Friday 8 August 2014

The Great British Bake Off is Back!!

Finally! After months of deprivation and eagerly counting down to the return of one of my favourite (and undoubtedly the rest of the British population) t.v programme: THE GREAT BRITISH BAKE OFF!!  Whether you are even remotely interested in baking or not, I highly suspect that not many people can say they haven't watched at least one episode... And secretly enjoyed it. I love the way it has given ordinary homebakers with extraordinary talent the chance to showcase it to all, showing the incredible art and the science behind baking! It has captivated the heart of British people and inspired so many more people to just give baking a try!

I consider myself to be a good baker when it comes to cakes and cupcakes. But when GBBO comes back on and I once again salivate over and admire the (mostly!) incredible work of the bakers, I can't help but let out a little sigh. Why don't I make 60 fancy flavoured, evenly sized and baked crackers? Why don't I create a 5ft fall gingerbread house? But then I realise, I dont want to! There are enough people in the world to make croissants and breadsticks for the massess. I am more than happy to just bring my cakes to the party and enjoy watching others make the rest: laughing and gossiping, feeling embarassingly tense and shaking my head in dispair at some of the bakes. Not to mention taking lots of flavour inspiration from those amazingly talented bakers. So rather than judge yourself against them, why not just enjoy the show and be grateful to not be under the scrutiny and watchful eyes of Mary and Paul!
These are my top 5 highlights from the first episode... Cake week!



1. THE DIVERSITY! Aged 17 (Martha is the youngest ever baker on the show!) to 69 with bakers from all over the world; Indian Chetna, Nigerian-Japanese-Londoner Enwezor and Spanish Luis. Sends a fantastic message that anyone can bake!

2. THE BEARDS. This wasn't so much a highlight as something that stood out to me... I am in no way implying that the bearded men are dirty in any way, but I know a lot of you agree with me that that much hair when it is not tied back or in a hair net has the potential to be unhygeinic. Bring in the hair/beard nets!!

3. Scoring his swiss roll?! Now, I cant say that I am a pro at swiss rolls but surely it is just common sense that scoring lines in a swiss roll to aid the rolling process will just result in cracking and a "swiss fold"?! Thumbs up for trying something different but perhaps not fully thought through...

4. Norman's ingenious tool. I can just imagine the jaws of bakers across Britain dropping in unison as Norman used his homemade invention to pop out his tray of cupcakes in one go!! How clever is that?! Fully expecting to see this in cakeshopes everywhere soon and I'll be first in line to buy one.

5. "I like the cream". Well, it's a shame you're not judging yourself then isn't it, Claire! If Paul and Mary say the orange is too strong, it's too strong! Not sure that telling the two experts deciding your fate that their opinion is wrong is the right way to approach a situation like that...

What did you think of GBBO? I would love to hear your own highlights and early winner predictions!

Teri x

No comments:

Post a Comment