Episode 5 The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice

The bakers were under pressure in Pastry Week.

This couldn't have gone much more wrong. Up against the clock...

Time is running out.

..and pulling out all the stops to impress the judges.

I have my secret weapon with me - dental floss.

SUE: You're the first person we've had who's actually flossed their pastry.

Nothing weird about that.

Time for An Extra Slice!

APPLAUSE

CHEERING

Hello, and welcome to the show.

Did we all enjoy watching the bakers get a pasting in Pastry Week?

AUDIENCE: Yes!

Mary's passionate about pastry, of course,

and presumably loves nothing better than to spend hours creating

delicate savoury parcels.

God, I've got better things to do than make filo pastry.

LAUGHTER

I stand corrected.

For reasons known only to himself,

Selasi has decided to make a note of the exact times

Benjamina opens the fridge.

LAUGHTER

APPLAUSE

Meanwhile, Val's constant aerobic exercise

has made a bit of a dent beneath the tent's groundsheet,

leading to a slight problem when she's standing at her workbench.

See if you can spot what it is.

There's Selasi.

There's Jane.

And where's Val? LAUGHTER

Sadly, Pastry Week saw the end of the road for Val.

AUDIENCE: Aww!

Having listened to her bakes, who told her to prepare for the worst,

it was indeed her turn to exit through the tent flaps.

But the good news is,

she's on her way here and will be with us a bit later on.

Yeah!

That's assuming she's allowed enough time.

LAUGHTER

I wonder what viewer Lauren's bake would have said to her

if she'd listened to it.

She sent us a picture of a cake she made for her boss,

who loves guinea pigs.

Lauren says, "I was very ambitious but I'm delighted with the outcome."

LAUGHTER

Let's hope you're as delighted with the outcome

of your next employee appraisal, Lauren.

LAUGHTER

More of those later, and we'll also be taking a closer look

at the offerings brought along by our studio audience.

I'm looking for excellent lamination.

Show us your bakes!

CHEERING

Our celebrity panel will be trying a few of those later on,

so let's meet them while they're still smiling.

LAUGHTER

First up, it's the Michelin-starred chef who salivates

when he thinks about a Bakewell tart.

It's Michel Roux Jr!

APPLAUSE

Thank you.

Next it's the former Bake Off winner who famously referred to Paul

as "the male judge"

and proved that you can prove dough in the microwave.

It's Nancy Birtwhistle.

APPLAUSE

And finally a comedian who thinks he'd be the perfect person

to work in a French patisserie.

It's Tom Allen.

APPLAUSE

So, Michel, I'm told that you love Bakewell tart so much

you named your daughter after them?

How is Bakewell?

LAUGHTER

Hmm, yes, she's probably very embarrassed by that.

Bakewell tart in French is "amandine".

And it's rather beautiful, isn't it, Amandine?

It's her second name. She's actually called Emily.

But, yes, she's still probably cringing...

Lemon? Emily, not lemon! LAUGHTER

Lemon Bakewell tart? No.

Nancy, you had to bake the famous kouign amann in Pastry Week.

Have you made one since? No.

LAUGHTER

Why not? They're delicious.

They are delicious. They are delicious.

If I had a second daughter I would call her kouign amann.

LAUGHTER

Tom, why are you the right person to work in a French patisserie, then?

I think because ever since I was a teenager,

I've been very interested in all sorts of cooking.

I also got an A* at food technology GCSE.

AUDIENCE: Oooh!

I don't want to make a big deal about it, but it was a HUGE deal!

LAUGHTER

Right, now, viewers across Britain have been busy in their kitchens.

Shall we see how they've been getting on?

AUDIENCE: Yes! I think so.

Now, although we've had a full English breakfast cake on before,

this one's so good we had to show it.

It's from Mark, who made it for his friend Alan's birthday.

Hard to believe it's a sponge cake covered in chocolate buttercream.

AUDIENCE GASPS

That's absolutely stunning, Mark.

