Spain Hairy Bikers' Bakeation

By now, you've realised there are two things we love in this world.

Biking and baking.

So, we've decided to combine them.

In an epic 5,000-mile Bakeation.

-Look at that!

-Oh, wow!

Europe has been amazing to us.

And now Spain for our grand finale.

It's a biggie, and I'm expecting us to go out with a bang.

So sit back and relax.

It's time for the last leg of our spectacular...

Spain, garden of Europe.

One of Britain's favourite holiday destinations.

With plenty of fiestas, tapas and baking delicacies,

it's perfect for our Bakeation finale.

We're in northern Spain, travelling through

the Basque, Cantabria, Asturias and Galicia regions.

To arrive in Santiago de Compostela

in time for the biggest fiesta of the year the Festival of St James.

With 500 miles to go, we'd better start planning our Iberian adventure.

# So, we're here We've gone off to sunny Spain

# But it's not a little bit scorchio. #

-No, it's not scorchio at all.

-It's belting it down. Look at that!

This part of Spain, the North Atlantic,

it's not the arid Spain you see in the holiday photos.

Or your spaghetti westerns for that! Oh, no. We're in the wet bit!

But St Sebastian is a gastronomic paradise.

There are more Michelin-starred restaurants here than you can shake a stick at.

They've got such a great standard of food.

I can't wait to try their tapas.

Dave, they're called pinchos here, and, man, they're much bigger.

From there, we'll be leaving the Basque country

-for the Asturias region.

-In the mountains around Oviedo,

we've heard they make bread with spelt flour.

Then we head down to the Celtic coast, to Galicia.

And then from there, we come inland to Santiago de Compostela.

Oui. Which is why we have the scallop shells.

These scallop shells depict the way of St James, the pilgrimage route...

..that they call El Camino.

'El Camino de Santiago, to be exact.'

'Because Santiago is St James in Spanish. It makes sense, no?'

Now, the grooves in a scallop shell

symbolise the routes that pilgrims take from all over the world.

From wherever they start off from,

they end up in one place and that one place is Santiago de Compostela.

Like all these pilgrimages,

there is a crock of gold at the end of the rainbow.

It's not a load of old relics,

it's a big party in Santiago de Compostela.

They've got fireworks and, as luck would have it,

it's Galicia's National Day.

# Hey, party, party! #

SIMON HUMS Y VIVA ESPANA

# Y viva Espana! #

'The city of San Sebastian -

'or Donostia as they call it in Basque -

'is a bastion of local culture.

'It's a beauty.

'You can see why it's a favourite holiday destination for the Spaniards.

'And you know what, Dave? Even with my helmet on,

'I can smell the Iberian flavours.

'Peppers, onions, tomatoes.

'And paprika, mate. That's what Spain is all about.

'So how about checking out a regional speciality like their pinchos?

'You mean tapas?'

'No, pinchos. They're tapas but a bit more extravagant.'

'Oh, it sounds good to me.'

'The Munto restaurant in San Sebastian

'is famous for the large variety it has to offer.'

'Cor! Sandwiches, tartlets, ham, fish, octopus.

'What a choice!'

-It's God's savoury pick and mix, isn't it?

-Look at it, man!

Everything's with bread, interestingly.

-Yeah. Every pinchos. So a PINCHos of this, a PINCHos of that.

-Oh!

Kitchen?

Ander, Munto's own pinchos chef, is opening his kitchen to us.

-This is very good pincho.

-Very good pinchos, man.

-It's very light.

'He prepares around 40 different pinchos every day.'

-Shall we do one of those? To make one of those?

-Yes.

-OK.

'Kingy, you're making not a sausage roll, but a chorizo roll.'

'Oh, man! Can you imagine the flavour that's going to go into that puff pastry?'

I love pinchos. You come into a bar, as far as the eye can see,

it's just like this - an absolute display of gorgeous finger food.

You take what you want and you go to the till,

and they charge you, you know, for what you have.

Pinchos is the word for the cocktail stick that holds it all together.

-It's good?

-Oh, man.

-Yeah.

-It's mega.

-Yes?

-Mm. Look at that. Bacon and egg, Basque style.

-Oh!

With a sausage roll starter.

'Ander designs his own recipes,

'which need to keep the customers fed from dawn till dusk.

'These pinchos show that fast food can be fresh and beautifully made.'

Oh, look. How beautiful is that? Look at that.

I know. I think this is enough.

The temptation with pinchos is you go mad.

