Pastry The Great British Bake Off

Week seven of the Bake Off, and I think, between us,

-we've committed all seven of the deadly sins.

-Gluttony, natch.

Lust, I mean some of those buns are...very attractive.

-Sloth.

-Pies, pies. Wrath, yeah, Paul's got that covered.

Envy. Ooh, now, did Deborah steal Howard's custard?

And pride!

And goodness only knows we've got precious little of that left.

Welcome to the Great British Bake Off.

Last time...

Ooh, no, no, it's terribly wrong.

Sweet dough proved bitter for some.

Oh!

I can't taste the peach.

And Howard's time in the tent was up.

Oh, bless!

It should have been me.

But Ruby's sweet buns...

They're delicious.

..saw her crowned Star Baker for the second time.

Now the remaining six bakers face a pastry marathon.

It's going to be very tight.

A suet signature...

That's perfecto!

..that brings back the horrors of school dinners.

No, don't burn that bit! Grrr!

I've never known my hand to shake!

One hell of a technical challenge...

What an ugly bunch of nuns!

And a Showstopper...

Oh, God!

..that leaves them out of puff.

This is so stressful!

And with a place in the quarterfinals up for grabs,

the bakers are at breaking point.

-Get a grip.

-Thanks.

-Just get a grip.

-Thank you.

Get a ruddy grip!

Now there are six main types of pastry.

I bet you can't name them all.

Oh, um, sweet crust, shortcrust, suet, puff, hot water crust...

Choux? Yes?

-Look, I'm working here, I'm busy!

-(It's pastry week.)

The fact that I'm in the final six tells me

that I'm actually OK at doing this baking malarkey.

Obviously, I got Star Baker last week, which was great.

I think I feel more confident, I'm getting a bit more confident.

The last man standing.

Last week, I was very lucky to stay.

My approach is just to get back to enjoying it.

Good morning. Welcome to this Signature Challenge, bakers.

This morning, Paul and Mary are asking for a heart-warming classic.

It's a suet pudding, please.

It can be sweet or savoury, should be family-sized, should be delicious.

Now, your puds can be steamed, boiled, baked,

but you've got three hours to make it.

The sun is shining, all is well.

-On your marks.

-Get set.

-Bake!

This is not something I usually do.

Practising this was the first time I'd ever done a suet pudding,

and I think it might be, like, the second time

I'd ever eaten a suet pudding, so it's all a bit new.

It's not terribly difficult, making a pudding like this,

but what you have got to do is keep it light,

and it must be well cooked,

because a slightly raw, heavy, suet pudding is no joy.

Suet is the hard white fat that surrounds the kidneys

and loins of sheep and cattle.

Grated, it's combined with flour, salt and liquid to make

a pastry that's both light in texture and rich in flavour.

If they've done it well, that is.

Suet pastry is old-fashioned, really.

People don't make it very often.

The mistakes will be when it comes to adding the liquid.

Too much, they won't be able to handle it.

If they don't add enough, it'll be too dry and crumbly.

What I'm looking for is a lovely, crispy exterior.

Inside must be nice and soft. The last thing I want is stodgy suet.

It's revolting.

I am making a big roly-poly pudding,

and my pudding is baked.

So it is a bit more fig roll than jam roly-poly.

Criticised in the past for focusing too much on the look of her bakes,

this week Frances is concentrating on flavour.

Her fig roly-poly pudding has a swirl of fig and thyme honey,

and comes with caramelised walnut and honey ice cream.

So can you tell us about the pastry itself?

It's actually got ground almonds in. Because I'm baking it,

it adds an extra moistness and an even nuttier taste,

and then I'm serving it with a honey lemon ice cream

with caramelised walnuts with a hint of goat's cheese.

Hint of goat? In your ice cream?! How's that going to work?

I know, seemed quite controversial.

I've lowered the level of goat as the week's gone on.

He was out the paddock initially,

so he should just be a little subtle hint.

-A kid.

-A little kid.

-A whiff of kid.

-OK, good luck.

-Baa!

Thank you.

As well as traditional suet, there's also a vegetarian option,

made synthetically from palm oil and rice flour.

I've only eaten pastry and suet pudding all week

so I'm not feeling very sprightly now.

I'm using vegetable suet. It seems to work fine,

it doesn't taste any different or anything like that.

Ruby's vegetarian offering is a plum jam roly-poly with ginger ice cream.

But this week her suet practice bakes have had to compete

with a new addition to her life.

This is really, really sad but actually, we got a new cat

so I've just been playing with the cat all the time,

so I don't want to bake - I've just been having fun with Rupert.

So I always knew I'd end up a crazy cat lady, and it's finally happened.

I am experienced with suet pastry

because this is my husband's most favourite dessert in the universe.

Spotted dick suet pudding.

I'm putting a little chopped ginger into my fruit.

We like it, so I hope Paul and Mary will like it.

Christine's playing it safe with her tried and tested classic,

spotted dick with a vanilla custard ice cream.

I'm going to do it in the traditional way

my grandma used to do it.

Rolled in the muslin and steamed.

