Great British Bake Off 2021

[Mi-Amigo]

The popular TV show "Great British Bake Off" returns to Ch 4 next Tuesday - 21 September - with Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith and presented by Matt Lucas and Noel Fielding.

The contestants have been announced 

Left-right:

Crystelle. Lizzie, Freya. George, Chigs, Giuseppe, Amanda, Tom, Jairzeno. Rochica, Jürgen and Maggie

Crystelle, 26, client relationship manager from London inspired by Portugese-Goan-Kenyan heritage.

Lizzie, 28, car production operative from Liverpool, described as "frantic and messy on the outside but is usually calm and collected within" 

Freya, 19, psychology student from North Yorkshire, youngest baker in tent this year, vegan, says she likes to be "unexpected" with her baking.

George, 34, shared lives co-ordinator from London, from Greek-Cypriot family, says his strength is "creative flair"

Chigs, 40, sales manager from Leicestershire, used online tutorials during lockdown to learn complex bakes and chocolate work.

Giuseppe, 45, chief engineer from Bristol, Italian-born inherited baking from his father, a professional chef. 

Amanda, 56, Metropolitan Police detective in London, baking heavily influenced by her Greek-Cypriot heritage.

Tom, 28, developer for family software company in Kent, says baking was "a welcome escape" during lockdown.

Jairzeno, 51, head of finance in London, moved from Trinidad 15 years ago, obsesses over flavour cominations, particularly using Caribbean spices. 

Rochica, 27, junior HR business partner from Birmingham, turned to baking when unable to dance due to injury, says her weakness is "getting flustered and everything going wrong".

Jurgen, German-born, moved to UK 18 years ago, lives in Sussex, IT professional, started baking when couldn`t buy German bread. 

Maggie, 70, retired nurse and midwife from Dorset, oldest contestant - loves canoeing, sailing, going out in her campervan.

A real mix of ages and characters this time.

I love GBBO. 

Anyone else going to be watching?

As with previous series, why not give your feedback on the show, the contestants, and the baking rounds after the show?

Looking forward to GBBO 2021 and your comments from next week. 

[Cleoriff]

Dessert Week.

Signature Dish. A Pavlova.

A vast array of different Pavlova bakes this week.

Quite a few were messy and either leaked or crumbled.

Chig who has only been cooking for a year, got the famous Hollywood handshake for his.

Jurgen and Guiseppe did well.

Technical:  4 Sticky Toffee Pudding (with a crisp thing....sorry didn't catch the name of it) 😂

When one of the contestants forgot to put flour into their pudding I knew time was running out!

So a good show by many

Jurgen 1st

Lizzie 2nd.

Bottom three were

Maggie

Amanda

George.

Showstopper. A Jaconde decorated collar (with any cake filling)

Freya has a difficult job having to bake everything vegan. She wasn't impressed with the criticism of her cake.

Amanda overbaked her 'collar' and Maggie lost all the decorations from hers so started over again.

Jurgen, Guiseppe and Chigs produced beautiful cakes (Chigs was the best of them all)

Star baker. Chigs (well deserved)

Eliminated Maggie. (not before time imo.)

Next week

German Week?

[Mi-Amigo]

Thanks for the recap on Dessert week @Cleoriff 

Here are my thoughts.

Signature - although some did struggle, and were messy, it was good to see Chigs, who has not had much attention so far, get the hand shake from Paul. Chigs was the best in my opinion, and not surprisingly, Jurgen and Guiseppe also did well.

Technical - I love sticky toffee pudding but didn`t realise how difficult it was to bake 😁

I thought there seemed to be a bit of friendly rivalry [not unexpected] between Jurgen and Guiseppe, and agree with the judges that Jurgen deserved to win the technical, but, how did Lizzie come second again ??

That said, I do agree with the judges on the bottom three - Maggie, Amanda and George.

ShowStopper - Freya`s worse bake so far, in my opinion, she clearly found this hard and was obviously not happy with the comments. There was some great bakes and competition from Jurgen, Guiseppe, and Chigs; and I was pleased to see Chigs get star baker - this could mean the whole competition is now wide open, in my opinion, with Chigs joining Freya, Jurgen and Guiseppe as a contender for the winner of GBBO.

With Maggie having had a poor week and having to redo her showstopper, it wasn`t really a surprise to see her being the one chucked off last night. All I want now is for George and Amanda to be kicked off and we could be in for a great battle of the bakers in the tent. 

[Cleoriff]

GERMAN WEEK

This is the first time they have done German week in the GBBO. I thought it was unfair just because we have ONE German contestant.

Secondly, this episode was filmed on a very hot day which affected a lot of the bakes through all 3 challenges.

