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.

Can I join late in the game? I didn't see the thread till now, but I had a go at the eight strand plaited loaf the other day, it turned out ok but I got a bit muddled towards the end!

I hope your daughter is ok now Yorky, you must have got an awful fright.

GBBO masterclass starting now on BBC2, he's doing the plait!

Dammit I missed it! I'll have to catch up on iplayer. Thanks though, will put the others on to record.

I found it really useful to watch - would pay good money to do a baking class with him or Mary.
DD has been fine today - apart from trying to pull off the steri strips on her forehead.
And I have completely failed to find the necessary attachment for the blitzer to make breadcrumbs which is annoying - obviously haven't used it since we moved in here

Watching the updates of previous contestants has prompted me to upload my QoP picture. I need to be more organised!

It was OK. I liked the flavour but the texture was not to my liking. The custard was too watery/liquid like. I prefer my custards to be firmer. The meringue was lovely and chewy though. Overall I wouldn't make this again.

Yorky I hope your DD is better.

I watched the masterclass with the plaited loaf yesterday. I couldn't believe the speed that Paul Hollywood was plaiting the strands, til I realised it has been speeded up :). Also, the way he just tore off the the ends of the loaf instead of trying to tuck them under and make them neat - of course! Maybe I'll wait to see if there's a masterclass on the queen of puddings before giving it a go .

You know, I'm not 100% it was actually sped up...

Just watched again. He is so quick! There is a bit though , where he's stopped talking and they've sped it up a bit. I think. Just to see it all done. Still incredible watching him do it.

Way behind you all but made the loaf today. I think I rolled my strands too thin...

Will miss out Queen of Puddings (not a fan of those) so what's next?

Lovely loaf clemette. I haven't had a chance to do the queen of puddings this week, it's been hectic with family visiting and about 7 cakes to make! There hasn't been a particularly enthusiastic uptake on it anyway, so maybe moving on to the next might be a good idea anyway. Someone mentioned the pithivier further back - any interest? I'll go have a look the recipes again, maybe widen the search to the individual recipes rather than just the technicals, see if anything stands out.

Pithivier would be fab...

I found the bit for my blitzer so I now have breadcrumbs!!
Hoping DH will distract DC for a bit so I can QoP this afternoon. Can't wait till we get a bigger kitchen so there is room for them to cook with me
Pithivier sounds good, but then I fancy jam doughnuts! Trying to decide if making my own crackers is just time consuming, but its something I've never tried

DD1's head is healing nicely, so DS2 fell flat on his face on the pavement and grazed his nose - he now has go faster stripes!

i agree that not just doing a technical challenge would be good. I watched Paul doing flat breads today and really fancy doing those. I would like to make a pithivier though. and doughnuts at some stage are a must!

Right. Pithivier is on. What fillings will you all do? I might do the one on the website, Brendan's I think. It looked tasty.

i think i'll be doing a salmon filling. either with rice , spinach , dill and creme fraiche or mushrooms and leeks (leeks on bottom, then salmon, then mushrooms on top). failing that i have some leftover roast chicken in the freezer so it could be a simple chicken and mushroom filling- it will depend on who i'm cooking for next weekend!

Can the filling be more or less anything, as long as it's not too wet?

yes, definitely! really pretty much whatever you'd put into a pie. For me this is about making puff pastry which i haven't done since i was at school. now there are so many variations on how to make it but i want to do it the long classic method- for which i need to find a classic recipe. wonder if its in Delia ?

nope not in her How to cook (which i picked up for 50p in library book sale), she does a cheats flaky pastry. Lorraine Pascale has a weird method i don't quite get so onto my faithful Gordon Ramsey- (Just Desserts) which has loads of techniques in there- including all-butter puff pastry. Will have to set aside a full morning and will probably never do it again but looking forward to the challenge!

Wow Bluebird - your bookshelf sounds like mine! I was going to offer to check in my huge black book from college (you can imagine how thick the dust is on it!) but you sound well held for choices! Now isn't the time to admit that even at college we used ready made is it

we made puff pastry once at school and the quicker type too- rough puff? or flaky? or are there 3 types? its confusing. Anyway we defo didn't do any grating of fat into flour. I cant remember what we made with it though. cookery lessons were a whole morning so there was time. Probably something very meaty. I wonder if it was steak and kidney? or maybe just steak? I think its really quite rare for people to make their own but i am surprised you didn't do it at college! I'm guessing too much to get through on the curriculum (maybe). Everyone should have proper basic cookery lessons at school, not the nonsense my daughter got taught a few years ago in technology classes- design a main meal suitable to serve on an airplane, or make stir fry- 3 weeks running and look at how you can improve it each time ! they could have made stir fry one week, spag bol the next, soup the next and picked up some useful skills and good basic recipes along the way but oh don't get me started!

Michel Roux is the recipe for me. He has a great one in his pastry book. I'm trying the pithivier tomorrow with a chocolate and hazelnut filling.

Michel Roux's recipe has got to be good hasn't it? Does this look right?

I should probably not be evil anymore...

interesting he does a parcel- which must be what Lorraine Pascale is describing in her method that i didnt really understand. with pics it becomes clearer now! Looks fine and i'm sure is exactly how LP does hers, no time to check at moment though.

is his pastry book to be recommended then? i have far too many cookery books but am lacking on the patisserie side, simply because i don't think there are many of them out there. I have plenty of cake books , loads on decorating them ( an old hobby i no longer indulge in) but little with pastry in. The gordon ramsey is good in that he covers lots but would be good to have another option to turn to.

i'm actually thinking of doing a sweet filling now. All depends on who is around for the weekend. But puff freezes well so i can always do a small savoury one and keep the rest for christmas (sorry to say that word!)

yes dont be evil anymore!!