And you've incorporated the fruit actually in the suet crust itself?

Now what I did, Mary, was, I rolled out my suet crust

and put half the fruit on, rolled it again,

put the other half of the fruit on, because I found when you cut

the slices, you've got more dough, fruit, rather than all fruit.

That's very simple, very classic, and it's got to be very good.

Mary, I sincerely hope it is.

Kimberley is bravely attempting a modern twist on the same classic.

It's a spotted dick by any other name, but there aren't any currants

in it, I've replaced those with Persian berries.

These are barberries. Flavour-wise they are kind of a cross between

a sharp cranberry and a raisin.

I think I have issues with authority,

I don't like being told what to do, so even when I get a recipe

I kind of decide I'm going to do something else instead.

In addition to her barberries, Kimberley is adding dried apple

to her spotted dick, and they're not just there for flavour.

That'll absorb some of the liquid as it steams and swells up.

It'll help to dry the pudding out a little bit,

and help to keep it kind of light and airy. Hopefully.

While she's taking care to reduce moisture, Glenn is piling it in.

Agen prunes, and Armagnac.

If the bake doesn't go well, I'll just drown my sorrows.

HE BREATHES IN DEEPLY

While most bakers are making sweet puddings,

Beca is attempting a savoury take on the suet pud.

I'm just getting a little bit of colour on the meat

just so it seals,

and I just need the vegetables to be parboiled as well.

Beca usually tries to incorporate some traditional Welsh flavour

to her baking, and today she's making a spring lamb

and vegetable suet pudding with redcurrant gravy.

The traditional dish in Wales is cawl,

and it's based on that originally, so I've got the leek

and the carrot and swede, with lamb inside the pudding.

So the actual pastry itself goes round the outside.

How do you combat all the juice coming out of the mixture,

the vegetables and the meat?

That's why I've parboiled things and browned things off.

First time I did it I put things in raw.

That didn't work - as soon as I cut it, there was juice everywhere.

But this way of doing it, I know things are going to be cooked

and there's not liquid coming out and it's holding its shape.

OK, thanks, Beca.

The bakers can shape their suet puddings any way they like.

As a pie,

a cake,

or Chelsea bun roll.

I've wrapped it in a buttered grease-proof paper

and I've put a pleat in the top so that as the pudding expands

it doesn't compress because it can't go anywhere.

This is the pan, it's actually a milk loaf pan

but I wanted to use something that would give it a nice shape,

so I'm going to butter and sugar the inside of it,

which helps give it a nice crust.

I'm surprised to be here after last week, but happy to be here.

Like all knocks in life, pick yourself up and get on with it.

Glenn has often struggled with his timings, but is hoping

his prune and Armagnac suet pudding will run like clockwork.

This particular pudding. How much did you expect that to rise,

right up to the top and be pushing against the top?

Yes, I've actually got a little bit, but I hope not too much, mixture

left over, because I do want it to come up to the top

but also I don't want to have made a tin to keep it stodgy and stop it

having the right rise, so I've had to experiment a bit with that.

You're also bang on trend.

That is very summer into autumn clutch bag, 2013.

Well, obviously I was thinking about that!

Rock the clutch, Glenn. Rock the clutch!

-Amazing.

-Good luck.

-Thank you.

Right, I'm going to pop this now in my steamer.

Suet puddings can be boiled, steamed, or baked.

This is just some vanilla sugar,

that gives it a bit of crispy crunch like you'd find on a fig roll.

And each method presents its own challenges,

affecting the taste and texture of the pudding.

Seal the pudding off. I'm just doing a little handle,

so it's easier to get out later, because it'll be hot.

That's going to steam/boil for an hour and a half.

Many of our favourite puds traditionally used suet

to bind the ingredients together, but on the Isle of Mull,

suet binds the entire community.

Sticky!

The island of Mull is one of the best examples

of the tradition of Scottish crofting.

Since the early 1700s,

families rented small areas of land called crofts,

where they reared animals and grew produce to feed their family.

The crofter on Mull

mainly produced vegetables, potatoes and grain.

Other than that, there's nothing for them to produce

because the land is so bare, so hard, that they had to take

a small area of land and make the most of it.

As well as their own smallholding, the crofters shared communal land

that was harder to farm, so was used for grazing and foraging.

This shared responsibility resulted in a strong sense of community.

The crofter would never be isolated, and whatever job had to be done,

they would all turn their hand to it.

Taking in driftwood, taking home fish from the catch,

taking the boat ashore, whatever was necessary,

they would all band together and the job was done.

The community spirit affording to them was unique.

Community celebrations were typically marked

with a suet pudding known as the clootie dumpling.

The main ingredients are

flour, raisins, sugar and suet.

The suet was readily available

because it's the fatty membrane surrounding the kidney

of the animal. In most cases it would have been a sheep.

The suet prevents the ingredients seeping out into the pan.

Over the years, as transportation of goods from the mainland improved,

the recipe evolved and imported spices and treacle were added

to enhance the flavour of the dumpling,

but the cooking method has remained the same for centuries.

