Episode 7 The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice

The six remaining bakers tackled pastry...

Looks a total mess.

..which included a technical that no-one had ever heard of...

Kouign-amann. Yeah, we don't know what it is either.

..and a herb that no-one could taste.

I wouldn't know there was basil there.

It comes very late on.

-I've got the basil.

-Yay!

I'm Jo Brand and I haven't got the basil.

Oh, hang on, I've got the basil.

Oh, no, I haven't, it's wind.

Welcome to an Extra Slice!

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Good evening.

We're just two and a half weeks away from the final, can you believe it?

And the bakers are absolutely neck and neck.

This week, the final six tackled pastries,

including the challenge of making savoury parcels.

Pity nobody told Mary.

Chetna, are you making sweet or savoury or both?

-No, I'm making...

-A hybrid.

It's a savoury challenge, Mary.

LAUGHTER

Talking of savoury parcels,

I'm joined by a panel of celebrity fans to get their view on which

bakers have risen like a danish and which have sunk like a flatbread.

And of course it was the week that saw Kate leave the tent.

AUDIENCE: Awww.

Kate will be joining us here in the studio in just a bit.

Plus, we'll be looking at what you've been baking at home

and the bakes our studio audience have brought along today.

Let's hope nobody suffers any leakage during the show.

Have you all crimped your edges?

CHEERING

And I've been nosing around the tent as usual,

helping myself to bits of discarded tape I found lying around.

Here's Paul, he's just spotted someone he wants to talk to.

Sue. Sue.

Sue. Sue.

Sue. Sue.

LAUGHTER

That's right, it was Mel.

Meanwhile Mary decided to let him in on a secret.

Well, I quite like the idea of having some big ones.

But, I think, em...

LAUGHTER

I can't take him anywhere.

HE SIGHS

And news just in -

two of the Bake Off cleaners have been causing trouble again.

Over the years of Bake Off,

we've had real problems with lavender and rose.

LAUGHTER

Don't worry, they've been sacked.

Time to meet tonight's panel of celebrity fans.

Back by over-whelming popular demand, former Bake Off baker,

Howard Middleton.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Next, a man who's won almost as many Gold Sony Awards

for his radio shows as I've had hot dinners,

it's Danny Baker.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

And finally, a comedian who says he gets angry

if fruit turns up unexpectedly in his cheesecake,

it's Josh Widdicombe.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

It was pastries in the tent this week.

And, Howard, as far as getting the perfect pastry, what's Howard's way?

Em, I think it's about basically keeping all your ingredients,

certainly with shortcrust and puff pastry,

keeping the ingredients as cold as possible,

keeping the utensils as cold as possible.

I've got quite cold hands naturally.

I've also got cold feet but they don't help much with pastry.

THEY LAUGH

Now, Danny, you love your football.

What's the food like at football grounds these days?

Overwhelmingly rotten but I think that's a good thing.

I'm not one of these who campaigns that there should be better food,

like better toilets. I like to keep food in the restaurants

and football on the pitch and I find that's a good working relationship.

Well, I think things have changed at football grounds a little bit

because I think some of the pies at football grounds, recently,

have won awards. I actually had a pie the other day

that had recently won the 3:40 at Kempton.

Josh, what's your favourite pastry?

Either pasty or croissant but straight croissant,

none of the fancy Dan...

Nothing in it? No.

Chocolate croissants are everything that is wrong with the world.

I don't think you should be having chocolate before 4pm, really,

unless you've got issues.

Oh!

Let's tell them more - how often do you bake?

-I don't bake.

-Right.

But, actually, you have baked something for us today.

I have! Shall I tell you what it is?

Well, we could guess.

Oh, God, no, tell us what it is.

I got some filo pastry cos I was told it was pastry week...

-Right.

-..and then I looked...

You got some filo pastry?

-I didn't forage for it.

-No, but did you make it yourself, I mean?

No-one makes pastry.

OK, so you got some filo pastry.

And then I looked at what we'd got.

So we'd got some cheese, some olives, some tomatoes...

And some cat food by the look of it.

Who wants to try it? Howard, you're looking...

-Howard, it's all yours!

-I'll have a go.

"Have a go"?! No, you won't if that's your attitude.

It looks delicious.

-Do you want some, Jo?

-Yeah, go on, then.

So, you are a baker now?

