The Great British Bake off ©️Love Productions 2018
The kids and I have been enjoying this year’s series of The Great British Bake Off. E in particular is absorbing so much cooking knowledge and really becoming interested in what’s going on in our kitchen. But this week’s episode has left me concerned with the direction the series is going. Is watching someone (a very lovely, sweet lady) reduced to tears while being scolded by Paul because their Danish pastries should have been in the oven for another 2minutes really entertainment?
The Great British Bake off ©️Love Productions 2018
The Great British Bake Off is a competition for amateur bakers. The important word here is amateur. When introducing the Semi Final showstopper this week Paul made it very clear the contenstants should be producing professional level patisserie which he would expect to see in a patisserie shop window, I frowned. Not only did they expect perfection, they expected 3 different varieties of perfection. In 5hrs. Maybe they could have produced the perfect row of 6 Mille-feuille in 5hrs, but ask them to also make 6 tarts and 6 Choux buns too is just ridiculous. You’d predict they’d run out of time and present lack lustre offerings - which is exactly what they did.
I have followed Bake Off from the start and have actually enjoyed the new line up over on Channel 4 (just a shame they didn’t change Paul too). The producers need to take it back to what made the show so successful - amateur bakers producing some fun bakes which we all could imagine making ourselves at home (with the odd collapsing cake along the way of course). I’m starting to feel quite uncomfortable watching the bakers have mini nervous breakdowns as they attempt to meet to the ever rising bar expected by the judges. Bring back a technical where we actually know what the bakes should roughly look like before Paul and Prue explain it to us. A showstopper which actually makes us go wow! Not with just half the decoration on.
Let’s see what the final has in store...
Let’s see what the final has in store...
