Biscuits The Great British Bake Off

We're a week in, we've said goodbye to one of the bakers,

11 remain standing and the summer stretches out before us.

-Like my waistline.

-I wondered what that was.

It'll hit the horizon by the semifinals! Welcome...

BOTH: ..to The Great British Bake Off.

-Last time...

-Looking for a crack.

..the Bake Off began with cakes.

You've done these before, haven't you?

Marie outbaked Tamal, Nadiya and Flora

to become this year's first Star Baker.

Every time I go into the tent, I think, "Am I really here?"

And despite Ugne's closed sponge...

-It's not good.

-(Disappointing.)

..and Dorret's liquid mousse...

I can't believe this is actually happening.

-..it was Stu...

-Come on.

..who was first to leave the tent.

I'll remember this forever.

Oh, well - back to music!

Now...

Good crunch.

..the bakers face biscuits...

I'm happy.

..with a Signature that's twice as hard to bake...

It is very wet. Is everyone else's not? Oh, dear!

..a technical that's wafer-thin, French, and baffling...

Is this right?

..and a Showstopper...

Come on!

-..of edible boxes...

-Happy with that.

..that takes the biscuit to a whole new dimension.

I wish I'd made it a lot more simple now.

I've never made such a mess before in my life.

I never go down without a fight.

-Mate, I'm really worried.

-Why?

I feel like a pack of biscuits.

What kind of biscuits?

Well, the square ones, with the holes in.

You're crackers.

BOTH: It's biscuit week.

The bakers will face three challenges

and their first features a variety of biscuit

never seen before in a Signature Bake.

Morning, bakers, you've survived to week two

and have taken on everything that Mary and Paul throw at you

which is wrong, Mary, to throw things.

Now, bakers, your Signature Challenge for this week

is to create 24 crunchy...

ITALIAN ACCENT: ..biscotti.

The biscotti can be any shape, flavour, size -

it's completely up to you, but the biscotti must be identical.

You've got two hours on the bake so ready yourselves.

-On your marks.

-Get set.

-Bake!

Is this two hours?

Plenty of time for this challenge, nothing to worry about.

Biscotti is an unusual biscuit, because it is twice-baked.

Which means that, when you break it, it will snap.

It's got to be dry all the way through

and yet you've got to be able to get your teeth through it!

If Mary was making a biscotti,

she'd probably go for a cranberry, a hazelnut

and a chocolate.

If I was making a biscotti,

I would go for a cranberry, a hazelnut and a chocolate.

-Morning, Alvin.

-Morning, sir.

- Hello, Alvin. - Morning, Alvin.

Tell us all about your biscotti.

Right, my biscotti's going to be flavoured with jackfruits.

Now, I don't know jackfruit. Can you show us some?

Yes, this is jackfruit. It's really fragrant, really sweet.

Very popular in Southeast Asia.

Jackfruit is a nostalgic taste of Alvin's Filipino childhood,

which he often uses in baking for his family.

He's chosen to use fresh jackfruit along with macadamia nuts

to flavour his biscotti.

How are you going to combat the moisture?

I've strained them and drained them properly

and then, just with a kitchen towel, really dried the whole fruit

and hopefully I'll get away with it.

-Good luck.

-MEL: Yeah.

I'm looking forward to something quite different

that we haven't tasted before.

All the other bakers adding fruit have gone for dried.

Cranberries, dried barberries as well.

They're lovely, aren't they?

So I'm doing cranberry, pistachio and white chocolate biscotti.

It's a very classic mix, that, with the cranberries.

But you've got to be careful that they don't just end up like bullets.

Mat's always testing his baking on his fellow London firefighters

and they've approved his use of chopped dried cranberries.

I gave it to a guy at work,

and he said it was the best biscotti he'd ever eaten.

I don't think he's ever eaten biscotti before.

This is unbelievable, this stuff.

Biscotti means twice-baked in Italian.

Probably just got a little bit too much egg in mine.

And if their dough is to survive both trips to the oven,

the bakers need to carefully judge its consistency.

It is very wet. Is everyone else's not? Oh, dear!

I'm making a bit of a mess at the moment

but hopefully they'll end up being biscotti.

So, I'm doing orange, cranberry and rosemary biscotti.

-Right.

-Interesting that you're using rosemary.

-Yeah.

-This could be, um, fantastic...

-Mm-hm.

-..or it could be disastrous.

Ian's banking on his home-grown rosemary to win round Paul.

His herby biscotti also include almonds

and, instead of ordinary sugar, a blitzed home-made orange caramel.

-Good luck.

-Yeah.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

Does that make you feel better when he says good luck, Ian?

-No, I get quite worried.

-No, it's a bit worrying, isn't it?

-You'll be fine, mate.

-Thank you.

I'm just trying to get them consistently the same size.

This should all be uniform because when you cut into them,

you want to have them all the same size,

so I'm hoping it looks all right.

OK, this is a classic Italian technique.

Well, they've asked

for 24 exact biscotti

and I'm never fantastic on anything exact.

Just up in the air...

Sandy teaches baking at her after-school club,

but her precise batch of chocolate chunk and hazelnut biscotti

is a little more advanced than anything she asks the kids to do.

You ask our maths department whether I'm good at maths,

you ask Mr Simpson.

-Good morning, Paul.