Although I did ask for mushrooms

instead of the tomato, but...

Tabitha from Devon also made a chocolate cake.

She wanted it to look like a big chocolate bar

with a silky caramel on top.

And to be fair, it didn't turn out too badly.

LAUGHTER

Although due to the caramel being a tiny bit on the hard side,

here's the utensil Tabitha had to use

in order to cut everyone a slice.

LAUGHTER

Now, let's look at the efforts of Joan and Walter from Belfast.

When their two grandsons James and Jack

moved up to the next karate belt colour,

the proud grandparents decided to capture the moment in cake.

So how well did Granny Joan and Grandad Walter

depict James and Jack in fondant?

LAUGHTER

Walter did Jack, who's on the right.

And I have it on good authority that his feet

don't actually look like that. LAUGHTER

Pauline from Hampshire hasn't done too badly with her attempt

at a rainbow cake.

AUDIENCE: Ooh.

That's all right, isn't it?

That was her final attempt. She doesn't tell us of how many.

But perhaps we'll get an idea when we look at her very first go.

LAUGHTER

And finally a birthday cake that Jo made

for her son's eighth birthday on an army theme.

It's of a military tank and, to be honest,

a few of the parents wondered if she should be court-martialled.

LAUGHTER

Do keep sending in pictures of your home baking.

Details at the bottom of the screen.

And thanks to everyone this week for being such good sports.

Back now to the tent.

And let's remind ourselves what happened in Pastry Week.

Week five in the tent, and the bakers faced pastry.

It's time to bake.

In the Signature, Danishes were on the menu...

Your pastry needs a lot of work.

..filled with mushrooms, bacon

and even cereal.

The flavours could be good and the pastry could be rubbish.

The Technical was a seemingly simple Bakewell tart...

Most of them will have made frangipane in some form before.

..a British classic which divided the bakers.

It feels really old school.

It's just classic and classy.

But Jane triumphed...

And in first place...

..coming first.

The bakers were stretched in the filo Showstopper...

That's not thin enough.

..48 amuse-bouches in just four hours.

It's fiddly and foldy. It's awful.

Candice was crowned Star Baker for a second time.

Val.

But it was the end of the road for Val, and she left the tent.

As Val herself admitted this week, she was stretched beyond her limit.

A bit like her filo pastry.

Now, her Signature pastries fell apart.

She not only didn't read the recipe for the Technical,

she didn't even manage to FIND half of it.

And she only served half the required number

of sweet show-stopping amuse-bouches.

Michel, where did she go wrong?

And bear in mind we've only got half an hour.

LAUGHTER

It wasn't that doom and gloom.

And Tom certainly was hanging on by the skin of his teeth,

but I think Rav as well - he was not performing to his best abilities,

I don't think. But I think it was really the end for Val.

She'd given all she could and I think it was a fair decision.

Do you know, I thought Val brought such warmth to the tent

and actually brought it down to, "Let's enjoy it," you know.

I thought she was smashing.

Tom, will you miss Val?

Yes, of course I will. Michel, you were just talking about her

as though she was about to be executed.

LAUGHTER

That's not how this show works, is it? It's the French in me.

Vive la revolution!

LAUGHTER

Well, let them eat cake! Well, maybe... Yeah.

LAUGHTER

APPLAUSE

I'll miss her terribly,

I think because she brings such a great joie de vivre. And...

there were times she was going,

"I just make it with love, I just make it with love."

And there were a few times when that, frankly, wasn't enough.

LAUGHTER

Quite often that seemed to happen.

"I always make Bakewell tarts. I make them every week."

And it's like, "Val, it's not cooked!"

She's like, "I make it with love."

"I know. But it's poisoning people!"

Was she the right one to go? No, she should have stayed.

She can't go out into the community!

LAUGHTER

APPLAUSE

Rav also had a close call in Pastry Week,

serving up bone-dry Signature cinnamon swirls

and maple pecan plaits.