Clootie is an old Scottish word for cloth.

It's a very tight cotton cloth.

The mixture is put in the middle of the clootie

and then it's tied with string.

And everybody's cloth is special and you look after it

because you have it for your lifetime.

Traditionally, the dumpling is boiled for three hours before

being dried in front of an open fire.

Clootie dumpling was received by many people, and still is,

at celebrations, births, weddings and ceilidhs.

It would be a way that a community could almost come together

with a good, big clootie dumpling.

45 minutes remain in the Suet Signature Challenge.

That's had about an hour-and-a-half, and it only needs two hours

so, hopefully, it should be good to go in a little bit,

so I'm just preparing my custard.

I'm really chilled out.

It's mysterious, you know, week seven,

I should be much more anxious than this

but, so far, everything is going to plan and I've got plenty of time.

As this goes on, I don't feel any less stressed,

just as the standard is getting higher, as well,

so you just can't be making any mistakes.

That's a worry.

I'm just mixing condensed milk

with goat's cheese for my ice cream.

I don't want someone getting a whole chunk of goat.

There's a bit of goat, but he's not kicking too much.

Butterscotch sauce, I don't mind a little bit

of the raw alcohol flavour, so you get a sense of what it is,

but I try and get it so that they'll both be happy.

Enough booze to keep Mary happy

but not the raw alcohol flavour that will offend Paul.

Ho, ho! How good does that smell?!

Hello, Christine, you're lost in custard.

-Good morning, I am lost in custard.

-What's your earliest memory of suet?

My grandma doing one of these.

That's my earliest memory of suet.

When you're doing something like a spotted dick, which is a classic,

-I've added a little bit of ginger to give it a kick.

-Yeah.

-You can't change it too much.

-No!

Otherwise it's not a spotted dick any more, it's something else.

It's just a ginger dick otherwise.

I mean, which is good.

I'm just, basically, trying to get all this goodness

off the bottom of the pan to go into the gravy.

Our gravy is never this thin and normally there's a vat load,

because in our family once you've had your Sunday roast

you mop up the gravy with your bread,

so this is posh gravy.

Half an hour left, bakers. Half an hour on your signature suet.

I'm just going to take the pudding out now.

Whoops, we're breaking, which is good because it means it's light.

There's quite a lot of butter running out

which isn't very attractive.

It looks like how it's supposed to look, I don't know what

it's like inside, obviously, but...

hopefully, it's all right.

Oh, my God that smells amazing.

Crusty...

That's perfecto.

That's quite nice, isn't it?

Some of it's stuck, which isn't ideal.

To give an extra bit of texture, I'm going to sift some sugar on the top

which will crisp up.

Also hopefully hiding the bit where the mixture clearly stuck.

I don't know how to make the grill hotter.

It doesn't seem to be doing much. We'll try that.

The last thing I want to do is burn it.

Do you like goat?

Are you getting goat?

Too much goat?

That's just not looking good.

That's really good custard.

I'm really happy with that.

The bit I was hoping to hide,

the sugar is drawing attention to it in a big white flash.

I think what we might do...

blow torch.

Amazing!

No, don't burn that bit!

Grrrr!

Bakers, the suet crisis is nearly over, one minute please.

That's very good if I say so myself.

You clever, clever boy.

It's a pity that's broken

but I don't think it will detract from the taste.

That is an amazing piece of work,

let's have a little sniffingtons.

-Happy...

-Hello, sailor.

-Cheers.

Bakers, your Signature Challenge is over.

How boozy is this sauce? Is it...?

There's a fair bit of Armagnac in it

-but I'm hoping I've cooked it off a bit.

-Very standard.

Even for me, there's too much alcohol in there.

I love it!

What's happened? What's happened?

-That's weird.

-That is weird, isn't it?

Have you been palate swapping this weekend?

That's delicious, the textures, the prunes are baked really well.

I was really worried how much mixture you'd put into the tin

because I thought you'd put too much in and it would give a very

close texture. You hadn't put too much in and the texture is fine.

Oh...

It's absolutely beautifully flavoured.

It's lovely, it's quite close textured

-but it tastes beautiful, doesn't it?

-I love that ice cream.

-Thank you.

-That's really good as well.

-I love the plums that are going through it.

-Yeah.

If that was on a menu, I'd choose that, yeah.

-Oh, hello.

-Doesn't that look attractive!

I was a bit concerned you adding ground almonds

but I can see there's a lovely texture.

There is a hint of the cheese.

I don't really like goat's cheese,

but the hint actually goes with the sweetness of the fig,

and the fig roly-poly is fantastic.

Very, very good flavours.

Well thought through and you haven't concentrated too much on the style,

-you concentrated on substance, well done.

-Thank you.

Well, it's holding together, Beca, isn't it?

You've actually got a tender meat, but your vegetables

are just about cooked as well, and that gravy is beautiful.

-But I think you could have got away with a little less suet crust.

-OK.

It's quite a lot, would you say that would serve six or eight?

My family, maybe four!

It's an awful lot of suet crust.

I was looking at it as an intimate meal for two, to be honest!