-Morning, Paul, Mel and Mary.

Morning, Paul.

We've caught you with sticky hands. Tell us about your biscotti.

My biscotti is a fig, hazelnut and chocolate biscotti.

Before he became a prison governor, Paul was a Coldstream Guard,

so he's aiming for regimented biscotti.

He's the only baker making a chocolate dough.

When you've got chocolate in there, it's very difficult to tell

-whether it's been baked or not because of the colour.

-Right.

-Good luck. Thank you.

-Thank you.

Today, I'm making white wine biscotti.

It's very unusual,

but I tried it and I loved the flavour,

so I'm just going on with it.

Ugne is putting a superfood in her biscuit - goji berries.

I like to experiment

and I like my fruit and nuts as a healthy diet,

I love to incorporate it.

Dorret is also gambling on an unusual ingredient.

What's different about them?

I've added some amber sugar crystals

because they're traditionally made for dunking in coffee.

That will be quite hard to come across.

-Are they actually in there?

-No, they're just on the top.

- Just on the top. - Oh, nice.

I think it's going to be fascinating to see how they come out.

Underneath the sugar crystals,

Dorret's biscotti will be flavoured with almond and apricots.

I'm not overly worried.

Other people have tested them for me,

people who like biscotti, and I've had good feedback.

I've done a very traditional biscotti recipe,

it's based on a wedding biscotti or a cantuccini.

Flora picked up her recipe when she was travelling in Italy.

Her venetian wedding nutty biscotti

will also contain fennel and sesame seeds.

Going in.

They're baked twice, these biscotti.

They're actually put into the oven to begin with

and then you slice them and after they've been sliced,

you put them in again to really crisp them up.

And in she goes.

The first bake must be perfectly timed.

Timer.

If the dough is any more than just set,

it will burn on its second bake.

Bakers, you've got one hour left on the challenge.

Yes, one hour remaining.

We're all just peering in those ovens.

SHE LAUGHS

They look like ciabatta, don't they?

-Morning, Nadiya.

-Hi.

I'm smelling coconut.

I'm doing a coconut, pistachio and fennel seed biscotti.

So where did the inspiration for all this come from?

Well, we don't have, traditionally, desserts in our culture at all

and coconut features quite a lot in the snacks

that we have before our meals.

Nadiya's transformed one of her mum's Bangladeshi recipes.

Fennel seeds will be added to her biscotti mix,

which will be dipped in coconut brittle.

-So, if it's really good, we have to thank your mum.

-Yes.

- Good. - Nadiya's mum, we salute you.

-Excellent, see ya.

-Fantastic, looking forward to it.

The bottom ones are a bit wider than I would have liked.

No, not yet, just a few more minutes.

Same size, same shape. They're the same texture.

Yeah, happy.

They're not as puffed up as I would have liked them

but...

I'm happy.

It's still wet.

Another five minutes.

I'm not going to cut into it if it's wet cos that's going to be disaster.

They look like really beautiful ciabatta.

If only that's what we were making.

-Morning.

-Good morning.

Morning, Tamal.

Tell us all about your biscotti.

Fruit-wise, I've used three different ones

so dried physalis berries, cranberries and barberries.

-What was the first berry?

-Physalis.

-Physalis?

-Physalis.

-Are they also called golden berries?

-They are.

This is our Golden Berry.

Along with his three berries,

Tamal is flavouring his biscotti with cinnamon and maple syrup.

He's going to top it with his own take on praline.

So I toasted the hazelnuts

and then I made a caramel and poured that on the top,

so this is all going to go in a food processor

and then just be blitzed down so it's crumbs.

How is that going to stick on top of that?

So they'll be dipped in chocolate once they're sliced

and then just sprinkled on top.

Nice. They look like a lovely, comfy pair of slippers.

-They do.

-I want to slip my foot into one of those.

- Come on, Golden Berry. - Good luck with your second bake.

Thank you.

I'm happy. Took a while.

Unless it's had enough time to cool...

..the baked dough will crumble when sliced.

HE GULPS

No, I'll give them at least a couple of minutes more

and then I can cut them safe.

They've gotta be identical, so the smarter I can make them look,

the better I'll feel, I think.

Oops, broke that one. I'll just stick it back.

If I'm one missing, I'll just have to say I've eaten it.

Regularly baking with her grandchildren

means that the odd mishap rarely fazes Marie.

And she should be able to repair

her pistachio, apricot and cranberry biscotti.

They're just very, very fragile and I don't know why.

I think I might have put too much fruit in it,

it's not able to hold together.

I think I might have eaten three now.

The ones I've eaten...

(Oh, don't. Oh, don't.)

(I'm going home. You've got to be nice to me.)

(I'll tell you what happened. Oh, look at that face.)

I put them, I put them in and took them out too early

so they were a wee bit soft in the middle and when I cut them,

they all kind of...

But I'll glue that together and I'll eat that other one, is that OK?

I like that face, I like it.

OK, bakers, just ten minutes until you snap.

-BISCOTTI CRUNCHES

-Mmm!

During the second bake, the sliced dough should become just crisp.

Any further and the biscotti will be rock hard and inedible.

-(Oh, they look good.)

-They're all right, aren't they?

Having issues.

Some of them have caught on the edges a bit.

I made 26, so I've got two that I can bin.