But you can come back and have more. We'll get these counted,

and then she just scratches it down on a tab.

-It's brilliant.

-It's chilled, it's good!

Cinco.

-Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis.

-Seis.

-Seis.

'And just like fish and chips back home,

-'pinchos are a firm favourite.

-Everybody loves them.

'Let's get back to the hotel.

'We've got a real culinary adventure ahead of us tonight...

'..visiting a Txokos.'

-Tonight!

-Well, it's a real privilege, isn't it?

It's kind of like the San Sebastian's secret society.

Yes. The gastronomic delights

that this fabulous, vibrant city has got to offer.

And we're off to have a little bit of an investigate.

Hola!

'We're off to eat in a Txokos, which is a Basque gastronomy society.

'They are clubs where locals celebrate their regional cuisine

'by cooking and eating together.

'San Sebastian is the birthplace of the Txokos,

'which means "cosy corner" in Basque.

'You find them all over the Basque region.

'But, of course, you've got to be invited.'

-Pleased to meet you.

-Hi, I'm Si. Nice to meet you.

-Nice to meet you.

-Wow!

I get the feeling we're going to get

-some of the best Basque food we've ever had.

-Yeah, of course.

Here, we are going to have a dinner based on fish, cod fish.

-Ah, fish.

-Fabulous.

'All of these people may be home cooks...

'..but their kitchen is kitted out like a professional restaurant.'

It's fantastic.

Tonight, they're cooking cocochas de bacalao -

cod neck cooked in a cod skin sauce. Mmm!

And she has to move it all the time.

Because if she doesn't, the sauce doesn't work, you see.

Tell me that she hasn't done that for a very long time. Look at that!

THEY ALL LAUGH

To go with it, they're frying some green chillies.

-Oh, man, they're good.

-They're superb.

I've never had a plate of deep-fried chillies.

They're gentle, they're sweet.

By God, they're good.

'They're also preparing Chipirones en su Tinta,

'squid simmered in its own ink, hence the colour.'

Muy bien, eh? Oh, hey!

That is superb.

Absolutely fantastic.

I can't wait to sit down and eat this.

'Started in 1870, the Txokos tradition has survived the turmoils of Spanish history.'

'Under Franco, they were the only places Basque people could meet

'and freely celebrate their culture.'

'And today, it's the food that still brings people together.

'The cooking is of the highest standard.'

'So good, that in fact,

'local restaurants often use them as inspiration.

'Look at that pan rustico -

'it's the same as the one our ferment's destined for tomorrow.

'On every table, bread is the cornerstone of a good Spanish meal.'

I've never had squid that good. This is as rich as a meat stock.

It is. Absolutely unbelievable.

'And now for the famous cod neck.'

It's wonderful. It would be 30 euros a portion in London.

Fantastico. Si! Oh!

IN SPANISH:

THEY ALL LAUGH

Oh, that's good.

SHE SINGS IN SPANISH

EVERYONE JOINS IN

'Josean and his friends meet regularly in their Txokos,

'not only to eat...

'..but also to make sure that their Basque culture stays alive.'

ALL: Hey!

-Muchas gracias.

-Muchas gracias.

Bye!

'We're off again.

'With only three days to go before the big firework party

'for the Feast of St James, we need to get a move on.

'Yep, it's back on El Camino towards Oviedo,

'capital city of the Asturias region.

'And what a ride, going through more canyons and mountain ranges.

'By the time we reach Oviedo,

'we'll have done more than half of our ride through Spain.

'Fireworks, here we come!'

'Mate, it's day four, and it's our busiest day in Spain.

'First, we've got to go shopping for tomorrow's empanada bake.

'Like in much of Europe, shops are often closed here on Sundays.'

-What a great market!

-Isn't it?

-Woohoo!

It's tempting just to dive in and buy, isn't it?

Scallions the size of shillelaghs.

'To cook tomorrow, we need...

'..some scallops, a couple of fantastic fish,

'and some great local ham.

'Mate, do you fancy some mushrooms as well?

'Well, these king oyster ones are very tempting,

'and they're pretty hard to find back home.'

'Shopping done, let's crack on.'

'Across our baking journey, there's one grain that's eluded us - spelt.'

'Wheat's mega-tough cousin.

'We're off to the small hamlet of La Frecha,

'in the middle of the Asturias mountains,

'to a small agricultural spelt farm.'

'Spain, like most of Europe, has forgotten about spelt,

'but places like this are working hard to remind us.'