But you've got your flavours right. It's good, isn't it?

-Yeah, I think it works.

-Thank you.

-Cracking Welsh pud, well done.

Very good flavours.

The barberries are quite sharp, aren't they?

I think what you've got is you've got this huge sort of sourness, which I love by the way,

and then you've got the sweetness coming through in the custard.

That is steamed perfectly.

Extremely good.

-You've got a split there, what happened?

-I'm not quite sure,

just when I unwrapped the buttered grease-proof, it was like that.

It's got a beautiful texture,

you've cleverly got the fruit all the way through.

Everything about that is right.

It's moist, it's got good colour, the ginger even helps it,

and the ice cream is perfect.

That's a really nice dish.

That's delicious.

I don't know where they're going because I'm not leaving.

I'm over the moon, I knew that the pudding would be good.

I'm just hoping it's what Paul and Mary like,

and they obviously did.

I've done it a few times to practise,

that's the best it's ever turned out, so brilliant.

They liked the pudding, they liked the taste, yeah, really pleased with everything.

That is exactly what I wanted to hear,

that I'd got sophisticated style, with good substance,

with a goat in there for good measure.

With suet success all round, spirits in the tent are high.

So, it's time to bring them back down to Earth, with a bump.

Bakers, time for the Technical Challenge.

Now this recipe today is one of old laser eyes herself, Mary Berry's.

-Look at them, just boring in.

-Terrified.

Terrified, I can't look at her.

So Mary, Paul, I'm going to have to ask you to leave,

off they go, to the love dungeon there.

-Off they go.

-Should tip him upside down and check he's not got a soggy bottom?

Paul and Mary would like you please to make

eight religieuses which means "nun" in French.

Eight little nuns, a French classic, made from choux pastry.

They should be filled with creme patissiere,

smothered in chocolate ganache

and piped with whipped cream.

You've got two hours to bake and present your religieuses.

I've never eaten a nun before.

On your marks.

Get set.

# Bake! #

I have never made these.

I don't even know quite how to pronounce it.

I've eaten plenty of these, I've never made one.

I know what one of these is meant to look like,

so that's a start.

Even though I've made choux pastry quite often,

I feel physically sick.

It's not very complicated.

I think people are scared of it much more than they need to be

because it's actually very simple.

-Oh, wow.

-This'll take careful baking.

Firstly they must make choux pastry.

They've got to get it to the right consistency,

it's got to be stiff enough to pipe.

They must make creme patissiere, if it's too runny it'll ooze out,

if it's too stiff they won't get it out of the end of the piping tube.

The ganache has to be done carefully, hasn't it?

It's quite tricky to get that wonderful shine.

This is without doubt a difficult Technical Challenge.

They had it easy with the suet crust, I think,

this is going to sort them out.

Choux is different to all other pastries

as it's first cooked in a pan.

I've got my water and butter in here.

Once the butter's melted,

then I need to get my flour in all in one go and give it a beat.

Beginning to cook off now, and it'll go a bit stiffer

as the flour cooks a bit.

Then you whisk in eggs

and that's the part you've got to get right.

Mary's recipe doesn't specify how thick...

It's a good work-out.

..the choux paste should be.

I would have expected it to be a bit thicker.

I think I just have to use my intuition a bit,

and just get to the stage where I recognise it as choux pastry.

What have I done. Calm down, Glenn, get it together.

I'm starting again, I've done choux like a million times,

and there's a stage after you've added the flour in

then you need to dry the mixture off a bit with plenty of heat,

and give it a sound beating before you add the eggs

and I've just shoved the eggs in.

Well, if I beat that over a high heat I'm going to end up

with a scrambled, floury mess, so scratch that

and start again.

Now normally when I make choux buns, I kind of do it into a ball,

but this says to pipe round discs.

Round discs, I'm terrible at piping,

absolutely abysmal at piping.

The shaping is important on this one because the whole of the bake

is about the shape, it's supposed to look like a little pastry nun.

It's about making sure you've got the right consistency

of your batter that's not too loose.

Batch number two, happy bunny.

I can feel the texture's right so I know it's going to pipe nicely

and then puff up nicely.

I'm just smoothing it out to fill the circle.

Once it's in the oven, it does tend to do its own thing.

Hopefully the right thing, which is puff up nicely, nice and brown.

A hot oven is crucial.

To get that all-important rise,

choux buns must be baked at a high temperature.

Come on babies, rise!

The moisture in the paste quickly turns to steam,

puffing the pastry into hollow shells.

Well, my little ones are puffing up well.

Yeah, they've puffed up nicely, I'm happy with that.

Quite flat...

They haven't risen up like a choux bun should.

Rubbish!

This has never happened before at home, ever.

Ever.

How are your hot nuns?

Ooo...

Amen, Beca.

So that is so you can get the filling in?

But also to let any additional steam out so that the inside dries out.

Bakers, you've got half an hour left of nun bun fun.

Half an hour left.

OK, make the creme pat, make the chocolate ganache.

Just make stuff, just make it!

So you want like a nice, thick, glossy consistency.