-FLORA SIGHS

-All right?

Just really stressful.

It's biscotti, why is biscotti stressful?

Yep.

They're not as crisp as I would have liked.

They're looking for a texture that's really dry,

so hopefully when it's cooled down, it will sort of dry more.

How's everyone else making theirs look good?

It's a Vin Santo icing or glaze.

I forgot to put the fennel seed into the biscotti.

I said fennel, they're going to get fennel.

I'll get it in the coconut.

Cool down for a moment.

Right, how can I stack them so they all look the same size?

Oh, I know - Jenga!

Three, three, three, three, yeah.

(23, 24...)

24!

OK, bakers, that's time up.

If you'd like to move your bakes to the ends of the benches

and just funnel them into my open mouth, thank you.

Come on then, Flora, do your bit.

Paul and Mary are looking for 24 identical biscotti,

full of flavour and with a crisp crunch.

MARY: To me, they look good.

They look like soldiers, they're beautifully even.

BISCOTTI CRUNCHES

-Gosh.

-Good crunch.

-Very good crunch.

Paul's jaws are like the tectonic plates of the earth moving.

-That's a nice biscotti. Well done.

-Thank you very much.

HE EXHALES

They all look a very even batch, they're all the right size.

Fennel works really well, little bit of heat in there as well.

It's a fascinating flavour. And just do I like it?

Yeah, I think I do. I think that's a nice biscotti.

Thank you.

I think overall, they don't look too bad.

The uniformity, however, is slightly different.

You've got small, then large biscotti.

They should all be the same size, that's what we were looking for.

I like the chocolate on the top. Has it set?

No.

They were warm when I put it on, sorry.

-A nice crunch.

-Delicious crunch, isn't it?

It's a shame they're not all the same size,

but I like the crunch and I like the flavour.

I expected to have more ingredients in there.

I'm terribly interested in these goji berries.

-I think the texture's bang on.

-Oh.

It breaks very easily.

-The flavour is absolutely lovely.

-Thank you.

They're beautifully, evenly sized.

A little bit soft in the middle.

-The flavours are beautiful.

-Thank you.

The jackfruit works really well inside it

but they needed to be in there for another five, ten minutes -

-for me, they would have been perfect.

-Right.

BISCOTTI CRUNCHES

-Mmm, I like that.

-Thank you.

Hazelnut, chocolate. It's good.

Overall, I think your flavours are fantastic and the bake's very good.

Thank you very much.

I'm not getting much flavour from it, really.

It's not strong enough.

I don't think the sugar works.

You'd be straight down the dentist after having that.

They're absolutely crammed jam-full of interesting things.

I think the flavours are good together,

but there's nothing really over-riding it

and giving it a huge amount of flavour.

Pick one that's your key role and then work everything around that.

The texture is as it should be,

which was a very tricky thing for you to do

because, when you've got chocolate,

you can't tell by the colour and you've judged it absolutely right.

I'd have them again, I think they're great biscotti.

Thank you very much.

I just don't feel that the nuts and the fruit and the chocolate

go together somehow. Not for me.

Not quite uniform on the shape. Very flat.

They're normally smaller...

Yeah, I wasn't happy with how wide they were.

I think you've done very well to not overpower the fennel.

Fennel seed is very, very strong

and you've put a hint in there which complements the rest.

This is the one I've been waiting to try.

-It's all about the rosemary on this.

-Mm-hm.

That's a really nice biscotti.

It almost gives you a flavour of ginger

and you get that from the orange,

from the richness of the orange blending with the rosemary.

That is a fantastic biscotti.

Well done.

HE SIGHS WITH RELIEF

Yes!

So, that was a good result.

Um, my rosemary is vindicated.

They liked it, that's good.

That's good.

Just leaves you wondering, "Hmm, OK, where does that leave me?"

But, yeah, it's judging, isn't it?

Already, the bakers have experimented

with a host of flavours,

but historically, biscuits weren't designed to be savoured.

They were an essential staple - hard, bland and indigestible.

Biscuits kept soldiers alive and Navy fleets afloat.

But in 1865, the creation of a mass-produced sweet snack,

named the Pearl, completely reinvented the biscuit.

19th-century biscuits had docker holes,

little pinpricks in the surface

that allowed the steam to escape while they were in the oven.

But the Pearl biscuit was completely different. There were no holes,

so this allowed the dough to rise

and gave it this soft, crumbly texture that the Victorians loved.

An instant sensation,

biscuit makers Peek Frean couldn't keep up with demand.

They soon opened a new factory in Bermondsey so large

that the whole area became known as Biscuit Town.

And, as it grew, so did the success of its snacks -

the Pearl was soon overshadowed by the Garibaldi.

They continued to innovate and make biscuits more and more decadent.

They started putting cocoa in the biscuit dough

and they created the Bourbon biscuit -

two biscuits sandwiched together with chocolate -

and that was an absolute sensation.

Back in our own little Biscuit Town,

the bakers face their next challenge.

They could practice their first,

but this second one will be a complete surprise.

Bakers, welcome to the technical challenge.

Now, this week's recipe comes courtesy of Paul.

Any advice for the bakers, Paul?

Don't rush it.

Right, Paul there just proving that brevity is the soul of wit.

Off you pop now.