-I am.

-Well done.

Hmm.

LAUGHTER

It is quite nice.

It's a little...little salty but that might be the bought pastry

rather than anything you've contributed.

Pleased with that.

So, let's find out how you lot have been getting on

baking pastries at home.

Sally made a hedgehog cake for her friend's birthday.

She kindly sent us a picture of a hedgehog,

just in case we didn't know what one looked like.

And with careful reference to the picture, here's the cake Sally made.

LAUGHTER

Do you know? When I first saw that, I thought,

where have I seen that face before?

Then I remembered the beautiful unicorn cake

we were sent a couple of weeks ago.

Annie and Sarah from Bath wanted to make a gluten-free chocolate cake

in the shape of a rugby ball for one of their friend's.

They planned an ambitious six-tier structure,

which they would then carefully whittle into shape.

Using a real rugby ball as a guide,

they enthusiastically whittled away.

Delighted with their progress so far,

Annie and Sarah then went to the trouble of covering it

in icing and adding the England logo.

Here's what they were aiming for.

And I have to say that, actually, in the end...

..it looked rubbish.

Thanks to Tilly from Norfolk, we can say hello once again to Iain.

Now, it's not easy depicting someone's face on a cake.

When I did Bake Off for Comic Relief,

I made a cake with Desmond Tutu's face on it

and everyone thought it was Trevor McDonald.

Meanwhile, Sharlam from Manchester has depicted a well-known funny man.

I think that's Michael McIntyre, isn't it?

Correct, it is Michael McIntyre.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Thank you to everyone who sent in their pictures,

and do keep them coming. Details below.

The wonky, the weird and the wonderful - we'd love to see them.

So, let's check in with the tent and remind ourselves what happened

when the bakers were plunged into the world of pastries.

This week's Signature Bake was to make...

12 savoury parcels.

There's a lot to do, I really need to get a wiggle on.

Come on, pasties!

My fryer went off.

Oh, you're joking.

Not leaking.

Nothing's burst yet.

I did get some leakage.

That's about the size I'd like for my lunch.

Very, very tasty indeed.

I don't particularly like the pastry.

Your pastry isn't cooked.

No-one had ever heard of this week's technical.

-How do you pronounce it?

-Kouign-amann.

Kouign-amann.

-Kouign-am-on.

-What's that all about?

I don't think I've ever even seen one of these.

This is Paul Hollywood if he hates my kouign-amann.

The show-stopper was to make 24 eclairs.

-So, this is your first eclair stair?

-Yes.

Terrible. I'm so a goner.

Kate left...

Mel-Sue sandwich.

..and Richard won Star Baker for the third time.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

So, Kate went. Josh, do you agree with that?

Yeah, I do.

I liked Kate a lot but I think...

I mean, she didn't know her deep fat fryer was off.

If you don't know that it's not off, you're not a baker.

The timer, her timer went off.

She had it on but she didn't know how to work the timer on the thing.

I know, but she's not got anything else to do.

AUDIENCE GROANS

No, no, no, no, no.

I forgot this was...

You forgot this is a baking lynch mob.

Danny, do you think that they made the right decision?

Sadly, it was, and it was simply the way it is at the moment

and I've never known Bake Off to go like this.

At the moment, you couldn't have said any one of them,

"Well, that's where it lay."

If you have a bad week now, you're gone.

Sometimes when I watch this, I think,

"They're showing too much of Kate.

"They're trying to make us think it's Kate.

"So, what probably is going to happen over here is poor Martha."

You think, "I know what they're doing."

There was the bluff, double bluff and bluff again this week.

And so, I'm not like him, I'm not an executioner.

But I did think, yeah, I think it is on the week

and if you have a bad day, that's your lot.

I think it's always tricky.

I think that they all seem to be pretty evenly matched at the moment

and so I think it's really hard, and it's particularly hard

when somebody like Kate has won Star Baker in a previous week.

But, yeah, probably was the right decision, unfortunately.

Now, here's a question for all of you.

Can you tell me what Mary is looking at here?

Is it that picture of Paul Hollywood?

LAUGHTER

If you eat the profiteroles,

does it slowly reveal the rest of Paul Hollywood?

Mary was actually looking at Paul's kouign-amann.

That was the subject of the technical challenge,

and for the second week on the trot, the bakers struggled to say

the name of the thing they were supposed to be baking.