I just want to make it extra smooth and silky, it is for nuns after all!

That is some darn good looking creme pat you've got there, Christine.

It's not bad, is it?

If it's too runny, it'll ooze out of every little crevice,

every little hole.

Ugh!

Production line, inject those nuns.

My technique is to go right down to the top

and just keep going until it spills out, really.

My days...

That's like filling the car up with petrol, isn't it?

Oh!

The texture is all wrong, too thin,

creme pat, big mistake.

Messy, messy.

Five minutes, bakers, before those nuns meet their maker.

Five minutes.

Just dipping the big ones,

that's all quite successful.

So all the cream is just going to stream out the bottom.

I think when Mary comes to taste them, she'll know.

I don't think I'd be able to cover it up with ganache,

or filling, to be honest.

Mary's too canny for that.

This is where a judicious shove might just..

-Oh, that's very precarious!

-Oh, that's brilliant.

-That's scary.

It's looking good.

Oh, we've got a decapitated nun! She's down!

Oh...

This is just a fiddly nightmare,

this is just the kind of stuff I hate.

Would you stop falling over?

Bakers, in one minute, the abbey bell will toll

and all the little nuns need to come scurrying up to the table.

I've never known my hand to shake!

What an ugly bunch of nuns!

-OK, bakers, time's up.

-SHE SIGHS

Let's eat.

As the bakers bring their religieuses up to be judged,

there's nothing more they can do.

Fortunately, Mary and Paul have no idea whose bakes are whose.

I think we've got good batches here, don't you?

Most of them do look all similar sizes.

There's one that doesn't,

but shall we start from this one?

These are very tall nuns, aren't they?

There's a bit of an issue there with the creme patissiere,

it's just runny.

It's a good flavour and the choux pastry itself is crisp.

These are pretty good.

The creme patissiere is just the right consistency

and it holds the whole thing together.

The chocolate looks good, all look pretty even,

nice pipe work round the outside as well. I like that.

And this one...

It's a nice bake. The texture on the choux bun is good.

But the creme pat is positively runny.

These baby fellas, this has had a few issues

with the choux pastry itself, it's too small and it's also burnt.

Tastes a little burnt.

-A lot of chocolate on this, isn't there, crispy though.

-Mm-hm.

-Lovely shine on the icing, good piping.

-A bit irregular though.

Not quite perfect.

-And the last one...

-The piping is poor round the outside.

-If you see it's sort of dot and carry one there.

-Tastes good.

-Creme patissiere's a good consistency.

-OK.

It's decision time.

Paul and Mary will now rank the bakers in reverse order.

Right, in sixth place is this one, obviously.

Christine, it was burnt and there was not enough rise in the choux.

And so number five here, the creme patissiere was a bit runny.

And number four is this one.

Good pipe work around the outside,

creme pat is very good inside, it's nice and stiff,

the only issue I had was inconsistency in size.

And who's number three here?

It would have even gone higher if it hadn't been such a runny creme pat.

And number two is this one.

Good layer of chocolate, the profiterole was nice and crispy

and the creme pat was good.

And who is number one?

Yay, well done, Beca!

APPLAUSE

Evenly baked, lovely creme patissiere,

neat piping, well done.

Thank you. Thank you.

I'm so chuffed, I've just been wanting to be top

in the technical ever since week one. It's amazing to have it now.

I came third, what I like is that even when you're in the middle

of the pack, when it's a small number

that's still a bronze medal, Hurray!

What can I say? They were rubbish.

But I knew they were. I've done one good bake.

That was obviously poor, tomorrow's just got to be good.

A brand-new day in the bake off tent.

And the bakers have reached the final leg of their pastry marathon.

Morning, bakers, and welcome to the Showstopper Challenge.

Now today, we're looking for three types of puff pastry.

Now think palmier, think lattice,

think pinwheel, mainly think massive horn.

We'd like one type filled, one type iced,

you can do whatever you want with the final type

but we need 12 of each.

Now no presh, but you are baking for a place in the quarterfinal, OK?

You've got four hours, bakers. On your marks...

-Get set.

-Bake!

Of all the pastries the bakers have tackled so far,

puff is the most technically challenging

and time consuming to make.

I've made flaky pastry and rough puff pastry

but never full-on puff pastry. There's a lot of processes.

It just takes for ever,

and we don't have for ever, so that's what is worrying.

To make a full-blooded puff pastry you need time,

you need patience and you need precision.

It's all about the lamination, building up the layers

of butter dough, butter dough. As the dough melts,

it creates steam and that brings up the layers of the two doughs

apart from each other, that's what gives it the rise.

We're looking for a very professional finish.

Every single one has got to be even,

good flavours, good textures,

and I think we should get a great variety.

Frankly, anybody who has a life, or a job, or a family, or friends

doesn't do this often.

The pastry itself I quite like making.

I think it's the whole process, I've really quite got into it, actually.

Puff pastry has a much higher fat content than short pastries,

often having the same quantity of flour and butter.

The remaining chilled butter is flattened

so that it can be encased in the dough.