SIGNATURE

Two batches of different biscuits. All seemed to do well, although Guiseppe, Crystelle and Jurgen were the best. Jurgen had the Hollywood handshake.

TECHNICAL: Prince Regent cake

A cake in thin layers with a filling in between Covered with a chocolate ganache.

Bottom three

Amanda

Crystelle

George.

Top three.

Lizzie 3rd

Chigs 2nd

Guiseppe 1st.

SHOWSTOPPER: Yeast Cake? (weird)

Various good bad and excellent.

Just letting you know how each did.

Lizzie. Did well (she is a bit of a dark horse. Doing better than I thought she would)

Crystelle. Also did well. Judges liked her cake.

Chigs. A good cake but overbaked

Amanda. Excellent bake (shocked really, as she is normally below average)

Freya. Looked ok but when they cut into it, was underbaked.

George. Another cake which was raw in places

Jurgen. Looked great but overbaked

Guiseppe. Amazing bake.

All in all, I thought Jurgen would walk this being German but he didn't

STAR BAKER: Guiseppe

Eliminated:  Freya (shocked at this, although she was average in all challenges, George was worse than her.

George thought the same as he thought he was for the chop.

Next Week. PASTRY WEEK.

[Mi-Amigo]

Thank you for the recap @Cleoriff 

As soon as it was announced this would be German week, some of the contestants joked "Jurgen`s star baker".

I thought it was unfair to have a German week and no doubt Jurgen felt he was under extra pressure.

As to the three rounds...

Signature - I agree that Guiseppe, Crystelle and Jurgen were the best.

Technical - In my opinion, the judges got it right with Amanda and George in the bottom three and Chigs and Lizzie in top three. Based on last week`s and this week`s, Chigs and Lizzie could be the dark horses in the competiton with both doing better than I expected.

Showstopper - Jurgen and Chigs overbaked; George raw; Freya underbaked. And how gets sent home ? Freya!! I`m livid. Does the technical challenge not count any more in deciding who gets booted off ? Amanda saved her self [after being bottom in Tech] with the Showstopper; but George was in the bottom three in Tech and a raw bake in Showstopper and yet he is still in the competition.

Holloway must have a secret agenda, and couldn`t possibly allow a vegan and the youngest baker ever to get any further let alone win GBBO, so booted her off.

I`m rooting for Guiseppe to win, and want to see him up against Jurgen and Lizzie in the final. 

[Mi-Amigo]

CHOUX WEEK (I think that`s what it was called 😁)

Signature - donuts. Most seemed to find this wasn`t easy. Guiseppe, Jurgen, Chigs made a reasonable job but Crystelle wasn`t happy with hers, and George`s was effort was poor in my opinion.

Technical - baklave and bakers had to make their own filo pastry - which got reaction from the bakers "Who makes filo ? You buy it!". Possibly the hardest technical challenge seen on GBBO. Crystelle smiled a lot and seemed determined to rise to the challenge. Lizzie mis-timed her bake. 

The judges placed the bakers in this order

7th Lizzie; 6th George; 5th Amanda; 4th Guiseppe; 3rd Chigs; 2nd Crystelle; 1st Jurgen.

For once, I agree with the judges ^^^

ShowStopper - terrine pie with baker`s choice of filling.

George had problems from the start - put his sausage roll in freezer for too long; had problems with bake; looked like he`d given up, with his bake`s "soggy bottom".  Guiseppe produced a pie with an owl on it - for his wife - looked OK. Lizzie saved herself with her Neptune pie, which Paul said was "Spot on". Chigs bake cracked. Crystelle made a curry pie in memory of her Nana. It looked great. She placed it on the table for the judges to try and stepped back to her bench. After trying it, Paul called her forward. Crystelle stepped up andlooked worried that something was wrong. Paul stretched out his hand and gave Crystelle a Holloway and shake - almost unheard of in the ShowStopper. Crystelle dropped to the floor.

Then we had Amanda`s disaster. It collapsed when taking it out of the oven. Chigs rushed to help.

Note: this is not the first time Amanda had a collapsing baker and another baker tried to help her... but this time even Chigs said there was nothing more he could do.

It was down to Star Baker and who would be sent home. The judges teased that Jurgen and Crystelle were up for Star Baker and Amanda and George were in danger.

After a commercial break came the announcement.

Star Baker - Crystelle ! Yes ! I was so pleased - richly deserved.

Then who would be sent home ???? Amanda !!! Yes - in my opinion, finally after six weeks of GBBO Paul and Prue have got rid of her...

After my comments last week, I am more than happy with tonight`s results and feel we should now be in for quite a battle in the tent in the remaining weeks - and have a new dark horse in the competiton - Crystelle. 

[Cleoriff]

I caught bits of this tonight as I was 'writing a story'!!