But there was one scenario he was absolutely determined to avoid.

I cannot be last in the Technical for the third week in a row.

After coming last in the Technical...

for the third week in a row,

Rav was saved by his show-stopping filo tartlets

and spiced samosas, which the judges said tasted beautiful.

Now, the Signature this week - to bake 24 Danish pastries -

really put the bakers under pressure.

Let's talk about engineer Andrew,

who took a typically precise approach to his bake.

Of course I'm measuring my butter.

I've got to maintain a reputation as a reputable engineer.

To be fair, Isambard Kingdom Brunel was the same.

If he hadn't measured his butter accurately, we wouldn't still

have such iconic structures

as the Clifton Suspension Bridge.

LAUGHTER

Nancy, what do you think of Andrew's focus on precision?

Well, I think in baking it's...it's important.

I think, you know, baking is a science.

I don't know whether I'd go quite as far as Andrew,

but I think you have to be fairly exact and precise with what you do.

Do you measure your butter, Michel, or just...?

No? No. Do you not?

You just said it - "fairly exact". Yeah. A piece of butter this size.

The pastry will be that size. You fold it in. Done.

Let's see how important precision was to Val

in the Showstopper Challenge.

That'll do.

LAUGHTER

Andrew's attention to detail

also demanded the use of a technique I've never heard of.

I like to get nice, neat corners on the butter.

If that means a little bit of hand fudging, that's fine with me.

Are you fine with a bit of hand fudging, Michel?

Do you do that? Not often.

LAUGHTER

Another fascinating snippet of information emerged.

My dad always used to have dates in the glove box of the car.

Dates? In the glove box of his car? How romantic(!) Um...

LAUGHTER

Andrew's father sounds like an intriguing and presumably

tiny man, doesn't he?

LAUGHTER

Yeah, I also like the use of glove box as well.

I wonder what he kept on the parcel shelf. Maybe some marrons glaces?

And I do think as well it's an odd thing to have on a car journey.

Nobody's ever been, you know, with their kids, you know, travelling

for a couple of hours and the kids go,

"Oh, Dad, pass me a Medjool date."

It hardly a Haribo or a Werther's Original.

"Oh, have you got any candied lemons?"

LAUGHTER

Moving on to Tom, he decided to give his breakfast pastries

a literal touch by piling some breakfast on top of them.

Let's see how Mary felt about the idea.

The flavour is quite similar to

when you get to the end of your bowl of cereal

and you drink the milk.

LAUGHTER

Mary very much the CEREAL killer there.

LAUGHTER

Let's see what Paul thought of them.

That's... Do you know what? I'm not going to. That's fine.

AUDIENCE: Aww.

At which point in the baking process did Tom go wrong there?

I think from the very beginning, the choice of ingredients.

I mean, why on earth would you want to put cereal in a Danish pastry?

It's just wrong. You have a bowl of cereal,

then you have maybe something savoury,

and then you have your sweet Danish.

It's called breakfast.

LAUGHTER

I think I agree with Michel.

He's trying to be different, but not in a good way.

I mean, he must think that's great, otherwise he wouldn't be doing it.

But I think it's a bit misguided.

I don't know who's tasting his stuff at home, but...

Who's saying it's OK to talk to Mary Berry

about drinking your cereal milk?

Nobody would say that in front of Mary!

She obviously never has cereal with milk.

What does she have? She just has a few seeds,

and then she goes out and she dances in the fields.

LAUGHTER

And he's always so flustered all the time and always looks so down

and so hard on himself. Even if they're closing in on somebody else

who is looking quite happy with what they're doing,

you still see Tom in the background going, "Oh, God, what have I done?

"I've forgotten to put anything in the bowl!"

LAUGHTER

But I don't mean to be unkind.

LAUGHTER

The Technical was a traditional Bakewell tart.

As Andrew put his tart into the oven

we witnessed something inside the tent which defied explanation.

THUNDERCLAP

It was one of the most extraordinary mysteries of all time.