Although I had a good day yesterday, I'm not sitting back.

I am going full speed ahead to get all the elements done

because I know that if I can pull it off like I have at home,

they're beautiful and I'm really happy with them.

Beca is making nectarine and frangipane squares,

sweet vol-au-vents filled with chocolate and hazelnut,

and strawberries and cream mille-feuilles.

That's the one that takes the most time towards the end.

The vol-au-vents and the filled squares, it's filling them and ensuring they're glazed and equal.

So how are you doing for time

because you haven't got your pastry in?

I'm OK, I've allocated the first two hours to pretty much

doing everything individually and I've got the middle hour

to bake and the last hour to assemble,

so really tight but it's worked.

We'll leave you in peace.

-I was going to say, would it help if we left?

-Probably, yes.

So you just seal the butter inside a kind of envelope of the pastry.

If you enclose it first, you get another additional set of layers,

you've already started with the layers,

I've got pastry, butter, pastry already

before I get round to even doing my first fold.

While most of the bakers

are sticking to the traditional method,

Glenn is ripping up the rule book.

I'm using the inverted

or inside-out puff method.

So rather than folding the butter inside the dough,

I'm rolling the dough inside the butter.

I've tried both ways and, for me, this works to give

a nice, light, flaky result.

Glenn is making caramelised apple and marzipan tartlets,

chocolate elephant ears,

and passion fruit mille-feuilles from his inside-out pastry.

-Yours is going to have butter on the outside?

-It's very hard to tell

but after the first few turns, the outside doesn't feel

like butter, it sort of feels like dough.

I'm not convinced... I think the traditional way,

-you can get extremely good results.

-Oh, no doubt. Yeah.

Your flavours are fairly straightforward,

I'm curious to see what the finished result is with this new pastry.

-We'll see.

-Good luck, Glenn.

This is the way the French do it.

I know there are other methods,

there's probably loads of different methods going on around the room,

this just works for me. So if it's not broke, don't fix it.

Frances is making French cream horns, sheet music mille-feuilles,

and bass clef palmiers, inspired by French singer, Edith Piaf.

-Is this your first turn?

-This is first, I'm going to do six in total

and then 20 minutes rest in the fridge.

You're handling that very well and it's not oozing out,

it looks fairly even all the way along.

-I always find, near the end, it gets easier to handle.

-This is my worst nightmare, this.

-It involves concentration and patience - two things I don't have.

-I enjoy doing it at home.

Initially I hadn't done a lot of pastry but I've quite got into it.

At the moment I'm using the book turns

because it gets you an extra layer, every layer helps.

It's a really funny dough to work with

because it looks really, really ugly for a while

and then after a few rolls, it's beautiful,

it's like an ugly duckling.

I'm about to embark on the first fold of the inverted puff pastry,

so this is the beurrage which is the cold butter...

then I shall enfold the pastry in the butter.

It seems crazy, but it works.

Although I have a point to prove now, because there was a certain

amount of scepticism and I can feel them watching me even as we speak.

I hope I prove them wrong!

I hope they eat their words

and say these are the best puff pastries we've ever had.

They won't go that far, let's not get carried away, Glenn.

I hope they say it works.

The pastry is put in the freezer between turns,

to allow the butter to chill and the dough to rest.

But there is no such luck for the bakers.

So I'm making the frangipane now whilst that's having a rest

and then...

fold, turn, fold, turn, rest.

Make more stuff.

Right...

it's knackering.

I'm just making my white chocolate ganache at the moment.

This is for the mille-feuilles,

so this is going to go in the lower layer and then...

And, then, other stuff in the upper layer.

More specifically, Ruby's mille-feuilles will be filled

with raspberry and passion fruit.

She's also making caramelised apple lattice

and Portuguese custard tarts.

The whole idea of doing the mille-feuilles

with the passion fruit, the raspberry and the chocolate,

are you going to portion each one once you've baked it as a log

or are you going to do them individually?

Um, I'm baking sheets and, then...

I'm not 100% sure whether I'm going to assemble and then cut

or cut and then assemble,

but it really does depend on how set my creme pat is and stuff like that.

I think you're winging it.

I'm trying not to wing it, I've done a lot of practising

but there's always things that need to be ironed out, there are always bits.

Good luck. Are you going to be all right for time, do you think?

I'm going to be really pushed for time.

At the moment, everything's going to plan and everything's to time,

maybe even... I wish I did have a time chart

because, maybe, I might be ahead of time.

The major part of today's bake will be the foundation,

which is getting a good puff, that's going to be the skill

and the technique that's really going be under scrutiny today.

Kimberley's puff pastries are pear, malt and butterscotch

mille-feuilles, blackberry and lemon creme brulee custard tarts,

and fig, orange and thyme galettes.

I was just checking to see how the butter was doing

and the butter is spread between the layers, which is good.

This goes back into the freezer for another ten minutes,

and then I'll give it its final turn.

Bakers, you're halfway through your showstopper, two hours gone,

two hours still to go.

The layers look OK in the puff, so I'm pleased about that.