When it comes to pronouncing kouign-amann,

what's Howard's way?

I think it's kouign-am-on.

-Rather than a-man.

-It could just be queen-y-man.

Queen-y-man?

THEY LAUGH

Apparently, it was invented by accident

when a baker's wife carelessly left some butter

resting on bread dough, and he baked it.

I mean, these things happen.

For example, the other day,

I carelessly left a packet of Hobnobs in my mouth.

LAUGHTER

Lots of things are created by accident -

children.

Howard, have you ever invented a dish by mistake?

Em, I don't think so. No, I can't think of anything that I've done...

I've tried baking in unusual ways.

-Really?

-Yeah.

Tell us more, Howard.

Baking biscuits on the bottom of tins and things.

Baking biscuits on the bottom?

So that they bend, you know, things like that.

I invented, I think I invented something.

I did a toasted, try this,

toasted corned beef sandwich and then poured beans on it,

and it was like a Deptford Reuben sandwich

or some kind of Croque Lewisham.

You ever put combinations of food together and think that's something?

That is something.

Let me draw your attention to this.

LAUGHTER

Let's have a look at what Mary and Paul

had to say about the bakers' finished kouign-amanns.

Nice and high, good lamination.

There is an attempt at lamination here.

A little over-baked and we didn't get the lamination.

Howard, what is lamination?

It's basically interleaving fat with dough.

So, if you're thinking about something like a puff pastry,

what you're wanting to do is you're wanting to get layers of pastry

and layers of butter and that creates the kind of lightness, the flakiness.

I thought it was going to be the shine.

Yeah, so did I. I thought it was painting it with some nail varnish.

I'm staggered to hear that's what it is because I was judging it

along with everyone else by saying, "Oh, that's well laminated."

What? Nice and shiny?

Mind you, I was well laminated myself when I watched it.

I think lamination's something I'd be really good at.

Well...

I've laminated an English breakfast.

LAUGHTER

That's good, isn't it?

OK, just before we move on from the technical challenge,

I just want to nominate Nancy for an award -

the award for shortest crisis in the tent ever.

She's adding sugar to her layers of dough. Let's have a look.

Wouldn't it be awful if this was salt?

-God, don't...

-No, it's not.

Phew! Panic over. Hang on, I'm having a crisis now.

Wouldn't it be awful if I was allergic to cakes?

Oh, it's all right, I'm not.

It was a very peculiar thing. I'd said that at the time,

"I mean, wouldn't it be awful if this were heroin? Oh, it's not."

It could have been many things.

It would've been amazing if it had been heroin.

What an episode that would've been!

Now, the Signature Bake this week was to make 12 savoury parcels.

Danny, whose pastry parcels stood out for you?

Chetna's and I speak as somebody rather like Mary,

I don't like spicy things at all.

-I'm completely...

-You don't?

-No.

When men rave on about curry, I don't get it.

I just don't get anything that makes your mouth feel uncomfortable,

I don't like one chilli flake anywhere.

But in terms of expertise,

and that's the great thing about Chetna -

I think she has never once exploited her heritage.

You know, she could turn anything,

as so many restaurants do these days,

to be Asian-infused, she doesn't.

She goes right across the board, right across the horizon.

This time, she was entitled to do it

and I think they looked absolutely fantastic.

-Yeah, do you agree?

-Totally agree, totally agree.

Chetna's brilliant, I think she's great.

Really... I mean... Oh...

What a woman.

Shall we just take a moment to think about how much I love Chetna?

I mean it's sort of a clean sweep.

I liked Chetna's as well but I did like Martha's.

I thought Martha's looked really good.

The way that she'd managed to get the beef

still having a bit of pink to it.

I thought it was really skilful, it looked really good.

Yeah, mini beef Wellingtons.

They were a bit sausage roll-y, though, weren't they?

They were but they were really classy sausage rolls.

They were sausage rolls that had been through college.

Well, now, we come to the part of the show

where we take a look at some of the bakes brought along by the audience.

Lindsey, where are you?

Here.

And what have you brought? Oh, Lindsay, gosh. What is that?

That is supposed to be the kouign-amann.

It kind of went a bit wrong.

How long did you leave it in for?

About 40 minutes...on 220.

AUDIENCE GROANS

Schoolboy error!

220!

Get out.