They're off to a cookery class. If you'd like to leave the tent.

Paul and Mary, they'd like you to make, please, eight Arlettes.

It's a high-end, light, delicate, cinnamon-flavoured biscuit.

ARLETTES be havin' you. You've got two and a half hours.

-On your marks.

-Get set.

-Bake!

Everyone has the same ingredients and the same, very basic recipe.

Never heard of an Arlette.

-FLORA:

-I have over 100 cookbooks, the majority of them are French,

and I have never heard of this in my life.

They look amazing!

Now, why did you choose this challenge?

Because it's very tricky, Mary, and you know me.

Basically, it's puff pastry.

That is sheer perfection.

It's wafer thin.

You can see all the cinnamon in the sugar there in the spiral.

If you snap that, you see it breaks very easily

and then...

You see what I mean? It's got a bit of bite to it.

It's not like a wafer.

Basically, it's all about the lamination on this.

The layers of the dough and butter, dough and butter.

I'm sure we're going to get a variety of shapes.

Says he, with a huge grin on his face!

They're really helpful instructions, actually.

It just says "make the dough" which is great(!)

Hmm.

It does look like something I've seen before.

I'm presuming it's relatively similar to puff pastry.

This is my flour mixture with the salt.

I just want to make sure they're pretty evenly done

before I start adding in the wet ingredients

so...

50ml of cold water.

I assume he wants kind of a gluten structure built up.

It's a wee bit on the complicated side for a biscuit.

"Knead, then shape into a rectangle and chill."

It's whether it's kneaded enough.

Following it step by step, cos this has got to work.

Got a soft sort of pizza dough.

I'm sure that's not what you want in a biscuit.

It's rectangular-ish.

A lot of chilling going on, apparently, in this recipe.

I put it in the freezer, just in case.

This stage here is the making-the-butter-layer.

It says you have to roll this.

It doesn't look very rollable to me.

"Place the dough in the centre of the butter rectangle,

"then fold the butter over to encase the dough."

It sounds the wrong way round.

Put this one in the middle.

So that's quite unusual,

because you're wrapping the butter around the dough

rather than the dough around the butter.

Is this right?

Roll into a rectangle.

How's it going, Marie?

It's sticking to my clingfilm, I don't know why.

I've never actually come across it sticking to clingfilm before.

"Make a book, turn and chill."

So, that's a book, isn't it?

This is called laminating the dough

and you get defined obvious layers

and it will get another chill.

Unless the dough is chilled completely before each turn...

-Don't you be getting near my shelf.

-Hmm?

..the butter will melt, wrecking the lamination.

You can't rush, you have to wait.

But after all the chilling and turning,

the bakers need to ensure there's enough time left

to bake the Arlettes.

Oof!

I think I'm all right for time.

I've just transferred the instructions from there

with the timings so that I know what I'm doing.

UGNE YAWNS

One hour remaining.

Mixed the filling ingredients together,

so that's granulated sugar and the teaspoon of ground cinnamon.

It says to put the filling in in one of the layers,

so I'm on my second layer now.

Think about when to put the sugar and cinnamon in.

If I put it in at this stage, what will it do?

If I put it in at that stage, how will it affect things?

I think I'm going to go for the third one.

This is my third turn.

I've decided to add it in the final turn.

Just thought I would add the sugar in at the end

and then you kind of get to keep the texture a bit.

So, I've put it on twice.

I think once it's rolled out to the rectangle,

then you roll it into a Swiss roll.

It's like making sushi.

Maybe I should go that way?

Oh, I don't know what way to roll it.

If I roll it that way, they'll be really fine discs.

"Trim the ends and cut into eight slices,

"dust with icing sugar

"and roll each slice into very thin ovals."

How thin is thin?

Maybe this thin.

Just don't know how thin it's supposed to go.

Not too thin that it's going to fall apart, just a nervous type of thin.

It's starting to look a bit like a snail.

They are French, so they could be the escargot shape of the biscuit world.

Just hoping that this is what they were looking for.

It says "bake until golden brown, turning once during cooking."

OK, going in.

OK, bakers, you've got ten minutes until you snap and break.

Because of the high butter quantity, they can burn very, very quickly,

which is not ideal.

NADIYA SIGHS

A watched pot never boils and all that.

I don't think my oven's on the right thing.

What do I do?

I don't know, they're not looking clever.

Mine are like...flip-flops.

What's wrong with my oven?

Bakers, three minutes on your cinnamon swirls of doom!

Three minutes.

OK, three minutes, come on.

(How's it going?)

Really bad, the oven wasn't on properly.

I mean, they're coming on now

but I don't know if they're going to be ready.

What have we got? Seconds left, have we?

Yeah, we've got a few seconds left.

They're not cooked at all. No, they're not cooked at all.

OK, bakers, your time is up.

Please bring your Arlettes up to the gingham altar

behind your photos, thank you.

Paul and Mary will have no idea whose Arlettes are whose.

What we're looking for is eight thin Arlettes.

Buttery, crisp and sweet.

We'll start with these over here.

You've got the lines here.

-You've got eight.

-The appearance of them is very similar.

-Oh, crispy.

-That's a good sign.

Mm!

-They're a nice texture.

-It's basically what we're looking for.

It melts in the mouth.

-It's just right, the cinnamon too, isn't it?