It's not looking very baked.

The question was why?

I'm not actually sure what the top of it is meant to look like when it's baked.

Would the mystery ever be solved?

Oh, my word!

The oven wasn't on.

LAUGHTER

Yes, the mystery WAS solved.

Turning the oven on is quite a basic part of baking, surely, Tom?

I think what's really worrying about this is that

for a living Andrew designs aeroplanes.

LAUGHTER

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I just completely forgot to put any wings on it."

Such a basic thing.

Is that what it's like in the tent? Is it very...?

Is it easy to forget things?

I always used to put the oven on straightaway. Really? Before...

Yeah. It's a bit like turning up at the tent and going,

"Oh, my goodness, I haven't got any trousers on!"

Several of the bakers looked concerned for Andrew.

Although Tom wasn't one of them.

LAUGHTER

Let's round off our chat with a trip down memory lane for Mary.

She's remembering the days when she made filo pastry in college.

At least I hope she is.

We pulled it. And we couldn't keep a straight face,

cos you always got somebody else to pull it with you.

LAUGHTER

Let's see what our studio audience have pulled out of the bag.

It's time to have a look at some of your bakes.

Natalie, where are you?

Hello, Natalie. Hello. Now, what have you made for us?

I have made the gingham altar.

AUDIENCE GASPS

So you've got Bread Week, Batter Week,

Cake Week, Pastry Week and Biscuit Week. It is amazing.

Thank you. It's had the required "ooh" effect as well.

Yeah. Thank you very much, Natalie, thanks.

Amarpreet, now you're quite a fan of one particular baker,

I believe.

So we've made a Rav-berry pie. Um...

LAUGHTER

APPLAUSE

What's inside?

Is it lime and coconut, which he seems to put in every single bake he does?

It should have been, but instead it's actually blueberry,

cherry and dark chocolate.

But I have to say the idea wasn't ours, it was my sister Gurpal's,

but she's not here today. So...

Is she in hospital with food poisoning?

LAUGHTER

She might be later on. Bless her!

Thanks for showing us your Rav-berry tart.

He'll be absolutely thrilled by that.

APPLAUSE

Samantha, where are you? I'm here. Hi, Samantha.

You've been inspired by Pastry Week, I think.

Yeah, I've made a garden from it.

So I've got a sugar-crust pastry pot,

some trowels and a fork

and some flowers from puff pastry.

Is that chocolate soil? It is.

It's made from crushed-up chocolate biscuit.

Michel, what do you think of that?

I think that's really, really innovative, fun and,

no doubt, delicious.

Thank you. I might put my finger in it later.

LAUGHTER

APPLAUSE

Emily, where are you? Hi, Emily. What have you got there?

So this is a Bloody Mary Berry quiche.

Oh, OK. Oh.

So it has Tabasco,

Wor-ces-ces-tershire sauce...

LAUGHTER

..the slightest dash of vodka.

I think I hovered it over the mixing bowl.

And celery and tomato.

Wow. OK, Tom, would you like to...? Sure.

MICHEL: If you've you got all the flavours of a classic Bloody Mary, that'd be great.

This looks lovely. Does it? Really? No, not really.

LAUGHTER It does, it does.

Michel... Oh, look how nice! Oh!

Oh! Thank you.

Oh!

I don't like quiche normally.

It's the sort of thing they serve in National Trust properties.

Ooh. But I like the idea of this. It sounds a lot more interesting.

I always think with quiche, the posher you are,

the runnier your quiche is.

It's the same with omelettes, isn't it?

We used to have solid omelettes when we were kids as well.

Whereas actually omelettes properly cooked are just meant to be

quite sort of liquid inside, aren't they?

Baveuse in French. Baveuse? Yes.

That's what my son's called.

LAUGHTER

Um, so how are we?

What do we think?

If you would like some feedback...

LAUGHTER

Do I have any choice?!

