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

wtf why did i say gary LOL

i'm not British and had never seen or heard of Mel, Sue, Noel or Sandi before watching this show on Netflix, yet fell in love with all of them

but

the new guy Matt seems like a real dud

He is an extremely well known comedian here.

This is how he got famous:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-WEIVIbcQw

This is the first season of Bake Off I've actually sat down and watched! I've seen the odd celeb special or whatever. It's very pleasant, I can see why it's so popular.

I'm in the pro-Sura camp. She's funny!

The shots of her reacting to time calls are priceless too.

I am growing quite fond of the ginger bloke from Liverpool, the one who made the ethiopian coffee ceremony set this week

sura is funniest w noel, they make a good double act

baffled by all the bakers using molds for fkn florentines. Let them spread & get brittle you weirdos. and using cutters, too! AGHAST, i tell you.

also i could not get my head around Rowan’s lighthouse teaset but i enjoyed the attempt

I knew Mac was going when he didn't bother to make the biscuits curve

I absolutely love everything about The Hour. You were supposed to think he was a massive posh dickhead. BTW we were cruelly deprived of S3 because Steven Moffat stole Peter Capaldi off them.

The BBC announced that The Hour was axed before Matt Smith signed his 2013 contract, let alone telling them that he wouldn't be doing the 2014 series (Moffat then cramming the entire planned series arc into Time Of The Doctor).

sic.xls to the rescue

watching ep 2 rn and hoping Rowan's lighthouse makes up for his underdone macaroons ... d'oh.

the lighthouse had a working light tho!

u_u

such a relief when he survived the week. the accelerated shooting schedule isn't going to help with getting better at keeping yr cool under pressure on camera though!

it’d be funny if they do their rounds next week and they’re all what’re you making for us
rowan: a elderflower meringue royal navy ship with five masts with a fleet of smaller ships-
paul: nope
r: an elderflower meringue royal navy ship with five masts?
p: (glowers)
r: one mast?
p: (shakes head)
no masts? an elderflower rowboat?
p: (brightens) ok crack on then!

*makes elaborate paisley marzipan waistcoat for every rower*

lol otm

Noel Fielding as cakes.

A thread.#GBBO pic.twitter.com/Pf2ixpwQVG

— Amanda (@Pandamoanimum) September 29, 2020

the lighthouse had a working light tho!

could u eat it tho??

> the new guy Matt seems like a real dud

he's also in the Community episode (which aired last night coincidently) where they go to the Inspector Spacetime convention* during which he disparages competitive cooking programmes

(* and has also been in proper Doctor Who, which this is a pisstake of)

whereas sandy used to temper noel's weirdness, matt seems to be competing with him, but i'm enjoying it.

yeah i like him, he’s def still finding his feet

FYI for fans on both sides of the puddle eh wot wot: Brits get this on Tuesday, Murricans on Friday so please bear in mind that spoiler text would be appreciated by us usaers

oh yes otm well said

I appreciated them going a bit easy with the bread challenges this week. Soda bread is easy to make, and I personally appreciated the recipe ideas. I can heartily recommend zaatar in yer soda bread or savoury scone recipe. It's very good. They made bagels look possible as well (even if I do not want to eat a rainbow).

A few reviews have said that they feel Noel and Matt's energy is wrong for the show, that you need a calming influence rather than a hyper one, but I'm not sure that's the case anymore. When the show was new, the bakers were less competitive, and Paul was more hurtful in his comments, you needed lovely Mel and lovely Sue to dispense hugs and keep everyone focused. But now the competitors all know exactly what they're getting into, it's more competitive in some ways because people know what it can lead to for the right person, and Paul has dialed back the cutting comments. So I think a couple of imps getting in among it and annoying everyone can be a good thing. Whether they're the right people for that or not is a matter of debate. I will never stop saying that it should be Sindhu Vee up there instead of Matt Lucas, but that doesn't mean I don't like Matt Lucas.

Despite several glaring poor choices for the use of his talents in the past couple of decades, I maintain Matt Lucas is a naturally funny bloke (unlike his partner in said poor choices). I'm enjoying him and Noel together to be honest.

Za'atar is magic stuff, also great sprinkled on fried/poached eggs and/or avo on toast.

I’m finding Matt Lucas annoying, or at least sporadically annoying, but otherwise it’s the best season and set of contestants in a few years imo.

trishyb, check out the recipe for jo goldenberg’s bagels somewhere on the intermet, they’re incredible and easy to make, sort of halfway between a Montreal bagel and a North London blimp

recipe here https://recipeland.com/recipe/v/jo-goldenbergs-bagels-24576

i may try this myself when the weather cools down!

I think I’ve used this one because it has pictures to help

https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/03/how-to-make-homemade-bagels-a-la-jo-goldenberg-recipe.html

Nice. I will do that. I've only managed a couple of loaves of the very simplest bread so far, but bagels would be fun, I think.

whereas sandy used to temper noel's weirdness, matt seems to be competing with him, but i'm enjoying it

i feel like noel's really enjoying matt being there too

the thing with the hand at the start of the show was HILARIOUS

omg hand intro was great
lots of funny bits this week, i v much enjoyed Matt’s “80’s tv gameshow host looks to camera”

really want to try that salmon soda bread

Same. Sandwich flavoured loaves should always have been a thing.

v sad over this week’s elimination

I got teary with Marc's win! And letting his kids congratulate him was a lovely touch. (I like other Mark too.)

The ladies this season are hilarious, Lottie and Sura in particular, though Hermine's growing on me. Her self-effacing flying-by-the-seat-of-her pants ethos actually hides a great hand for detail, and this week finally cemented her patisserie skills (at least in my mind).

Hermine seems like a badass baker

And agree, Mark E’s win was v touching! Didnt even clock he had a prosthetic until after he said abt losing his leg.

Is it just me or are they being very positive in their judging this time? I think it's great.

v sad over this week’s elimination

38 minutes in, I'm braced for it

Mary Berry got made a Dame yesterday. I don't support the honours system but I do love Mary.

38 minutes in, I'm braced for it

there it is

this week's star baker is my second fave tho

DAME MARY BERRY hell yes

I agree with everyone who said white chocolate is stupid

same. i dont really like except when paired with irl chocolate YES I SAID IT WHITE CHOCOLATE IS NOT REAL CHOCOLATE

plus cooking with it is just cruel and unusual punishment

only appropriate use for white chocolate is Trader Joe’s peppermint bark

i find it helps if you water it down...

this week's loser charming and funny on Extra Slice. they'll be missed.

white chocolate is bullshit
ruby chocolate is surprisingly good tho

yeaahh bad vibes as soon as watering down the chocolate was mentioned

https://elenasquareeyes.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/oda-mae-brown.gif

the brownie challenge was ;_;

as someone who has made brownies that were so bad not even icecream could save them, i hug every contestant

i love Noel’d BAKING IS FOR LOSERS moment

Matt’s Aussie accent was pretty spot on too, i loled

Y'all. Calm down about the white chocolate. It contains cocoa butter, it is chocolate, it is creamy and delicious.

nah it’s shite