-Mmm.

These are a lot thicker.

Haven't been rolled out very much.

You can still see the lines.

They're a good colour.

Breaks well.

They taste OK, cinnamon's in there.

Now, these look quite dry.

Now, it's crispy.

Slightly chewy as well.

They're uniform and we have got eight.

Moving onto number four, where's the rest?

But they are crispy.

A nice texture inside.

A pity there's not eight.

Now, these, you've just got a couple of swirls

so they've rolled it up the wrong way so it only rolls up twice

rather than rolling it up the long way so you get more curl inside it.

It's flaky and there's quite a bit without cinnamon.

Now, we have got some lamination here.

Quite thin, breaks very well.

That's a lovely texture.

Quite strong on the cinnamon.

Big issues with melting butter here and not rolling it out thin enough.

Nice and crisp.

Large parts here with just dough, no lamination in there.

It's sad that we haven't got even distribution of the cinnamon.

Butter pouring out, the rest of the dough, where's it gone?

The flavour's not bad at all but it comes down to the size,

comes down to the lamination and a bit of a rushed job.

-And slightly overbaked as well.

-Yeah.

The butter's poured out of it again.

Could have been rolled out thinner.

Oh, that's more chewy than a break.

-As you get to the middle, it's more chewy.

-Yeah, it is.

And the last one.

It looks to me as though it needed a little more baking.

Yeah, for sure, and thinner rolling-out as well.

It's chewy, see? It's underbaked.

Paul and Mary will now reveal

who has baked technically-perfect Arlettes.

In 11th place is...

this one. Whose is this?

First of all, where are the rest of them?

I had a problem with the oven.

I didn't have it at the correct setting, I'm sorry.

In tenth place, who is this?

I just had one spiral.

In ninth place is this one.

You had a good shape there, needed to be slightly thinner

but, on the edges, they were quite raw.

Tamal is eighth, Ugne seventh,

Alvin is sixth, Mat fifth,

Sandy fourth and Ian is third.

And who is second place here?

They were very good.

And in first place?

You've got a nice spiral all the way through, nice and crisp

and nice and thin, well done.

APPLAUSE

I am trying not to get emotional, I'm trying to be level-headed...

Well done, Dorret, that was very good.

..but inside, I'm doing a little dance.

I feel like I've kind of redeemed myself

and I'm in a middle ground now, I've kind of evened it up.

10th out of 11, it's not a good feeling.

Learn from it and move on. They're the experts.

In hindsight, I should have checked the oven.

My fault entirely. I was silly, silly.

Biscuit week, Paul, who's crumbling?

At the beginning, certainly in the Signature,

Dorret had serious issues with that biscotti.

However, on the technical challenge, she was first.

If she has a bad day again today, we'll just have to look and see.

Tamal had issues as well.

Paul. Marie certainly.

Too early to call a Star Baker at this point, Mary?

Oh, definitely. Because, always,

the Showstopper brings out the best or the worst in people.

But I think that Mat, Ian and Alvin are all up there

for potential Star Bakers this week.

Morning, bakers.

I hope you are all literally ready to stop the show today.

Now, Paul and Mary, please, would like you to bake 36 biscuits today.

But these biscuits need to be presented in a biscuit box

and the biscuit box needs to be

an entirely different kind of biscuit mix

to the biscuits inside.

They can be any shape, size, or flavour that you desire.

You've got four hours on the clock.

-On your marks.

-Get set.

-Bake!

It's all on today, basically.

I need to do well.

It's a time to be creative, to showcase what you can do

and I hope I manage to pull that off.

This particular Showstopper is all about precision

and I'd like to see a little bit of architecture going on as well.

It's very important, when you think of that box,

to choose the right mixture.

It's got to be a tough mixture, something like a gingerbread.

I want them to be ambitious,

I want them to show as many techniques as possible,

but most of important of all, they've got to taste really special.

-Morning, Paul.

-Morning, Paul. Morning, Mary.

So what have you decided to do for the biscuit box and the biscuits?

Right, my biscuit box is going to be made of gingerbread.

Biscuits are macaroons, they're going to be coloured pink,

in honour of my wife. She loves pink.

-Nice, OK.

-Oh, you heartbreaker!

-It's there!

Now the whole world's in love with you.

Paul's gingerbread chest will be decorated with personal memoirs,

including iced images of himself as a Coldstream Guard.

I look forward to breaching that high-security box imminently.

-HE LAUGHS

-High-security biscuit box!

The box is going to be made of gingerbread

and I'm going to use royal icing to stick them together

and I'm going to flood the whole sides with royal icing.

Alvin plans to fill his ornate gingerbread casket

with 36 brandy snaps.

It's a bit worrying, but you've got to take some risks, I think.

Seven of the bakers have chosen to build their boxes

out of a gingerbread-style base.

Once it's baked, it's quite strong and quite sturdy,

so it holds really well.

Urgh!

The basic dough is a mixture of flour, butter, sugar and syrup.

This is the yummy treacle going in.

Just have to let this drip in.

The trick is to get the right texture so that, once baked,

it will be robust enough to hold three dozen identical biscuits.

A bit more softer consistency than this, really -

that's what I'm looking for.

It's got to not be soggy, it's got to be very crisp.

-Morning, Nadiya.

-Hi.