I've divided my puff pastry for the mille-feuilles.

I'm rolling out three sheets that'll be baked

and then I'll trim them later.

You can cut them to size beforehand, some others are doing that.

I've worked hard to get as many layers as I can in the pastry

so I want it to come through once it's baked.

The colder the butter and the hotter the oven,

the better the rise in the puff pastry.

Weighing the sheets down helps control the rise,

resulting in thinner, crispier pastry.

I am on time, but you literally have no rest.

I just need to crack on.

I've got butter and I've just put some brown sugar in there.

I'm going to weigh off some currants, 14oz,

this is the mix for my Eccles cakes.

When I was a child, I called them fly pie.

I think a lot of people call them fly pie, which sounds horrible.

As well as her fly pies, Christine is making fresh fruit baskets

and lemon cream Eton Mess mille-feuilles.

I think you start feeling that you've got to do well and the

pressure's really on and I think you can probably not perform so well.

So I'm just going to do every stage as best I can

and produce the best I can.

If I've done that, then I'll be happy.

OK, pastry puffers, you've got one hour.

One hour left, thank you.

The base for the galette is in the oven now,

that just needs to puff up.

I might just give that a few more minutes.

There's so much to do,

I wanted nearly everything to be baked by now.

The mille-feuilles are in so that's good,

but other things need to be further ahead.

-(Quite a different atmosphere in here, isn't it?)

-Yeah, it is.

No-one's really talking to each other, are they?

-No, focusing on what needs to be done.

-Does that feel odd?

I'm quite glad actually to be here at the front,

just so I can't see behind me.

-Shall I tell you what's going on?

-No.

I'm just lining muffin tins for my custard tarts.

I hate being stressed out and this, for me,

is four hours of solid stress, heart pounding,

can't even function.

I thought I'd get used to the stress but it doesn't get better.

I'm just going to fill my Eccles cakes.

The secret is not to over-fill them

so that all the filling splurges out.

At this level and with the other bakers,

who are absolutely brilliant,

as well as it being great puff pastry and really nice fillings,

they've got to be finished off beautifully

and presented beautifully.

This is the palmier, so it has cinnamon sugar rolled in it,

so it ends up being flaky and crunchy.

I have seen them as big as a small child's head.

These might be big as a small adult's head.

I'm not putting too much of the frangipane in because the pastry

will puff up, the frangipane will spread out a bit, I'm just going to

put a little teaspoon of nectarine goodness that I made earlier.

It's going to be tight, it's going to be very tight,

but I can't think of what can go wrong,

I've just got to focus on each task in hand.

This is caramel to go on my tarts,

and I'm going to try to fix a verbena leaf inside,

so it looks like a stained glass window.

My Eccles cakes, they are in the oven.

And rising. Ohh, thank you.

Wowsers, what's that?

That is passion-fruit caramel.

MEL CHUCKLES

Smells absolutely phenomenal. Are you enjoying this, Ruby?

I'm seriously stressed out.

OK, now, do I need to slap you?

Well, save it for when I'm in a real...

Save it for the last five minutes,

-because that's when it's all going to go really wrong.

-OK.

Assemble and cut mille-feuilles.

'Meaning a thousand leaves,

'mille-feuille should be cut into thin, elegant pieces.'

Look at the rise on that.

It's like a pillow, Beca!

Pipe for Britain, Frances!

Gentle...gentle. It is quite tense, yes.

Agh!

Ugh, what a mess! I'm not having any fun.

This is not fun. This is not fun.

OK, bakers, five minutes left, five minutes left.

The pressure's getting to me.

I am pleased with them, I just... want to get finished!

Just cut, cut, just keep cutting, mate.

Oh, for the love of Pete!

-Mel?

-Yes, lovey?

I need a talking-to.

Right, sorry, give me one second.

-Get a grip.

-Thank you.

-Just get a grip, OK?

-Thank you.

-Get a ruddy grip.

I promised her I'd do that.

OK, bakers, ten seconds remaining.

Oh, God.

Nine...

This is so stressful.

..eight, seven...

Whatever state they're in, they're coming out.

..six... Ooh, nice. Five, four...

three, two, one.

Out of time!

It's nice.

HE SIGHS

I never want to go through four hours like that again.

They look shocking, but there are 12 portions,

and some of them aren't too bad.

They should be enough to keep me in.

Yeah. This is that magic pastry, isn't it?

I'm not convinced, it's more like a sweet pastry than a rough puff.

It's a buttery, rich pastry, but we haven't got the layers, have we?

You haven't got the layers, haven't got the flake.

They don't look appetising, do they?

They look awful, I mean, you look at that.

You don't need me to tell you,

the cinnamon in there as well is very strong.

Let's move on to the mille-feuilles.

-The flavour's all right.

-Mmm.

It's cream with icing, with pastry in-between. What's not to like?

-But they look hideous altogether, they're a mess.

-Agreed.

It looks like they've been dropped. Let's have a look at the tarts.

These look, I think, really pretty.

-Oh, dear.

-They do look borderline raw as well.

