Anyone up for a weekly GBBO challenge?

[evilwem]

I've been wanting to have a go at the 8 strand plaited loaf since they did it in week 2(?), but never get round to it. I wondered if anyone else has been itching to have a go at anything else - we could share triumphs and disasters :) No judges proclaiming our bottoms are too soggy or anything though.

I've finally had a go, plaited loaf currently proving. Not had as much free time as I'd hoped as preschool called to get me to bring DD1 home, so have been doing the final bit while trying to keep the DDs away. (DD1 is fine btw, can see why they called as apparently she didn't seem right, but she perked up as soon as I arrived.)

It's gone ok, though I remembered half way through rolling (/stretching/wanging around until they got longer) the strands that someone on GBBO used too much flour so they didn't stick together and the loaf cracked all over. Hmmm, hope it turns out ok, at least edible if not pretty!

i'm sure it will taste lovely! i cant wait to make mine- but resisting so loaf is very fresh for saturday evening.

It's turned out ok, a bit wonky but you can see what I'm aiming for :). But my god it's salty! Think I'll dial down the salt if I make it again.

I've taken a picture, but I'm having trouble uploading it. I'll try again later.

Anyone else had a go yet? Anyone want to suggest what to do next?

Picture should be there now.

it looks great! well done, hope mine is as good . whose recipe did you use?
i'll have a think about what next

Just the one from the GBBO website I linked to upthread. Having trouble getting on to it to link again. It's Paul Hollywood's recipe and they do call him Salty Dog on the Telly Addicts GBBO thread :)

That looks great! How much salt was in it? I once made his focaccia and it was really salty too!

10g salt to 500g flour. I've not baked bread much before and when I have it's been teaspoon measures rather than grams so I didn't have much of an idea how much I was putting in.

Wow, that looks brilliant.

Thats loads I thought a teaspoon was normal too.

I think I will be changing the salt in any of PHs bread in future!

just looked in my Andrew Whitley book and he uses 5 g salt for his basic whoelmeal loaf (500g flour), so its basically half. I'll use half and see how that tastes.

evilwem that bread looks superb!
I made the bread following the recipe , but less salt and it tastes fine ( not such a good plait on mine )
I'll try again , as I really want to do this .
Is there a new challenge for this week ?

I'm in! I've been itching to have a go at the 8 stranded plaited loaf. Can we have a couple more days to have a go at this before the next challenge?

I have Paul Hollywoods bread book and he uses LOADS of salt! I made the plait the week after they did on the GBBO, it's not as hard as it looks!

We could stay on the loaf til the weekend to give everyone a chance to try it that wants to.

What next though? Something sweet? I've been looking through the other technical challenges, a lot of them need specific kit, but what about these?

Treacle tart

Queen of puddings

And I'd love to try the fraisier cake, but maybe we could work up to that :)

Anyone got any other recipes they're dying to try?

i'd love to try the fraisier but feel it needs a special occasion - maybe nearer christmas or even next summer when strawberries are back in? or maybe its one we all do individually as it fits whats going on in our calendars. I'm so glad they showed it quite clearly on TV as in the book i was befuddled with what to do!
i've made both the others before at school - so many , many years ago . I'd vote for treacle tart as i can make minis and take to work on monday to share (important to avoid me getting bigger!).

At some point i'd like to do something like croissants or danish as i've never attempted that type of dough but i'm not fussed about doing it right now. Also really want to do jam filled doughnuts- i don't even like them much, its just the challenge. I knows someone who made made them in a fairly small saucepan of oil rather than huge deep fat fryer. Strudel dough would be another- hard to imagine ever getting it that thin. and another time consuming thing that would need sharing afterwards.

Queen of puddings is a good choice also and it can be scaled down . DP doesn't ever do sweet things or eat wheat so baking is for me and work colleagues mainly.

I used to make treacle tarts at work, but have never done a queen of puddings - would be a very nice pudding for family. I think the fraisier is inescapably a summer thing - unless you could mess with the recipe and make chocolate creme pat and use cherries so its a bit black forest-y and then OK for Christmas (I know, I'm a heathen, and nearly incapable of following a recipe properly)
Strudel pastry scares me slightly, but quite fancy home made croissants

Although I think the DC could have a ball redecorating the house icing fondant fancies!

hmm they would be fun and i just watched the final, pithivier would be another good choice as can be eaten for dinner if doing a savoury version.
i'm happy with Queen of puds as next up, what does everyone else think?

What do you think the right technique for decorating the fondant fancies would be? Maybe dipping is right, but you just need to let the cakes rest a while longer so they don't collapse.

You're right that the fraisier is a summer thing, I hadn't really thought about the strawberries. Maybe we could reconvene for the beginning of the next series :)

I'd love to try almond croissants - I've been pining after them since we went to France last year.

Queen of puddings next is good with me, trying not to get ahead though - looking forward to seeing any more plaited loaves :)

I dont know how they were supposed to do the fondant fancies. The cakes were all breaking as it was but Paul and Mary said the fondant should have been thicker

If i was doing it I think I would get a ladle, hold the cake over the bowl and pour a ladle of icing over. It would be messy. But I wouldnt want to risk the sponge breaking!

i agree the fondant fancies challenge was a bit unfair as the sponge needs more time to rest, then more time for icing to set. I made simplified fondant fancies (no domed topped) once using peggy porchens instructions- they were hard, messy and didn't look great- i guess it is one to practise! I found it hard to get the full cake covered with icing but when i pushed it all in bits fell off!!

PP says to re warm fondant icing until runny , give it a quick stir then start dipping. dip the cake into the fondant upside down. Then to lift out- hold it with one finger at the bottom of the cake and with a truffle fork at the top. Making sure you don't push the fork into the marzipan just lift the cake gently and place it straight onto cooling rack and leave to set.

i made them once as a few years ago there was a new fashion for cake cubes being used to spell things out. Not sure i'd try again but never say never!

the truffle fork isn't actually in the cake, from the photo it looks as though it is being used in place of what your fingers would do. The prongs are quite thin and wide apart so good for support.

sorry more info- on her cube she is lifting out- the bottom is clear of icing, so looks like you dip it in as far as you can without submerging it. The extra icing will drip down to just cover that last few millimeters. If the fondant is thick enough it will cover back over where the fork touched the top and also cover any slightly rough edges. (in theory)