-Hi, Nadiya.

Nadiya, tell us all about your biscuit box.

So, I'm doing a ginger and cayenne pepper box,

so it's a rounded box...

Well, that's what I'm going to try and attempt to do.

And are you going to decorate the top?

Yeah, I'm going to use sort of the traditional Chinese colours

that bring good luck, so red and gold mainly.

That's why I chose cayenne pepper, cos it's kind of red and spicy.

A really dramatic kind of look you're going for, isn't it?

-Yeah, I'm all about the drama.

-SHE LAUGHS

To go inside her oval gingerbread vessel,

Nadiya plans to make 36 fortune cookies,

filled with words of wisdom.

Can I take one? Do you mind?

Can I read one?

It says here, "The male judge will soon be superfluous."

THEY CHUCKLE

It's like a gingerbread but it's not got any ginger in it,

it's sort of a gingerbread-type. I don't know what else to call it.

"Anise bread" sounds a bit... That sounds even more pretentious!

Tamal has flavoured his structural biscuit with star anise.

Chequered shortbreads will nestle inside.

It's supposed to be like a French jewellery box,

or games box.

There's an idea up here that kind of makes sense.

Two of the bakers are making their containers out of shortbread.

This is my honey and lemon dough.

Flora's will take the form of an Indian tea chest,

laden with Earl Grey tea-infused biscuits.

I've got enough for some extras

in case I have a crack or anything goes disastrously wrong.

I'm intrigued by this. Did you make this?

I did, yes, I got some bent aluminium sheets

and the shortbread gets wrapped around here,

and then this goes around the outside

and then it's baked like that

and then it all comes out as a complete cylinder.

It's all about making sure the heat gets all the way around.

You could have one part burnt and the other half raw.

-Yeah, exactly. In my oven at home, it's OK.

-OK.

Ian's "Sandwich de la Confiture"

will hold 36 macarons.

A further 23 will adorn his shortbread case.

I always stick a chunk in the middle

and that helps me indicate when the sides are done

once it's all wrapped up.

I've got my templates.

I came up with this idea of the slot effect...

..and a colleague...

A couple of colleagues at work helped me perfect it.

Sandy is the only baker going savoury.

Inside her sundried tomato and oregano hamper

will be 36 Parmesan rounds filled with cream cheese.

I'm going to market these templates.

I'm going in to production,

It's going to put Bradford on the map, is this box.

As you can see, I've got a very high-tech template

that I made at home.

SHE CHUCKLES

I'm making the base of the box.

I'm just going to shape it round this bowl.

I'm slightly regretting making such a ridiculously-shaped box

for my biscuits.

Matt is attempting to create a gingerbread fire engine

to carry his Earl Grey tea biscuits.

He's making the windows from crushed and melted boiled sweets.

No, I'm sure I'll feel better when I...

When it's all in the oven...

I'll be all right, I think.

I've covered them with a piece of parchment

and then put another tray on top,

because it could rise up too much

and not fit in together and just not really be a box.

Please work.

The bakers will be judged equally on their edible box

and the batch of biscuits inside.

For these, Mary and Paul

are looking for uniformity and unusual flavours and styles -

nothing less than biscuit brilliance.

-Good morning.

-Good morning.

So, Marie, tell us all about your box of biscuits.

My biscuits are going to be shortbread.

We expect you, from Scotland, to be making shortbread.

-Shortbread, of course!

-No pressure.

Marie's shortbreads will be flavoured with orange and cinnamon

and decorated with piped white chocolate,

her second attempt in two days.

I think they'll be all right -

a nice bite to it, but melt-in-the-mouth hopefully.

SHE CHUCKLES

Today, I am making something Lithuanian.

Lithuanian cottage cheese cookies with cinnamon and sugar.

The cookies will be housed in a jar made from Lithuanian honey cake,

and from marshmallow fondant, Ugne will attempt to sculpt a baby

trying to steal them.

I practised. Yeah, I practised. It looked nice.

So hopefully nothing will fail today.

Just concerned about the time,

because of the number of brandy snaps

that I can cook at any given time, which is about six.

So, yeah, feeling the pressure.

Macaroons are something I have made quite a lot before.

Ian's making macaroons, I believe, over there.

I think his are pink as well.

These are my two-tone chequerboard shortbread,

so I've got an alternating lemon and chocolate dough,

which I'm just assembling here.

Right, what have we got here then?

-A box of frogs.

-A box of frogs?

-Yes.

-As in "mad as a..."?

-Mad as a...

Cos you've got to be a little bit crazy

to put yourself through this.

There's only one place for amphibious shortbreads -

under a gingerbread lily pad.

They're flavoured with green tea and cocoa beans.

-You've cut them out with a stamp that makes them look a frog.

-Yeah.

Do you think that's a little bit of a short cut?

Um...

potentially.

I'm now doing the fortune cookies.

I have to make three at a time,

so it's getting those done in time,

but leaving me enough time to decorate the box at the end,

so it's just getting those done.

With only a standard oven,

the bakers will have to prove their organizational skills

at mass production.

SHE SIGHS

I think they're ready. Yeah, they're looking good.

I think we've got something. It looks good.

Get in!

They're huge.

They've come up massive and I...

I don't know why.

Yep, they'll be fine.

Come out, come out, come out.

Yes, ahh!

