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!

I know others have said the same but this show has really lost its spark in my opinion. I just can’t get excited about it anymore. I liked some of this set of bakers initially but I can’t say I’m invested in who wins anymore. It just all feels a bit flat.

Hello , I watch every week but never live and always follow this thread.
I have a question .
When did Sandro win star baker ?

The fuss he was making last week gave me the impression he had never one it .

Abdul is definitely being kept on the sidelines .
Has he had hand shake or technical win yet ?

Yes Sandro has won star baker and Abdul hasn't.
Sandro also got a handshake from Paul which he keeps going on about...

Abdul seems to be keeping his head below the parapet and somehow surviving-getting to the point where there is going to be nowhere to hide.

Thank you !

I've taken posters' advice and started watching Australian Bake Off - you are so right, lovely judges and presenters, positive feedback and constructive criticism - GBBO as it should be! (And the added bonus of exotic flowers and birds, much as I like squirrels and sheep.) I don't know how to contact C4, or I'd suggest they look at Australian version and have a rethink. GBBO just feels stale - it needs a break.

GBBO just feels stale - it needs a break

"Stale" is spot on!

In an attempt to inject drama they've destroyed everything that made the show so watchable. By repeatedly picking "characters" and trying to always make the demographic widely diverse, instead of choosing decent bakers they've set some poor souls up for public failure. I know someone has to be the first out, but they don't need to be humiliated because they are so obviously below the standard of the others.

I really think that at least a couple are chosen because they are easy "rejects" in the first couple of weeks, and that is both lazy production tactics and unkind to the bakers.

Don't get me wrong - I love "characters" etc, but I love to see good baking, too, and I'll bet that in order to have some quick and easy "leavers" they are ignoring other people who would be interesting to watch, could be drawn from a wide demgraphic, and also be excellent bakers.

The show has lost its way.

I have gone off it for sure which is a shame as I loved it for years. This year’s bakers are I am sorry to say frankly crap. Nowhere near the standard of previous years at this stage. Pastry week this week was an absolute abomination. None of them deserved star baker. Syabira and Janusz are just about OK but not the calibre of previous years.

I wonder if that general standard of applicants is lower?

Possibly there are a lot of really good bakers of both sexes, and all ages, colours and creeds who would have been happy to apply 3/4 years ago, but see the way that the show has gone - ridiculous challenges, impossible time frames, Paul getting snitty, apparent favouritism (and vice versa) etc and are thinking -"No, thanks! I'm not putting myself through that." - this would mean that they're perhaps accepted people who wouldn't have made it through the application process in previous years. I know it's very unkind to suggest this, and I'm not trying to undermine the contestants (I certainly couldn't cope with it!) but I do think you're right that the calibre of contestants, in general, is lower.

I hate challenges which are heavily reliant on construction rather than actual baking skills. It's bad enough in biscuit week, but when it extends to pastry week they're taking the piss.

The way it's going these days, it would be a real novelty if they'd just ask the bakers to do a basic Victoria sponge.

I'm so bored of it now. I don't bother to catch up when I've missed it. I used to love it. As a PP said. It's gone stale. As has the format for the multiple other shows in a simple vein.

Yes, I thought the shock on everyone's faces when they opened Prue's 'Now, make a lemon meringue pie' instructions was a bit . I wouldn't expect any of them to be able to make spring rolls that's Gregggggggg's show but they should be able to knock out a Swiss roll or similar.

There's always a moment on Bake Off: The Professionals where the teams have to make a simple classic, like chocolate souffles or profiteroles, without instructions, and it really separates the ones who've had proper patisserie school training, and the ones who are winging it.

Both last week and this week Janusz (who does seem one if the best ones) has made things that look amazing but they've criticised the taste. I know stuff has to look good and taste good but it just feels like they're isn't enough time to get both elements right

I'm another one who has gone right off it (watched the NZ bake off, they streamed the final live on YouTube and it was fab)

Abdul seems to be keeping his head below the parapet and somehow surviving-getting to the point where there is going to be nowhere to hide.

I am now rather hoping he wins. He barely ever gets a mention, barely gets air time - and there he is beavering away in the background being rather good but not spectacular. I'm wondering if this is editing so his eventual win takes everyone by surprise?