Yay! Spanda escanda.

-Panda escanda!

-SI CHUCKLES

-Spelt.

-Lovely.

-We need to see Carmen.

Ooh, la la!

Is that Carmen Miranda with the hat?

-Buenos dias!

-Hola! Buenos dias.

-Buenos dias.

-THEY LAUGH Carmen.

-Carmen, hi, I'm Si. Nice to meet you.

-Nice to meet you.

'And while Carmen is taking us to meet the baker...'

'..let us tell you what we know about spelt.'

'Spelt has been cultivated since antiquity.'

'And for good reason -

'it's resistant to bugs, doesn't need much looking after,

'and grows anywhere.'

'Si, I can't wait to see how their baker is going to work with it.'

-OK.

-And that's spelt flour.

-Yes.

-Si, Fernando?

-Spelt?

-Spelt.

-Espelta.

Er...100% spelt, organic spelt.

Right.

'Today, Maria-Flora is showing us

'how to bake two very special recipes.

'A rustic spelt bread, using sourdough.

'But first, she's going to prep her Asturian take on a sausage roll.

'And her dough recipe is simple.

'Spelt flour, butter, salt, water and yeast.'

I'll tell you what, Dave, I notice the colour of the flour,

it is really much darker.

-It looks like a cross between rye flour and buckwheat flour.

-Yes.

And knead. Yeah, I thought that might be coming.

'Don't get too smug, Dave, soon the tables will turn.'

How long do you leave the bread to...?

-Cuanto tiempo mas?

-Cuanto tiempo?

Er... Esta, diez minutos.

-Ten minutes.

-Ten minutes?

-Si.

-Yeah, not too much.

-'While the dough is resting...

-..on to the spelt bread.'

Ferment?

Natural, so just...

IN SPANISH:

'Hang on, why are my hands dirty?

'This is YOUR job!

I've managed not to knead bread.

Now, in Spain, I meet my nemesis.

-Go on, Butch! Go on!

-It's getting there. Just get the water into it.

-And the softer the dough, the tastier the bread.

-That's it.

Look, that's what you call rhythm, mate, look at that.

Like a machine.

Tsssh!

Despacio, despacio.

'Maria-Flora is checking that my kneading

'raised the dough temperature above 23 degrees Celsius.

'By doing this, she's absolutely sure that the yeast will work,

'and the dough will rise.

-That needs to rest now for two hours.

-Dos horas. Dos.

-Dos horas.

-Dos horas.

'Meanwhile, the spelt dough for the sausage roll

'is ready to be handled.

'It's a very different texture to a wheat dough -

'darker, grainy, and even more elastic.'

Ha!

SI AND DAVE LAUGH

'She's using chorizo, lardons and skinned, cooked red pepper

'to fill the Asturian sausage roll.'

-It's a piggy tail!

-Yeah! He-hey!

-He-hey!

Aah, it's brilliant!

'And while the king of sausage rolls goes into the oven,

'we can shape the bread for baking.'

Well, this is Asturian spelt that's self-seeded

in the car park behind where they store the grain.

Do you know, in some circles,

you know, spelt has become a bit fashionable, a bit trendy.

What was that we read that it was like?

-SI LAUGHS

-It was like the Keira Knightley of the grain world!

It's a bit kind of like, chichi, you know.

'Posh or not posh, it's a lot easier to digest than common wheat.

'But the downside is that it takes longer to grow,

'which means only one harvest per year,

But you know, at the end of the day, if you forget the economics,

you forget the health side of it,

it produces bread that can taste magnificent.

Sourdough spelt bread.

'It's stronger and nuttier than wheat.

'But the texture is dense, but also quite light.

'It's a bit weird.

'In a good way.'

-Oh, man.

-That's really tasty bread.

Ohhh!

BOTH: Ho-hooooo!

Oh, yes!

We love you more than you'll ever know.

-SIMON SQUEAKS

-Mucho fantastico.

Ohh, look at that.

Sweet red pepper, streaky bacon and chorizo.

In bread!

Mmmm.

The bread is still cooked through perfectly,

it's springy and it's got texture.

Yeah, it has. Lovely taste.

-It's...

-THEY MAKE KISSING SOUNDS

-Oh...

-Yes!

'Goodbye, Asturias. We've loved you.

'We're back on El Camino, heading towards Santiago,

'but before we get there, we've a stop in Viviero in Galicia.

'Like the Basque Country,

'Galicia is an autonomous province within Spain

'with its own heritage and distinct language.