How heavy is it? Can you just bang it on the table for me?

-Wow!

-Well done.

Now, I think it is time to let you taste something.

-Not that.

-No.

Josh, if you could go and get them for us?

Consey, where are you?

Ah, there we go.

-So, Josh, just take them back and...

-Thank you.

-..taste them.

-What's in here?

-Well, I just want you to taste them and see...

No, I'm not falling for that trick.

-No, I'm telling you, it's not anything offensive.

-OK.

And they're veggie.

-What's this black...?

-Taste it!

-OK.

HE EXCLAIMS

That is not what I expected.

Lovely.

That's Marmite on top.

-That's lovely.

-That's really nice.

-Absolutely superb.

Well, that is in fact...

Well, you can tell us, Consey, what's in them?

It's mushroom and blue cheese in the middle

with Marmite and balsamic vinegar.

-That is superb.

-Well done, they love them.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

That was a shock cos I was expecting it to be sweet

and when you get surprise Marmite, oh!

Do you like it, Howard?

Yeah, it's very nice, actually.

I totally agree. You expect it to be something sweet like caramel sauce

and it's such a surprise when you get that savoury hit.

I never thought I'd say this -

I love that more than I love Chetna, that's how much...

So, we're going on to Julia now.

Julia, where are you?

-Hi.

-Hi.

-What have you made?

I've made a banoffee gateau St Honore with salted caramel.

Go on, then, Josh. Want to go and get that to have a try?

-Are you still going?

-Yeah, I'm still going.

Who's St Honore?

He's the patron saint of pastry chefs.

-Oh.

-Patron saint of pastry chefs?

-I believe.

That's not a real thing.

That would be a great bank holiday, wouldn't it?

Julia, can you just tell us what's actually in this?

So, it's like choux pastry balls

filled with creme patisserie and salted caramel

and then it's got a pastry base and then bananas

and more salted caramel and creme patisserie for the filling.

Right, it sounds delish.

-Howard...

-Right.

That's lovely. I love the banana coming through, I like it.

A surprise banana, yeah.

LAUGHTER

What just happened?!

He likes a surprise banana.

I think Paul was saying earlier about one of the bakes

-that you couldn't taste the banana, right?

-Yes.

-But this is really coming through very nicely.

-Oh, that's amazing!

This is the best audience ever!

Thank you very much, Julia.

Absolutely positive response. Well done.

Now, while this baker was in the tent,

she displayed plenty of raw talent.

Unfortunately, she also produced a raw centre-piece loaf,

but no-one pipes a spiral of rhubarb onto a custard tart

quite like she does.

Please give a warm welcome to Kate!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Welcome to An Extra Slice.

Now, Kate, overall did you enjoy your time in the tent?

It was terrifying and wonderful in equal measures.

Terrifying mostly, actually.

Let's talk about your Signature Bake -

you made spinach and paneer samosas

and you had problems with your fryer. What happened?

Well, obviously,

I shouldn't be in the tent as a baker according to you.

AUDIENCE: Ohhh!

APPLAUSE

I wondered whether Diana switched it off?

LAUGHTER

Just taking the heat off you.

Well, I've never used a deep fat fryer before,

I always did it in a pan, and I decided, stupidly, to use one.

And it was turned on for me

and you turn the timer on, as you said, Danny.

And when it went off, I kind of felt like that...

You know, it went off actually before I even started cooking

so I put the samosas on,

the temperature gauge is on, the light's on

everything looks like it's working.

It goes in, it's bubbling still cos it's still hot enough.

Well, a little bit hot, but not hot enough.

And then, gradually, it just got less and less bubbly

and I was just panicking and it looked like it was on

so I didn't know what to do, it was really difficult.

Now, you decided to tailor your savoury parcels to Mary's tastes,

didn't you? Let's just have a look and see how that went.

I've made them less spicy than I would normally for you, Mary.

-Have you?

-Yes.

-I like things spicy.

So that plan backfired then?

So, sadly, not your greatest week

but you were Star Baker a fortnight ago.

Let's have a look at your pies and tarts.

KATE EXHALES

Lovely pastry, beautiful decoration and a well-flavoured custard.

All it says is prep the pears and make the poaching syrup,

so I'm going to do that.

That's a great-looking pie, that.

It's lovely, absolutely delicious.

And the pastry, so crisp, it's really lovely.