They need to get new presenters

There's always a moment on Bake Off: The Professionals where the teams have to make a simple classic, like chocolate souffles or profiteroles, without instructions, and it really separates the ones who've had proper patisserie school training, and the ones who are winging it.

I like this as a premise.

Give them all the same ingredients required for a 'classic' bake but in quantities where they can use as much as they like and tell them to bake it.

e.g. flour, butter, eggs, lemons etc for the meringue and tell them to make a meringue.

A much better technical test of baking ability than making ice cream cones.

And as it's just about baking a good, classic item then this should be the only challenge where they are given 'just enough' time. The others should include ample time to do a great creative job as well as good taste.

I'd like one round to be a classic bake and be the same every series so we can compare more easily. Whether it's scones or shortbread or a Victoria sponge.

I agree jay

Most of us don’t want fancy schmancy. I wouldn’t attempt a custard skyscraper but I’d love to do a fancy brownie/blondie, an impressive sponge, a great fruit cake or some lovely cookies.

All manageable and they could come out with tips during it so we all learn something.

I learned to shake someone’s hand 50 years ago. It doesn’t change unless you go all clappy, knee knock, twirl and sing a song to it.

But that is what they focus on.

BAKE off. Not shake off.

Back to basics. Origins of a bake. Tips.

Not ‘watch me try to get my own tv show because I chat shit and want it most and I’m camera friendly’.

Catching up now. How can the country's best bakers fudge up vol au vents so badly?

I don't think there was much I wanted to eat this week.

The producers seem to forget it’s a baking programme not construction engineering. I wish they would get back to basics. Previous contestants have been of a much higher calibre.

The standard of baking in the Australian version is much, much higher. I don't know if it's because they are more talented or are given enough time to complete the tasks, but the difference is very noticeable.

I have noticed that the showstopper in the final can be a bit shoddy though. I put that down to the ridiculous decision to allow a crowd of previous competitors and family members to chatter and cheer from the open doors. It all looks very distracting, the bakers looked very harassed and I don't approve. It's literally the only negative on the Australian bake off.

Also Paul came across as a complete arse this week, but to give him the benefit of the doubt this once, it may have been frustration at the quality of the cooking.

the main thing for me is the ridiculously short time frames. My DH is a chef who specialises in desserts. He would be pushed to complete some of these.

I mean custard week. Have to use the freezer to cool the custard, then it is too warm to freeze the ice cream properly. Why not give them two bloody freezers instead of removing all the extra ones? Because at home, given that time frame, i certainly wouldn't be making a custard based ice-cream i'd use the Ben&Jerry version. (yes, i know it was custard week but it just highlights the ridiculousness of it all)

I didn't watch pastry week (forgot it was Bake Off day) but i saw some of my Asian friends aghast at the idea of making the spring rolls with that little time.

It seems ridiculous that pastry week which is what I would call proper baking doesn't appear until there are only five people left. It should appear long before Mexican week or custard week or whatever.

I agree @Brefugee

It genuinely feels like they are trying to catch the contestants out for a while now with a shortage of time and equipment.

Why not just ask them to bake a 12 tier wedding cake with one arm tied behind their back and blindfolded? It's just as daft as not giving them enough time to do a good job or giving them the tiniest of freezers to make ice cream with.

My eternal gripe, apart from the points already made about the ridiculously short time-frames and impossibility of cooling things, is the TINY freezer compartment they have. OK, Smeg fridge/freezers might look stylish (in their view) but they’re useless for the purpose.

It’s even worse in Junior Bake-Off where it’s not only too small, but most of the contestants can’t reach up that far and they don’t even give them a stool to step up on!

Agree with everything aforesaid. Maybe that's why the quality of contestants is so poor? The timeframes are ridiculous and the equipment inadequate. The oven temperatures seem extremely variable. Surely it was oven temp plus time that resulted in such awful pastry? Everyone can't be incompetent.I'm astonished they can still find competitors willing to put up with such ridiculous constraints. And someone please give Noel a makeover. It's unbecoming seeing a mid 40s adult man dressed as a teen goth. Get a haircut and lay off the eyeliner. And the jokes, Noel, not. Give it a rest.