'But it shares its roots with Scotland and Ireland,

'forming what's known as the Celtic Triangle.'

Viviero is a small fishing village in the heart of Galicia.

'Today we're baking our Galician empanada right here on the beach.

Our filling this time

'is made of scallops, ham and all the loveliness from the sea

'that we bought at the market yesterday.

The Galician empanada, it is Spanish -

it's got peppers, onions, parsley, lemon juice, all cooked together.

The ways of doing the fish balance it out in a big pasty.

The pastry is different, it's an olive oil-based pastry.

The reason it's an olive oil-based pastry, it makes it slightly more elastic.

Right, take one dry board(!)

Flour.

To that, add one teaspoon of baking powder. Give it a bit of lift.

One teaspoon of salt - slightly damp.

Take one lump!

THEY LAUGH

One egg.

Now it's time for a oil-io d'olivio!

-Grande love sauce, Spanish green stuff from the tree.

-Go on!

Cuatro big spoons-o.

We're going to combine that with a fork

and then gradually add the water.

We're not going to give you a measurement for the water.

You'll have to look at it. When it's done, it's done.

You'll be able to see, it's not that hard.

And if you have a bit too much water in, just put a bit more flour in.

That's going to have to rest for about an hour.

That it makes it easier for you to roll out.

-You couldn't roll that out now, it would be difficult.

-Indeed.

Right, dude, I'm going to try and find somewhere to wash me hands.

I shall prepare the table in order to make the filling.

Again, we're starting by making a piperade -

these Basque flavours are everywhere.

Now this needs to sweat down completely

and it's going to form a vegetable mulch

that that wonderful fish is going to sit and steam on in our empanada.

Look, the original recipe with this was just for scallops and ham,

but because we have had such the most fantastic fish market,

we decided to get some razor clams,

steam them in a little bit of butter, a little bit of cider...

And they're rather like cooking mussels.

They really won't take long to steam

and they're going to be cooked in the pie again.

So just a little steam. We've got some hake and some bream.

The hake's really meaty,

so what we will do is just fillet this one off.

And that is just pure, white meat.

And cut this into chunks, the bream's going to be thinner,

so just cut that into slices.

The bream's very soft, very fragile,

so we're just going lay those pieces in the empanada.

Scallops, well you could eat them raw,

they're just going to steam in their own juices. Lovely!

That's the base.

Now some scallops.

Some goujons of bream.

Well, we've got a little treat as a side dish

to go with the empanada Galicia.

'I'm going to fry some small green peppers to make pimiento del Padron,

'pretty similar to those we ate in the Txokos.'

Now. these are lovely, benign, sweet peppers,

but from time to time you'll get a hot one!

And I'm going to gently fry our beautiful king oyster mushrooms

in some butter and olive oil.

-Oh!

-Should I?

-Yeah, go on.

It's the freshest seafood, steamed in its own steamy thing.

Happy Bakeation, mate.

Cheers, mate, it's been a wonderful Bakeation!

-Ah, man!

-It's just full of all your favourite things.

The pastry, because of the olive oil, is quite bready.

But it works with this.

All the juices from the fish...

and the cooking liquor has gone into the bottom of the pastry.

-Mm-hm.

-And it's absolutely superb.

-We'll remember San Sebastian every time we eat these now.

-Yeah.

'That's it, Kingy.

'It's the last few miles of our Bakeation.

'Santiago de Compostela, here we come!

'And we're on time for the big fiesta. Hurrah!

'Santiago is Galicia's capital

'and the final destination of the Way of St James.

'Tonight, all the pilgrims are converging on the city

'at the superb medieval cathedral.

'But it's not party time just yet -

'we've still got to try out a local speciality.

'But not just anyone, Buster! It's St James's very own tart.

'La Tarta de Santiago is an almond tart.

'Cake. It's an almond cake.'

'Well, it's a cake tart made with almonds.

'The recipe dates back to medieval times.

'In fact, the Galicians are so serious about it,

'that it can only be called a Tarta de Santiago

'if it's baked in the area.

'Anywhere else in the world, it's a Bakewell tart, but without the jam!'

Strangely enough, in the world baking competition,

in 1986 in Warsaw in Poland,

the Tarta de Santiago came a very respectable 23rd!

That, to me, is worthy of a look!

How does he know?!

-Bernarda?

-Hola!

-Hey! Dave.

-Hola, Bernarda.

-Como estas?

-Gracias, yes.