Right, back in the oven. They need a couple more minutes.

So them's my wheels.

Yeah, success, I think.

Happy with that.

NADIYA GROANS

I shouldn't have put them in the oven.

SHE SIGHS

Just do it again.

Bakers, you are halfway through.

Right, the macaroons are going in.

-SANDY:

-It's like going into battle.

Matt had the same idea as me.

We're are both doing our biscuits shaped as teabags.

We're going to have a biscuit tea war.

See what happens.

If I can get the fortune cookies done, I could do this,

I could recover it.

I never go down without a fight.

I need to join my fire engine together.

I've got a lot do.

Right, starting assembling.

Can't remember which side's which now!

I'm using a ruler for accuracy. Precision is everything.

It shouldn't be this puffy, really.

Really strange.

I'm shaking.

It's very difficult to keep something like this still.

-FLORA:

-The decoration is definitely the key element in this.

For it to be a Showstopper, it's going to have to look good.

It's a bit more pink than I wanted.

UGNE: It's a little bit too thin, see, it's runny.

I'm shaking like a leaf, it's awful.

I've never made such a mess before in my life.

Mine is going to be rustic.

We do all that fancy stuff - mine is going to be rustic,

that's what it's going to be.

Matt, it's a fire engine.

Look at that!

Come on, come on, come on.

-It's nearly there, isn't it? Getting there.

-Yes, it's incredible.

I'm just waiting for my box to cool.

I don't know, cos I can't decorate it cos it's too warm.

I think I'm going home.

Definitely.

OK, bakers, that's 30 minutes until I try your boxes, 30 minutes.

Right.

I've just got so many things to do.

I need to ice this, got brandy snaps to do.

So, yeah, pressure, pressure.

If I'm going to go down, I'm going to go down making fortune cookies,

that's what I'm going to do.

Yeah, really pleased with those.

They look tickety-boo.

I don't know how mine compare to Ian, I've not seen them.

I'd like to go and look, but I haven't got time.

-ALVIN:

-I'm running out of time.

Really going behind.

Perfect.

I have to start working fast, especially with these,

cos they need to go back in the oven for five-minute intervals

just to crisp them up.

I mean, I'm faced now with the decision just to abandon the box.

I'm going to abandon the box. It's not ready.

I won't be able to put it together. It's still wet.

So I think I'm just going to concentrate on the brandy snaps,

at least I've got something to present them.

That's very, very wet white chocolate, but it'll do.

The thing about chocolate is it runs on its own,

you're not pushing it out, it just comes out.

They're messy. It's not very good.

Quite worrying that nobody else is doing savoury biscuits.

SHEEP BLEAT

Bakers, that's five minutes, until Pandora's box is opened.

I am making fondant baby legs.

It will be climbing in to the box, hopefully.

FLORA GROANS

And I've just snapped it.

I just... I just wrecked it.

I literally can't believe I did that. I'm s...

I'm mortified. How can I make amends?

Well, if I leave, you're coming with me.

I'll take that.

I've got some brandy snaps, I'm presenting them with something.

-TAMAL:

-It would be funny if they didn't all fit in.

-PAUL:

-There we go, can't change it now.

-MEL: OK, bakers... SANDY:

-Ta-da.

..time is up on your Showstoppers.

Step away from your creations,

otherwise I will have to box your ears.

Mary and Paul have asked

for an architecturally impressive biscuit box

containing an intriguing and identical batch of 36 biscuits.

It looks great fun,

and you've made good macaroons.

Obviously the cylinder that you baked it in works,

which I'm impressed with.

PAUL GROANS

Let's have a look, take a few of these fellows out.

They all look quite perfect from here.

They're fantastic, really good.

-Let's try the box.

-Great. Yeah.

-The flavour's there.

-Great.

Beautiful, buttery shortbread.

It's a great box, that.

-Well done.

-Thank you.

What an ambitious box you've made.

Doing so much, I think maybe you got a bit rushed at the end

-and a bit sort of panicky and that's what happens.

-Definitely.

It's got a great bake on that lid.

The piping's very good on it.

I can get the tea. I thought I wouldn't, but I can.

It is a great bake. Thank you, Flora.

Tell us about your box.

The component of the box is made of gingerbread, and um...

Sorry.

Well, you had such great plans and a huge sadness

that you just didn't have time to put it all together.

It's a shame about the box,

but I think we need to try it first anyway.

It's a really beautiful flavour.

It's a nice biscuit.

I can see some absolutely smashing brandy snaps.

Mmm!

The flavour of them is so good,

but having a filling makes it rather wet.

But...the flavour of those things, the colour, the bake, is excellent.

Shame about the box.

Shame about the box.

I think the box looks quite elegant.

Roses look a bit... Actually, they look all right -

a bit thick, a bit clumsy,

but I think we need to look inside there.

I think the biscuits look quite, um...

..plain.

I'm hoping the flavour comes through.

It's a good Scotch shortbread biscuit.

I'm not sure about the biscuit.

I think the flavours are a little bit muddled up inside.

We ought, really, to taste the box as well.

It isn't really crisp, it's a little bit soft.

I think it looks absolutely smashing. It's breathtaking.

It's a little bit of a jigsaw puzzle, and I like that.

I'm not getting too much sundried tomato, though.

