Great British Bake Off Season Five Episode Seven Recap

Welcome to week seven! I can’t believe that we’re well past halfway and there’s just a few weeks left of Bake-Off wednesdays! 

It’s pastry week and that means a high-stress day in the tent… and I’ve heard rumours that there’s even more controversy coming our way (but seriously BBC, stop spoilering the Bake-Off).

The first challenge is to make 12 perfect savoury parcels to impress the judges with. Both Chetna and Kate are making Indian inspired parcels while Luis is making spanish style empanadas. Martha is making mini beef wellingtons which is quite original, I suppose. Richard is making lamb and sweet potato pasties (adorable baby ones!).

Richard is judged first, and his pasty’s look fabulous – he gets THREE ‘greats’ from Paul. Martha’s beef wellingtons also go down very well, while Luis’s empanadas are too big and a bit underdone. Nancy and Kate do very poorly, and Chetna’s parcels are ‘lovely’.

Oh, and Mel eats a lot of parcels!

Time for the technical challenge – it’s a kouign amann – a buttery, flaky muffin sized pastry. The recipe flummoxes the contestants, especially with regard to when to put the sugar in – Richard and Martha guess right by putting it in last. As their bakes prove, the contestants prowl the tent wondering if they’ve done it right.

Time for Paul and Mary to have their say on the kouign amann’s – there are some real variations in how they’ve turned out. Luis comes last, followed by Nancy, Chetna, Kate, Martha, and Richard is first!

Showstopper! The challenge is to produce 24 delicious, perfectly identical eclairs. We’ve got raspberry lemon meringue eclairs, neopolitan eclairs, and lavendar and blueberry eclairs… really creative, delicious flavours.

They have four hours to perfect their eclairs, but the judges

Nancy is judged first and the judges really like her eclairs, although find them slightly too sweet. Richard, the superstar, has made some homemade stairs to showcase his eclairs. They look fantastic – so even and perfectly done, and P-Holl and M-Bez like the flavours too.

Luis is up next and his peanut butter and jam eclairs are ‘different’ and ‘incredible’. Paul seems genuinely impressed as he heaps praise on a very pleased look Luis. Kate’s lemon and raspberry basil eclairs taste really good, but the presentation is a little poor. Kate laments that she’ll probably be going home as a result.

Chetna has accidentally made thirteen eclairs instead of twelve, which Mel and Sue quickly swoop away. The flavours are great, with Paul and Mary loving the different flavours. Last up is Martha, who managed to get her rhubarb and custard and bacon eclairs presented despite a battle against time. Martha gets probably her most constructive criticism yet – is there a chance she could go home?

Time for every week’s most nail-biting moment, and todays star baker is Richard for the unprecedented THIRD time. Kate is going home, true to her predictions, and Martha instantly bursts into tears, no doubt fearing she was the one leaving. Kate takes it with grace and aplomb – what a lovely lady!

 

 Recipes from this week’s episode

• Kouign Amann
• Mini Beef Wellingtons
• Raspberry Ripple Eclairs

Great British Bake Off links from around the web

• Mary speaks out on Bingate, saying it was no one’s fault and everyone gets on famously
• Diana has also spoken on it for the last time, saying that her conscience is clear on last week’s Extra Slice

 See you next week for the counter-finals – a dangerous week of fruity bakes (and doughnuts!).

x Kerry

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