I've not tested it yet. But I think these...

these ceramic pots are not the best for pastry. Oh.

I agree with you, because you end up with... Yeah. ..a soggy bottom.

I didn't even look at the bottom.

EMILY: Oh, no, a proper soggy bottom!

A proper soggy bottom. But that filling actually is quite nice.

Yeah. The flavours are good.

Maybe a drop more Tabasco. Thank you very much.

Well done. Thank YOU very much.

And thanks very much to all our studio bakers. Thank you.

Back now to the tent and it's time to meet the bake listener

who always insisted on doing things her way,

even if it was the wrong way.

Will you please give a warm welcome to Val?

CHEERING

Hello. Are you all right? Nice to see you. Have a seat.

Val, it's an absolute pleasure to meet you.

Did you enjoy the experience? I loved it. Every minute of it.

It was great fun. Absolute great fun. And a hoot.

And I met such lovely people. It was wonderful.

Aww. Sadly, Pastry Week was to be your last.

You said yourself that you'd reached your limit. Yeah.

In what way did you feel your limit had been reached?

I'm an old age pensioner. I bake at home.

I have coffee breaks and tea breaks and I couldn't just keep up

with the time management. And that was what did it.

To not be able to have a sit down? Yes. And listen to Ken Bruce? Yes.

I'm a pensioner and I know what that feels like, too.

Now, Mary had mixed comments about your piquant pinwheels.

Let's see how you dealt with that.

They're a very good buttery flavour,

but they're a little bit underdone underneath.

I actually like them a little bit soft in the middle. Really?

LAUGHTER

Yes, really, Val? Yes, I wasn't kidding.

Do you really like your pastries underdone?

I like... They're more substantial and they last longer if you chew them, you see.

LAUGHTER

Now, you had an unfortunate time of it in the Bakewell Technical

when you realised you hadn't read the first page of the recipe.

That was terrible. How did that happen?

They very kindly would put it on two sheets for me -

I'm vain and I wouldn't put my glasses on -

and I could read it easily.

And I took the top sheet out and didn't see the bottom sheet

that had the recipes in it.

So I was winging it, I was making it up.

I weighed everything and thought, "Well, I can make pastry,

"but I need two eggs and... I can't put one in the pastry."

And that's what happened.

Let's have a look at the one page that you found.

I am intrigued by the fact that you thought the instructions

started at number five.

LAUGHTER

As I watched you doing the Technical

I couldn't help wondering if there was a single thing that you did

that you were actually asked to do.

We'll just have a quick recap, right?

You were supposed to add one teaspoon of almond essence.

I'd have put two in.

LAUGHTER

The judges were looking for thin pastry.

I made it a bit thicker.

LAUGHTER

And they wanted the be pastry to be blind-baked thoroughly.

I wouldn't normally bake it blind,

so I'm going to just bake it a short while blind. Five minutes.

LAUGHTER

So you do very much do things your own way, don't you? Very much so.

At my age I'm allowed to. LAUGHTER

Now, we must talk about your Bread Week Showstopper. Yep.

LAUGHTER

It was Noah's Ark, in case anyone's wondering.

I looked up the word "ambitious" in the dictionary the other day, Val,

and there was a picture of your Showstopper next to it.

LAUGHTER

But were you pleased with how it turned out?

I could have brought the one and said, "This is the one I did earlier."

It would have been better.

But, yeah, it was what it was.

I'm very creative, very... flamboyant.

And that's what I made. So...

Well, as usual, you went your own way when it came to

interpreting the story of Noah's Ark.

Um, you made just one of each animal.

I mean, was that deliberate or did you miss that page from the Bible

like you did with the Bakewell tart?

LAUGHTER

It was deliberate!

Cos I think it is fair to say that you really struggled with time

in the tent. Yep.

I mean, I wondered whether one of the reasons why your bakes

weren't always finished on time

was because they were too busy chatting to you.

I listen to my cakes and they're not ready.

LAUGHTER

What sounds are you actually listening for there?