This week's Star Baker...

is Kate.

APPLAUSE

How did that feel?

If I'm completely honest,

ten seconds after they announced I was Star Baker,

they told me Norman was going

and so I kind of came crashing down a bit.

You kind of grieve for the baker that's going.

Well, I did. I think...

-Do you miss people when they go?

-Oh, yeah, you really do.

You really feel the gap, you do, yeah.

And any one you didn't miss?

LAUGHTER

I'm just checking.

-No, definitely not.

-OK.

Now, you've said your worst bake was the princess torte

-in European cake week.

-Yeah.

-What was it your fellow bakers called it?

-Em...

Bin lid.

LAUGHTER Bin lid, yeah.

I had to agree, it was a bin lid.

And it was possibly the worst thing anybody's ever done,

maybe apart from Richard's pears.

I think we're on a par.

Oh, yeah, Richard's pears. Yeah, they were worse.

Now, Kate, I think you're quite an emotional baker, aren't you?

Let's have a look.

KATE EXHALES

KATE GASPS

No!

KATE SIGHS

KATE GROANS

KATE EXHALES

KATE GROANS

-Very clever.

-Very pretty, well done.

LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE

You were on track to be Star Baker in bread week

with your orange and cardamom rye bread knots

and your technical bake, the ciabatta,

where you came out in first place.

And then this happened.

I know Paul was thinking there might be a gap

between the ham and the bread.

There is no gap because the inside is raw.

-It's raw?

-What?!

There was proper glee on his face when he said that.

LAUGHTER

I mean, how uncooked was it? Cos it didn't look that uncooked?

It wasn't that uncooked.

We did taste it afterwards and everyone said, "That's not raw."

So, I... I disagree with Paul entirely.

Now, as you know, we give our bakers a chance to redeem themselves

and would I be right in thinking that your prosciutto, coriander

and olive bread is the bake that you've brought along?

-It is.

-Would you like to have a bit of a taste, everyone?

Yes, and it's good to see you have done it cos you said, didn't you?

"I don't know if I'm going to book tomorrow or the next day."

How long was it before you got back on the horse?

-Actually, I baked the next day.

-Did you?

-It was very odd.

-And I bet it was brilliant.

APPLAUSE

OK, do you want to...? Let's get it up and...

-Well, it's already sliced.

-OK, I'll just pass it over.

That's not veggie, is it?

-Isn't it?

-No, it isn't.

And you know what the worst thing about that is?

Chetna's chutney's in that.

Oh!

-I put a bit of Chetna's chutney in.

-I could have been close to her.

-Howard, how is it?

-It's delicious. It's like a sandwich,

but you haven't had to go to the trouble of making it yourself.

-It's fantastic.

-Is it raw?

It's not raw, no.

Danny, is it nice?

It's got a Christmassy taste to it.

It tastes like a kind of savoury version of a plum pudding.

-It's absolutely beautiful.

-Thank you.

Brilliant, well done, Kate.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Kate, we're so sorry to see you go.

You have been a brilliant watch in the tent.

So, we've got a present to give you,

which Josh is bringing it over now.

There we go, Josh.

This is the most nervous I've ever been in my life.

OK, let's just...whip this off.

So, there we go, Kate.

That is you on top of your three-tiered pie Showstopper.

It really is.

APPLAUSE

So, ladies and gentlemen, please thank Kate

and give her a Great British Send Off.

Thank you, Kate.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

You all right there, yeah?

CHEERING

So, what have we learnt this week?

Well, most importantly, we've learnt how to pronounce kouign-amann.

But no doubt it won't be long before another baking term

comes along to trip us up, so here's a final bit of unseen footage,

demonstrating a foolproof method for avoiding troublesome words.

I want to see how many process...

I want to see how many processes...

I want to see how many skills and techniques they can show us.

LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE

Before we go, here's a look ahead to next week.

Takes like one bad bake to make you go home.

It is absolutely raw.

We're getting good length, aren't we?

Well, how much length do you want?

It's a funny-looking thing.

Ho-ho-ho!

A big thank you to our guest baker, Kate,

to all our studio bakers, and to our panel,

Howard Middleton...

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

..Danny Baker...

..and Josh Widdicombe.

See you next week in our new home on Wednesday at ten.

That's Wednesday, 10:00 on BBC2.

Good night!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE