After the excitement of welcoming the Great British Bake Off back to the air last week, this week’s episode wasn’t quite as much of an event.
Put it this way: Biscuit Week didn’t have the snap that viewers might have preferred.
Let’s get right to the challenges. There are spoilers, and if you’re not interested in the show and want to skip ahead, there’s lots more in this newsletter.
Not so snappy
The signature challenge is brandy snaps, a very popular cookie in England, but not something that’s as familiar to North American bakers.
We might call them lace cookies, only the Bake Off versions were shaped into different forms, like little baskets, horns, and cannoli equivalents, and filled with different flavors of pastry cream..
Like fortune cookies, brandy snaps have to be coaxed into shape while they’re warm. A number of bakers run into problems. Some have to start over.
“They just look a mess,” Paul tells George, the Greek-Cypriot baker. However, Jurgen, last week’s star baker, has another good week with a chai flavored concoction.
Sandwiches that are hard fill
The technical challenge is jammy biscuits, or what we might call sandwich cookies.
These are two shortbread cookies, one of which has a tiny heart cut out, spread with jam and butter cream icing, and topped with powdered sugar.
The bakers seem dubious about crafting something so every day. “Who makes biscuits you can get in the shops?” one of them exclaims.
The project is fiddly, as the English say. The bakers have to make jam, bake the biscuits, fill them, and then dust them with sugar. Some over do it.
“You want the icing to highlight stuff, not hide it. We will find it,” Paul warns them.
It’s another good experience for Jurgen, though.
You can try the official Bake Off recipe, but if you are going to make anything with jam, I would suggest you try Dorie Greenspan’s famous jammers instead.
They’re heavenly, and you make them in muffin tins, which keeps the fiddling to a minimum.
Crash, crumble, collapse
Finally, the makers have to make a 3-D replica of their favorite childhood toy, which in my case would be a portable typewriter. (Let’s see: marizpan keys, a chocolate case, maybe some edible silver for the other parts…)
The bakers come up with all kinds of things: a revolving airplane, a truck, a tall ship, a windmill, not one but two rocking horses, a board game, a snooker gable, a vanity set and a pinball game.
In a melancholy moment, two of the bakers confess they didn’t have many toys growing up, which allows a little socio-economic reality to invade the normally idyllic show.
It turns out many bakers were overly ambitious. Things fall apart, and crumble, and break, but those that stay together are impressive. There’s a jarring note when Paul critiques Maggie’s effort and tells the baker she “needs to try harder.”
To no one’s surprise, Jurgen repeats as star baker. Of course, early victories don’t add up to much, if a baker can’t keep up the pace, but his creations have been inspiring.
A Brainy Baking Show
You know by now how I feel about cakes that look like other things. But I am looking forward to a new Netflix series that debuts this week.
Baking Impossible begins airing on Wednesday. In the six episodes, teams of bakers are paired with actual engineers. The Bakineers must craft edible creations that are actually functional, like this moveable car.
The episodes will drop in two batches, and the judging panel includes my friend Joanne Chang, founder of the Flour Bakery and Cafe chain in Boston, as well as Andrew Smyth, the British Bake Off contestant who many people feel should have won his season. The third judge is astrophysicist Hakeem Oluseyi.
With a panel that smart, Baking Impossible promises to be more intriguing than many competitive food programs.
We Have A (Perfect) Winner
The winner of the latest CulinaryWoman book giveaway is Janet Livingston of San Carlos, California.
When I contacted her to tell her she had won, it turns out Janet is the perfect person to receive Pate, Confit, Rillette by Brian Polcyn and Michael Ruhlman.
Here’s what Janet shared about herself.
“I recently completed the in-kitchen portion of the part-time Pastry & Baking Arts program at San Francisco Cooking School, and I am on track to complete my externship hours at Starter Bakery in Berkeley by Christmas.
I work full-time as an office manager, and in my "spare time" I enjoy supporting local makers and growers at the farmers market, searching for kichen treasures and vintage cookbooks at estate sales, and perfecting my yeasted dough techniques. I'm on Instagram as @pazitivity.”
Janet sent photos from a class she recently took in Napa at The Fatted Calf called "Pig, Woman, Knife." Said Janet, “So much fun.”
Congratulations, Janet! Your book and CulinaryWoman swag are on their way. We’ll have another drawing in time for the holidays.
Why not become a paid subscriber or founding member now? You’ll automatically be included in the next drawing.
A Sweet Advent Calendar Suggestion
Upscale advent calendars are a big deal in Europe and the U.K. You can find calendars with everything from makeup to candles to jewelry and of course, food.
Last year, I discovered the advent calendar from Bonne Maman, the French jam maker. It produces those little jars of confiture that you get on room service breakfast trays, and of course, many grocery stores sell its full-sized jars.
The Bonne Maman advent calendar has 24 little jars of something, one behind every door. Some are conventional jam, like apricot snd raspberry, others are fruit spreads and there is honey, too.
I’ve ordered my 2021 calendar and if you are interested, I’d grab one quickly, because they sell out. It’s affordable, at $34.99, which is far cheaper than some of the glitziest advent calendars. (I’m not receiving any consideration from Bonne Maman, I just like their product.)
You may have heard that Bonne Maman may have sheltered people from the Nazis during World War II. Since I have French roots, I hope it’s true. In any case, I feel warmly toward them and happy to give them some annual business.
Keeping Up With CulinaryWoman
You can reach me at CulinaryWoman at Gmail dot com. I’m @CulinaryWoman on Tik Tok, where I post new videos every few days, and also on Twitter. I’m @MichelineMaynatd on Instagram and you can find me on Facebook and LinkedIn.
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Stay healthy, wear a mask and get your booster shot if you are eligible. See you next week.