Let's have a look at a few of these guys.

They're delicious, but they're a bit soft.

Biscuits look pretty good.

It's quite difficult to get those exactly right.

They're a good flavour and they are crisp all the way through.

I think we need to try the lid.

It's softened up slightly, but I'm not surprised - it's so thick!

The star anise comes through beautifully.

Checkmate. Bang on, mate.

Looking at it, it's really a bit over the top,

it's a bit garish for me.

The inside is quite solid. It's just the outside will soften

because of the icing that you've got covered in.

Nice flavour, though. I am getting the mixed spice.

Let's have a look at some of these.

-These are traditional, aren't they?

-Yeah.

-I don't like them.

-OK.

-I love them.

-Oh!

They're crisp. I'm not getting much flavour there.

I am getting a flavour, it's just I don't like the flavour.

OK.

It's quite bitter.

Let's try this lid.

It's a nice gingerbread, but it's soft.

The flavour of the gingerbread is fantastic.

My issue is the flavour of the biscuits inside.

I think, obviously, we were expecting a dome.

There was a dome.

I broke it.

-YOU broke it?

-I broke it.

OK. It does look quite plain.

Yeah, it was going to be decorated,

but it was still too warm to put anything on it,

but I was adamant to give you a base and some sort of a lid.

Wow, that heat as well.

That's great. I like that.

These fortune cookies, never seen that before on Bake Off.

Every one is equal.

Let's have a bite.

They're great.

Shame about the base, but that is...

Oof! That packs a punch.

The overall appearance is clean-cut.

Just really interested in seeing what happens inside.

They are different sizes.

I think you've been a little overgenerous with the filling,

the chocolate is rather overpowering.

Nice, crispy, full of flavour -

-that lid is very, very good.

-Thank you.

Nice and crisp, looks fantastic.

I mean, it looks fun. Let's see what's inside.

-A lot of teabags.

-I like that.

They're an even bake.

The flavour of the biscuits is good.

I'm not getting the lemon, but I am getting the Earl Grey.

-Let's see what the lid's like.

-Yeah.

-Beautifully crisp.

-Is it?

Tastes great, well baked. Well done, mate.

Choosing a Star Baker this week will be fairly straightforward.

Really?

Mat's done well. I thought that fire engine was fantastic.

-I think Ian did well.

-He's had a brilliant weekend.

I actually think Sandy could be up there as well.

Her box was beautiful, but I think the other side of the coin,

that is going to be a little bit more difficult.

There's been a lot of erratic performances over this weekend,

most notable, I think, is Dorret, who came top in technical.

How do you think she fared?

On Bake Off, we expect something more than just stamping out a biscuit.

We certainly do.

I think Alvin, you know, he never gave us a box.

Yes, that is an issue, surely, for you as judges -

-he didn't fulfil the brief.

-It is.

He didn't fulfil the brief, but the brandy snaps were beautiful.

MEL: Marie has had a fairly tricky weekend.

Marie started off quite poorly.

She wasn't certainly in the top half, as far as I'm concerned,

she was at the bottom on technical,

and coming in to this challenge,

the biscuit was quite soft and very bland.

There was no specific flavour in her biscuit either that came through.

It's all been very, very simple, very plain.

She has a comfort zone and she hasn't really lifted herself out of that.

Paul has also had a few tough times this weekend.

Has this done enough, do you think, to redeem him?

I think the box was baked beautifully,

but he was tenth in the technical,

right alongside Marie, although just one point ahead of her.

In contention to go, I think Paul, I think Marie,

and then we have to think seriously about Dorret as well.

Bakers, well done.

It's been a tough old weekend of biscuit-making.

I've got the great pleasure in announcing Star Baker,

and it goes to somebody who formed a very, very beautiful double act

with rosemary. It was bold, it was beautiful.

Ian, you are Star Baker, well done.

Brilliant.

This week, I have the short straw.

Today, we do have to say goodbye to somebody,

and that person is...

..Marie.

Aw. We'll really miss you, darling.

-MARIE:

-'I am very, very proud that I was part of it all,'

because it's such a high standard.

And it's incredible that I was part of it.

I'm amazed and delighted.

I'm so sorry, Marie.

It's OK. I've really enjoyed it. Don't worry.

It's very sad about Marie cos I can see a very steady baker in there,

but what we're looking for is someone to really push the envelope.

MARY: 'When you just stick to classics,

'they've got to be absolutely perfect,'

but they weren't always perfect,

so sadly we had to say goodbye to her.

Very pleased and very relieved, to be honest with you.

Yeah, I was expecting...

I was expecting the worst.

-IAN:

-'I'm just amazed that I've been picked for Star Baker.'

In my village, which is 400 houses,

I'm yet to win the Best Male Baker prize,

and here I am getting Star Baker this week,

which is just extraordinary.

So I'm a little bit...

I'm in shock right now, cos I was ready to go home,

I was like, "Yeah, yeah, you're going to go home."

But I have to come back and bake some more.

I'm so scared!

MEL: Next week, it's bread week.

-MAT:

-Got dough everywhere.

Dough-verload!

The bakers strive to stand out with speedy Signatures...

He's totally copying me.

..try to conquer a French classic...

How hard can it be?

..and attempt to create their own yeasty masterpiece.

It just looks like a lot of manhandled bread.