Great British Bake Off starts Tuesday 13th September

[5foot5]

I couldn't see an existing thread on this, apologies if there is and I missed it.

Anyway, as it says in the thread title. New series starts tonight.

Yay!

It won't have Greggggggg on it, will it?

I'll definitely watch this

What channel is Australian Masterchef on, please?

And Aussie Bake Off! Another seriously unimpressed by the ludicrous 'bakes' of tacos and other nonsense 😳

Great Australian Bake Off - all episodes on All4. It really is a treat.
Kind and interesting judges, gentle and funny hosts, good challenges.

Another recommendation for Australian Bake Off. Maggie Beer is a delight.

@Maireas Thank you! 🍰

Yes, Australian version much nicer all round. Judges are pleasant and contestants make CAKES. Which is what we're all here for 🍰

Aussie Bake off a million times better than current GB one. Series 4 & 5 particularly good - both for quality of contestants baking & the things they chose or were asked to bake.Presenters not great but a lot better than the GB ones as well.

Sadly I'm going off GBBO, I loved Mel & Sue as hosts, I've tried to like Matt but I'm afraid he's crap. No empathy and really not very funny, Noel just about gets away with it.

Way too many adverts and tacos were the last straw, I've watched every series too but this may be my last

I'm just starting Series 4 (earliest one I could find). I hope it's good as I need something to calm my nerves. . . .

I've just put some washing out and sat down to lunch* and I felt something creeping over my head . . . I leaned forwards and stupidly bravely brushed it off. It was a shield bug and the bloody thing fell in my soup!

After I'd finished screeching and fished it out I had to carry it through the house with wit crawling vigorously around in my clenched hand. I was nearly sick with its nasty little feet . . .

It was like this one. (But obviously much bigger and had teeth nearly an inch long etc)

www.britishbugs.org.uk/heteroptera/Pentatomidae/palomena_prasina.html

Interestingly it was in its gloriously bright green spring colouration, even though we are well into autumn. It was rather lovely if it hadn't been in my hair.

So far TGABO is very promising - even the opening credits looked so inviting

*chilli soup, if you're wondering

Tres leches is very good but you cannot stack it!! It's always served as a single layer.

this episode doesn't drop in the USA till tomorrow and it's already all over our news--negatively I'm afraid

I think it says something that trying to guess whether something is cake or not in the Sainsbury's sponsorship bit is more exciting than the programme itself.

That is interesting about not stacking a tres leches cake! Why the heck do they make them do impossible challenges

Just watched the first episode of the Aussie one - it was lovely! Proper baking, lovely judges and presenters who looked like they actually LIKED each other, the contestants and the food, and none of this "Hollywood handshake" sh*te.

Can't remember who told us it was available, but THANK YOU!

That’s interesting about feedback in the USA. What sort of things are they saying?
I did think it’s fairly obvious that no actual Mexican person was consulted in the making of this latest episode, and the Mexican cosplay (by Noel and Matt) at the start was the sort of thing I thought we’d left behind years ago.

It was me - you are very welcome!
Isn't it a lovely version?

It certainly is @Maireas .

All of the drama is in the cakes etc themselves - not having people so stressed and rushed that they drop their [lates, or having a room full of "characters" (I don't mean to be cruel when I say this, but I often wonder if people are on there because they fill a niche of one sort or another. If so, this is very unfair of them because they will be encouraged to act up to what the producers want and the editing will be slanted to present them as "zany", "motherly" or whatever)

I'm on episode 3 (will be my last today) now and haven't seen a single "disaster" bake - a couple of disappointing ones, but no disasters. Of course, when you are baking proper stuff, and not being given a challenge of anchovy and raspberry pie crust, you stand a better chance of producing something decent. . . .

Judges comments are always very constructive, too, and their manner is lovely.

Isn't Maggie one of the nicest people? Mike is so nice too, and his bread knowledge and advice is excellent.

Thank you so much Maireas. I've watched the first two episodes of Australian Bake Off, Season 6, and am loving it. Maggie is so lovely and the male judge/chef (sorry I've forgotten his name) is great too. This is what I want from a baking show ♥️

Ahhhh Mike 🙈. You even put it in your post 😂😂😂😂😂

My pleasure, @catwithflowers - it's exactly what I want from a baking show as well. Mike seems to be able to be informative yet supportive as well. He explains the bakes and techniques very clearly.

I really hope the British Bake Off producers are taking note of the criticism. I know so many people in real life who are unhappy with the show now and probably won't continue watching.

I love that the judges are not only very knowledgeable but also very positive - even the critical comments are kind - and they seem tone nice people.

On the first episode I saw some joked that one of the competitors looked just like Maggie- she laughed about the resemblance.

IIRC there was a similar remark made about Prue and a GBBO competitor one time, and it was very obvious from Prue's face that she was NOT impressed! It was quite insulting to the other woman.

The bakes are great! Some of the bread (series 4) reminded me of the lion bread - absolutely beautiful.

*to be, not tone

It's awful and it puts me off. It's bad enough that they're never given enough time on yeast bakes. (Not seen the latest episode yet but am told it happened again?) GBBO needs to get back to the basics on its bakes. It was one thing when it was something like a complicated French pastry that the contestants didn't know well. It's a doable project; just a challenge.

there was an NPR story (US equivalent of Radio 4) about the episode; a lot of people thought it was offensive and racist. Others thought they just didn't do any research into Mexican culture and cooking.