The flavour of the apple and marzipan is lovely

but the actual pastry itself underneath isn't quite cooked.

Hugely disappointed.

I have absolutely no idea where those four hours have gone,

or what I did, but I managed to come out the other side,

and I can hand on my heart say that running a marathon

is ten times easier than doing that.

You've got a hell of a rise from your puff pastry,

it's a very good pastry.

My issue is the finishing on them. There's no shine,

there's no elegance to it, it's sort of,

a bit of fruit inside that and baked off and that's it.

The mille-feuilles does look as though the pastry was

a little bit thick.

-Inside it looks quite raw, and quite wet inside the middle.

-OK.

OK, let's look at the vol-au-vents.

Good bake, good rise out of the puff as well.

Very flaky, very buttery.

-Good flavours, just a little more polish on the finish.

-OK.

-They certainly look impressive.

-Thank you.

You always have a theme, and this is a great theme.

It's got a good flake on that,

you can see that the colour's good all the way through.

Very good flavours, I'll go for that.

Right, the horn.

The pastry is in good layers, well cooked through.

I would have liked to have seen more of a deeper colour on it,

to be honest, but the flavour combinations

inside are delicious, the raspberry and the ripple is superb.

I think you've done really well.

Great flake on there, it's good.

It's a lovely flavour, little bit difficult to eat that

circle of caramel,

maybe it could have been crushed on the top.

Yeah, this is the tricky one. The base has fallen apart already.

The jelly on the top tastes fantastic, nice and zingy,

but the issue really is the puff pastry on the bottom,

it's just not bonded.

Um, they're a bit untidy, they are a bit untidy.

Portuguese tarts, technically they're burnt.

Well, the custard isn't overcooked, looking at it from the side,

there are no bubbles in there.

It actually tastes really nice.

It's just a pity that they're a little bit messy.

Quite a lot messy. But they don't half taste good.

-Thank you, Ruby. MEL AND SUE:

-Well done, Ruby.

If I get through, I'll be thrilled.

If I don't, I couldn't have done any better than I've just done.

And that's all I wanted to do.

Do you want to start with the Eccles cake, Mary?

A lovely traditional recipe,

just like you gave us before with your suet pudding.

They're well baked, masses of currants in there,

nice glaze on top.

It does taste good, the flake's good, I think it works.

Then we come to your mille-feuilles.

I don't know how well raw fruit goes with the mille-feuilles really.

The pastry is very, very good.

Now these look beautiful.

That's very delicious.

The baskets are unique, they look very uniform, great colour,

great puff, great flavour.

-Good, thank you.

-Thank you.

So, generally this weekend, a very high standard.

When you look at all three challenges,

Frances has done extremely well, I think,

Frances has been very consistent throughout.

What about Beca? Came first in the technical.

Yes, Beca did do well, but she's usually made use of her time

properly and she didn't do her glazing of the pastry.

I was expecting a little more from her, because she's got it within her.

Who's had problems?

Glenn has had problems.

He wanted to do his pastry in a different way from anybody else,

and it didn't really work.

-It just wasn't executed well today.

-What about Christine?

She had a tough day yesterday, she came out last in the technical.

She came back today.

She's very sensible the way she chooses her bakes.

To choose Eccles cakes, they were really absolutely delicious.

This is a tough decision for you two, only six left.

Going through to the quarterfinals, you don't take that lightly,

and if someone does fall off a cliff

then unfortunately they've got to go.

Bakers, all six of you, that was a heroic weekend.

Now I have the joy of announcing who Paul and Mary

have decided will be this week's Star Baker.

I think it's fair to say that this person really shouldn't

regrette rien,

and that she should literally go

and blow on her French horn of victory.

Frances, you're our Star Baker. Well done.

Finally! >

This week I get the sadder job of saying

who won't be joining us next week.

And the person leaving us is...

..Glenn.

You beautiful big bear, come on, let's turn him.

SHE GROANS

-MUFFLED:

-We'll miss you!

'I'm obviously very sad it's over. I don't know quite'

what's going to fill the huge gap that Bake Off will leave in my life.

And these guys, how class, they did a fantastic job.

I've done well, I've got a long way through

and I've absolutely loved it.

'I feel a great measure of relief'

and a great measure of sadness,

because of Glenn.

We shall so miss him.

I feel ecstatic, that whole style over substance,

I think the substance has shone through this weekend.

Quarterfinalist, amazing! Yay!

No, I did not, you nailed it.

I know everybody's supportive and we all get on,

but it's still a competition

and everybody wants to get as far as they physically can.

I think you will see a definite change in the atmosphere

in the tent next week. Watch this space I think.

Next time...

Oh, hello, cheeky!

..it's the quarterfinal.

I've just got to concentrate on each task

and not think about what could go wrong.

And the stress...

I can't believe this.

..is getting to the bakers.

It's not playing ball.

The judging gets harsher...

-Too bland.

-That was just brutal.

..the challenges get harder...

It feels like the most complex technical so far.

..the tension in the tent rises.

This is quite an important bake for me.

But who will survive to tell the tale?

Like the Incredible Hulk!

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