-There it is!

-The Tarta de Santiago.

With the cross of St James. Ah, brilliant!

Ooh! It's beautiful.

-That does look like a well-packed pie.

-Bernarda, may we?

Oh, you're a good 'un! You're a good 'un!

-So, these are the ingredients for the Tarta de Santiago?

-Si.

-Almendras.

-Almonds.

-Huevos.

-Eggs.

-Azucar.

-Sugar.

-Y un poquito de canela.

-Cinnamon.

Primero, la almendras.

-The almonds go in first.

-Si.

-That's a lot of almonds.

That IS a lot of almonds.

Continuacion, la azucar.

-That smells nice. Look.

-Cinnamon.

-Cinnamon.

-Ocho huevos.

-Eight eggs.

Cuatrocientos gramos.

Son dos huevos, por cien gramos.

There's two eggs, for every 100 grammes of almonds,

so that means we've got 400 grammes of almonds,

so therefore, eight eggs. Ocho huevos.

He's fluent, y'know? He's good, isn't he?

Dos.

Si.

Maestro de la mano!

'Bernarda has already prepared some shortcrust pastry cases

'for the tarts.

'And she bakes them, well, until they're ready.'

-These look fantastic.

-Si.

-So the rest of the time, we're going to eat biscuits.

-Yes!

-Si!

Mm!

SHE SPEAKS IN SPANISH

So your grandma used to make these?

And they're made from the cream on the top of the milk.

These are lovely home-made biscuits.

-They are like your mother would make.

-Oh, fabulous.

-Superb.

Now, the mystery of how you get the cross of St James...

Ah...Beautiful.

'Now, I wouldn't recommend doing this without using oven gloves.

'Bernarda must have asbestos hands!'

It's very thin, as well.

-Ah, the cross.

-Cross de Santiago.

-La cruz de Santiago.

-La cruz de Santiago!

With the cross of St James.

Mm! It's lovely, it's like a kind of Bakewell-y, frangipane...

Oh, it's soft, it's lovely.

Oh, yeah. Mm.

-Buena?

-Si, si, buena.

Quite a funny texture, but lovely flavours, isn't it?

-Bueno.

-Perfecto.

-Perfecto. Superbo!

That's it, Kingy, our final Bakeation cake has been eaten.

BRASS BAND PLAYS

Mate, let's put our glad rags on for our last night.

It's party time!

Well, there's 15,000 people in town tonight,

and it's the eve of the Feast Of St James.

And over there, the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela.

People have come from all over the world to Santiago.

They followed their own scallop shells...

-FIREWORK LAUNCHES

-Here we go!

FIREWORK EXPLODES

-Oh...

-It's going to be a belting night.

Look. Look, mate, have you seen them all? Look.

All of these people on the embankment there

are waiting for the fireworks.

It's a MASSIVE display. It's going to be fabulous.

-Oh, look at that!

-Wow.

-Look at this, guys. Look.

STREET BAND PLAYS

I defy you to not stomp your feet.

-You cannae not, can you?

-You can't!

'We've been invited to watch the celebrations

'from one of the city council's private balconies.

'I feel like royalty!'

There's a wonderful sense of anticipation -

the music's about to start and the fireworks start in about,

kind of, six or seven minutes.

-And didn't we promise you the best seat in the house?

-Look at that.

15,000 people.

All here to celebrate the Feast Of St James.

It's an amazing operation.

I mean, there's helicopters circling in the sky,

there's firemen on the roof, obviously for the fireworks,

you don't want the cathedral to burn down!

But it really, really is a spectacle.

Should we?

Just once.

THEY LAUGH

-That's it.

-Oh, he's off.

-That's it now.

-Done it now, got it out me system.

-That's it, dude, that's it.

What a way to end.

Yeah, this is our last night in Spain.

Spain's been absolutely amazing.

Wonderful people, wonderful food, but what a finale!

It's starting. Look, the blue lights are on the cathedral.

All the posh folk are on the balcony.

-I'm not quite sure what to expect, are you?

-No. No, man.

SYMPHONY BEGINS

CHEERING

Wow.

Wow!

Wow!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Woo!

'Our Spanish might need a bit of work,

'but if you've been inspired to master your pan rustico...'

Oil-io d'olivio!

'..or your empanada, go to...

'..and follow the links to the Open University.'

BOTH: Y viva Espana!

-We love riding bikes.

-We love baking!

-And we like nothing better than a good...

-TOGETHER: Bakeation!