In Northumberland they have what they call a singing hinny.

A singing...? A singing hinny. It's a cake.

And when it's cooking it bubbles and makes a noise.

And if you lift the cake up to your ears you can hear it.

And if it's still sizzling and crackling it's not baked.

And that's what I do. Does that ring any bells with you?

It certainly does.

I've always said you should use all your senses...

Yes. ..when you're cooking and baking. That includes listening.

Yes. Absolutely. Couldn't agree more. Well done. Thank you.

APPLAUSE

Well, we've actually managed to record what that cake was saying...

Er, and I wonder when you last had a hearing test.

Have a look at this.

And I listen to my cakes.

'I'm ready, Val. I'm ready.'

And they're not ready. 'No, Val, I am ready!'

LAUGHTER

What were you proudest of in the tent?

Just getting there.

AUDIENCE: Aw. Just getting there.

That was the proudest...

To be there, to walk down those steps,

to put your apron on and stand...

It was absolutely a privilege and an honour. It was brilliant. Yeah.

APPLAUSE

Now, here on Extra Slice we do give you the opportunity to have

another go at a bake that maybe didn't go quite to plan in the tent.

So which one of the bakes have you brought along?

Well, being my usual self,

I didn't do the recipe that you're supposed to.

And I didn't bring one, I brought two.

And they're not both the same. I brought the ones I wanted to make.

So please would you try both of them?

Yes. With pleasure. Okey dokey. What's the first one?

That has got home-made jam in. So that's a Bakewell tart?

Yes. A Bakewell tart. OK. Let's start to slide that over. OK.

And what's the next one?

And because we don't like a lot of icing on ours,

this is the Christmas one.

Oh. It's got home-made mincemeat in the bottom.

So this is coming over your way as well.

Which is your favourite of these two?

It think it's the mincemeat. Yeah? The mincemeat. Tom?

I love it. Thumbs up there.

But Tom's not a professional, so I see you're glancing...

LAUGHTER ..worriedly at these two.

I'm sorry, Tom. No. I did get an A* in food technology.

LAUGHTER

I noticed. That's very good.

Michel?

For me, a little bit too much almond essence in there.

It's the two teaspoons that did it. Yeah. Yeah.

And you're still doing an answer for everything, aren't you?

Well done, Val. Nancy, what do you think? Delicious, Val.

Absolutely delicious. So, big thumbs up on the pink one.

Now we'll go for the Christmas one.

I love this Christmas one. Yum.

Cos a mince pie is often quite...over the top, isn't it?

But it's nice to have a bit of... What are we calling this? Amandine? Frangipane?

I don't know, Michel. What would you call it?

Yummy.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Now, we've made you one of our special cakes.

Oh, Tom, don't look so worried.

You're nearly there, you are nearly there. Oh, dear.

Imagine if I dropped it!

Fantastic. Oops. Oooh...

Well done. Nice to have a bit of drama, isn't it?

Thanks, Tom.

So, here's you standing in front of the Empire State Building.

APPLAUSE

Wonderful.

Will you please give Val a great British send-off?

CHEERING

Well done.

So, finally, I've heard that Paul suffered a slight wardrobe malfunction

after returning from a comfort break recently.

So Mary has agreed to take responsibility

for making sure it doesn't happen again.

I will look not into his face, I'll look at the top of his zip.

LAUGHTER

That's it for this week.

A big thank you to Val, to all of our studio bakers

and to our celebrity panel, Michel Roux Jr...

APPLAUSE

..Nancy Birtwhistle... Thank you.

..and Tom Allen.

Next week it's Botanical Bakes, whatever that is. See you at 9.30.

Until then, goodbye.

Unparalleled talent, unprecedented access.

BBC Two takes a sneaky peek behind the celebrity curtain.

One piece of advice...

Go out there, grab it with both hands and stick it in your mouth.

Job done!

Easy peasy, get yourself a catchphrase.

And baaaaaake!