Cooking & Baking
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My esposo and I admit, we're powerless over the remote control at 6 pm on Sundays, which is when TGBBS airs in our time zone.
Haven't been this hooked on a teevee show since "Wizards and Warriors" in the 1980s...!
Anyone else?
Anyone?
BBC Website "Great British Bake-Off"
PBS Website "Great British Baking Show"
After many years, I've finally gotten to see "Spotted Dick" being made, and learned how appetizing something named "suet pudding" could look!
fascinatedly,
Bright
Warpy
(111,383 posts)Season 6 this year was a real nail biter, they had some incredibly talented bakers and the technical challenges are getting downright diabolical. The only spoiler I'll give you is that one of the showstoppers in the Season 6 finale was a cake derived from a British steamed pudding---and it worked!
You Tube posted the current series on Thursday nights. I hope they do the same thing next season. Yes, I'm totally hooked. I'm also frustrated as hell because I was just getting good at baking when the damned wheat allergy cropped up.
tishaLA
(14,176 posts)I don't recall that this past season. The most recent season had an amazing lion's head made of bread and, in the semi-finals, a desert structured as a well...with a working winch that lowered into white chocolate.
Warpy
(111,383 posts)but they always manage to sneak one in there, one year it was roly poly pudding.
I'm talking about the finale. It was a cake based on a steamed pudding. Watch the finale to find out.
tishaLA
(14,176 posts)And it says the final was: Signature...16 iced buns; Technical...Miller feuille; Showstopper...classic British cakes in multi-level presentation.
At any rate, it doesn't matter. The show is exemplary in terms of presentation, drama, and talent. Australia just started its second season a couple weeks ago; it follows the structure of the British show almost exactly (unlike its first season, which was far too frothy), but the talent level isn't as high, the hosts don't have the easy rapport with the contestants, and the judges don't have the gravitas, or provoke the same emotional connections from the bakers.
TygrBright
(20,773 posts)I thought that focaccia looked pretty delicious, actually.
I think Paul has a 'down' on Becka, though.
sadly,
Bright
tishaLA
(14,176 posts)I adore Mel and Sue and Mary and Paul ...and I'm always amazed at the way the editors are so capable of creating such intense drama out of whether a cake rises successfullyo r whether a dough has been prooved evough.
I watch them, though, immediately after they air. The most recent season ended, I think, three weeks ago. The current series now airing on PBS aired, I think, in 2013 on BBC
TygrBright
(20,773 posts)It's amazing how addictive it can be, with the loving camera work on all those delicious-looking items, and the contestants working under pressure.
I think Paul is a bit of a sadist, though. He seems to love dropping little semi-threatening "hints" to the contestants just as they're starting a bake... "Oh, you think you can add your other ingredients BEFORE proving? Has that worked for you in the past? Ohhh..."
amusedly,
Bright
hollysmom
(5,946 posts)Lunabell
(6,127 posts)Mel and Sue are a hoot.
Fortinbras Armstrong
(4,473 posts)My wife, who generally likes cooking contest shows -- she is a real fan of Cutthroat Kitchen and Chopped -- doesn't like this one. I should say that I am originally English, and sometimes she gets annoyed at what she terms my "Britishness".
TygrBright
(20,773 posts)That and learning what all those unfamiliar British food items are.
I always thought "pudding" was more like a blancmange, not so much like what we Yanks call "cake."
amusedly,
Bright
Fortinbras Armstrong
(4,473 posts)The difference between the sort of pudding that is cake-like and a cake is that a pudding is steamed, while a cake is baked.
Every autumn, my father used to make a large batch of fruitcake batter. Half of it he would bake as fruitcakes, the rest he would steam as a Christmas pudding. I don't do it, because I'm the only person in my family who actually likes either one.
TygrBright
(20,773 posts)Little wot they, what they're missing!
Count me firmly in the "pro-fruitcake" camp. My gran made it for years, her treasured recipe has descended to my sister and that's always the parcel we await with the most eagerness around the holidays!
wistfully,
Bright
Fortinbras Armstrong
(4,473 posts)TygrBright
(20,773 posts)Bjornsdotter
(6,123 posts)Love, love, love the show!
I can't wait for the new season to air here.
catbyte
(34,485 posts)Love it.
GoCubsGo
(32,097 posts)dem in texas
(2,674 posts)I love when Sue Perkins calls this out.
TygrBright
(20,773 posts)They do a good job of letting the audience get to know them, without resorting to obvious smarmy manipulation.
appreciatively,
Bright
peacefreak
(2,939 posts)I love how kind everyone is. "Oh my, it does have a soggy bottom, but it tastes lovely."
Lucinda
(31,170 posts)We've seen them all already. Love it.