Great British Bake Off

Just a quick update today folks to let you know that I have officially completed one of my New Years goals. Today I submitted my application form for series four of The Great British Bake Off!!!

I've been working on the application all week which is why there have been no updates, but now that is done normal service here should resume! :) I probably won't get onto the show but it doesn't hurt to try now does it? Wish me luck everyone :)

And if any of my UK readers fancy applying themselves just head to
http://www.bbc.co.uk/showsandtours/shows/beonashow/great_british_bake_off4

and download the application, but be quick the deadline is this Wednesday!

The Great British Bake Off – Technical Challenge

So today marks the start of a new series on Princess Cupcake, one inspired by the best cooking program on TV at the moment The Great British Bake Off. 

Given that I intend to apply to enter next year’s series of the show I have decided to set myself a challenge.  I will attempt to complete as many of the technical challenge recipes from the current (and previous) series of the show. This is naturally dependent on my liking the recipe and having access to the correct equipment, so I won’t be making last year’s pork pies with quail’s eggs for example as I really don’t like boiled eggs. The plan is that by completing as many of these recipes as possible I’ll be able to substantially increase my skills.

With each entry in the series I’ll be discussing what I think make this recipe a challenge and providing links to the recipe so that you guys can have a go too. If you do try and complete these challenges I’d love to hear about your results!
So to start the ball rolling I present my first completed challenge, it comes from Bread Week in series 3. The eight strand plaited loaf

Download the recipe here

So what’s the challenge?
Well it’s just a normal white loaf shaped differently, so since I’m pretty good at making white bread I didn’t find this element to be particularly hard, the challenge is defiantly is getting the plaiting right. But providing you concentrate and follow the instructions the plaiting isn’t too hard either, I think it helps to have some experience in plaiting though. Since I usually plait my hair I’m used to the numbering of stands and the movements required, which may be why I didn’t struggle too much, so if you are a plaiting newbie I’d suggest starting with a 3 strand loaf and getting the hang of that before attempting the 8 stand!
Getting the stands even was a little tricky, mine weren’t all the same thickness but I think that if they are all roughly the same it shouldn’t matter too much. Just weigh the dough and divide by 8 to work out how much each stand should weigh go from there that makes everything a lot easier!
Here's how mine looked

Finished plait prior to baking

The finished product!
The end came undone slightly during the second rising and baking but it still looks pretty good!

Final verdict and will I make it again?
It’s not very hard, not really a recipe for the plaiting newbie but if you have some understanding of plaiting techniques it isn’t that hard to do. The bread part is easy because it’s just a plain white loaf, so if you are good at bread making that bit is no problem! I probably will make it again; it takes a bit of time though so I’m probably only going to make it for special occasions as it does look pretty impressive.





Friday Review: The Great British Bake Off recipe book

Ok so I'm now having a few technical difficulities with the pictures in this post *grumble*. I'll fix it later!

As series 3 of The Great British Bake Off (TGBBO) started this week, the recipe book that accompanied series 2 of the show seemed like the perfect choice for this week’s review. So this week we have Linda Collister’s The Great British Bake Off, How to Bake the Perfect Victoria Sponge and Other Baking Secrets.Wow what a mouthful!



Available from: Amazon.co.uk

Nice clear layout and the top tips are well intergrated

So what do I like about it?
Well for starters the range of recipes is amazing; every chapter starts with an “easy introduction” recipe. For example the cake chapter starts with a Victoria Sponge, bread starts with a simple white loaf and so on. The recipes then go on to include the “technical challenges” from the show, these are Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry’s own recipes which are aimed at the more experienced baker. There are also the “Best of the Bake Off” recipes, these were invented by the contestants of the show and finally there are lots of normal recipes. These normal recipes also feature little icons which indicate if it's a good recipe for children to try, or good for celebrations etc. Basically no matter what you want to make you’ll find it in here or something pretty close to it. And as an added bonus there is a secret code hidden in the book which gives you access to the recipes cooked in the series finale. 

The chapters are really well organised and are they are all divided by type (cakes, bread, savoury pastry etc.), the general layout is fantastic, quite a lot of the recipes are accompanied by good clear photographs and everything is laid out in a clear manner. The layout really comes into its own when you consider the technical challenge recipes and the introduction recipes though; these pages feature good clear images of every step of the recipe with extremely detailed instructions. This layout makes these recipes a lot less daunting for the inexperienced.

 

Layout used for the
introduction and technical challenge recipes

In addition to all of this the start of each chapter features several pages of advice on how to avoid common pitfalls, what sort of equipment you need and just general good advice. And scattered throughout the book are lots of tips (including many from Paul and Mary) and tricks to make your baking easier and ensure success.

And what don’t I like?
To be honest, nothing. I really love this book and can’t find any real faults with it. The layout is splendid, the photography is superb and it’s full of excellent recipes for every skill level.  Everything is well written and there are lots of handy hints and advice scattered throughout the book. I suppose some readers might find the photographs of the contestants a little annoying, but since this book features their own recipes and is designed to accompany the TV series I think it makes perfect sense to have picture of the contestants!

So final rating? 5/5
This book is fantastic, it’s full of challenging recipes for the experienced baker and easy ones for beginners. There is so much practical advice in here I think success is pretty much guaranteed with every recipe no matter what your personal skill level! I really feel that this is one of the best recipe books available at the moment and is perfect to give someone if they are just getting into baking. Well worth the money! Based on how good this book is I am looking forward to getting the series 3 book!