive indeed!

Is the Tudor week technical the most diabolical challenge ever? I THINK SO.

so crazy

it was stressful to watch!!

BTW, I always giggle a little when Andrew adds ginger into his bakes, because I am easily amused.

lol

is it just me or does he remind you of Jade Jolie?

omg a little! Because a bunch of times when he's doing voiceover I keep thinking it's Jane talking.

OMG <3 Jane for bringing the whacking back!

The quarterfinals was already pulling out the tears -- I'll just say that I admired the way that week's baker going home took the elimination. Going in they were kind of like Rocky Balboa, but they never gave up and put in 100% effort and kept things in perspective (it's a ~baking show~).

I will say that among this season's bakers, you could easily tell which of them were in the back of the pack, and some of them only got as far as they did because Paul and Mary had so many other candidates to send packing.