I agree with all your comments @Mi-Amigo 

I did notice that George and Amanda did poorly throughout.

Quite obvious that Jurgen and Guiseppe are the best. Chigs is ok. Crystelle had a good week and Lizzie is better than she thinks she is.

I managed to catch the Hollywood handshake for Crystelles showstopper which was a masterpiece really.

Fully deserved Star Baker

Pleased Amanda went, although it could just as well have been George.

[Cleoriff]

CARAMEL WEEK

Signature ... Highly Decorated Caramel Tart

Just to say some good and bad. Not a very great effort from anyone. A lot of unset caramel.

Technical = 10 Caramel shortbread biscuits covered in chocolate

Again, no-one was perfect.

Winner Guiseppe

2nd Jurgen

3rd Chig

4th Crystelle

5th Lizzie

6th George

Showstopper = Caramel Dessert Cake (with a clear sugar dome) OH DEAR!!

To be honest no-one did a showstopping job of any bake (except one

Crystelle made 7 domes and each one failed. Then she used a balloon and it was ok. The cake was poor

Jurgen  Did a damn good job with so many layers. An ok sugar dome.

Guiseppe Misty dome and disappointing cake (by his standards)

Chigs Looked fine but was a mess when cut into

Lizzie. Did a dome cake with dome at the bottom. The cake inside was a mess. Not set at all.

George. Raised his game. A good effort from him

Star baker Jurgen just edged it

It was between George and Lizzie for elimination

George eliminated

I missed what they are doing next week.

PS Just want to say, if I had Noel Fielding and Matt Lucas messing around all the time I'd kick them in the teeth. Need to get rid!!

[Mi-Amigo]

Thank you @Cleoriff for the recap on tonight`s GBBO.

All of the bakers found the signature dish in Caramel week a bit more than a challenge and, in my opinion, no-one shone through.

When it came to the technical challenge, again all of the bakers found it difficult. I agree with the judges that George and Lizzie were the worse and, from their comments, don`t think George or Lizzie were too surprised. When Paul announced Guiseppe was 1st, the others applauded which got a very quick response from Paul - "Don`t clap him!!" - wich about sums up how poor each of them were.

Then it got to the Show Stopper. Paul and Prue said two - George and Lizzie were in trouble and either could be going home, but - for the first time - four [Jurgen, Guiseppe, Chigs and Crystelle] were in line for Star Baker.

To be fair, George did up his game, whereas Lizzie, who had not done well, seemed as though she had given up. OK, she tried something different with her upside down bake and didn`t look too bad on the outside, but when it was cut open it was a mess. Crystelle had so many failed attempts at her dome that Lizzie stepped in to help her with the balloon-based dome which she had used, but even that failed. Chigs bake looked OK but again was a mess when cut into.

George - narrowly - was sent home; because overall he had did worse than Lizzie.

Jurgen was Star Baker - in my opinion, because he was the best out of a low standard from the others.

As to Noel and Matt... they are becoming more and more annoying as each week goes on... Pity they can`t be kicked off...

Next week is "Dairy Free Week" - bit of a coincidence, this round should come after the vegan contestant was kicked off last week - [with also mention of "gluten free" dish I think] 

Should be an interesting week - as it is also the quarter finals.  

[Cleoriff]

@Mi-Amigo 

Thanks for reminding me of next week being Dairy Free week. Must admit they have had some weird challenges this series?

I think Lizzie knows she has to up her game next week. As Paul says, she lacks finesse.

[Cleoriff]

This week was DAIRY AND GLUTEN FREE WEEK.

If honest, I'm not too interested in these types of bakes. Apologies if this offends anyone but as someone who is lucky enough to tolerate a normal diet, I do find there is a hell of a lot of work goes into this type of bake using ingredients I've never heard of.

SIGNATURE BAKE.

Dairy Free Ice Cream Sandwich.

A variety of different bakes with unusual 'ice cream' fillings.

All looked ok apart from those made by Lizzie. She made black biscuits which looked awful but supposedly tasted very nice.

TECHNICAL

8 identical vegan sausage rolls.

These were made of vegan filo pastry with the most revolting filling I've ever seen.

Not sure how anyone could eat them if honest.

Jurgen had a disaster dropping his when he lifted them out of the oven. No-one shone at this challenge but they were marked as follows.

Chigs came top

Guiseppe 2nd

Lizzie 3rd

Jurgen 4th

Crystelle 5th.

SHOWSTOPPER - Gluten Free Celebration Cake.

Had to be at least 2 layers.

Jurgen did 3 layers. He knew he had to do something outstanding.

We learnt that Lizzie has dyslexia and dyspraxia. This makes a mockery of Paul constantly telling her she needs finesse. Her cake was wonderful.

All the bakes were great and wonderfully decorated

Star Baker- CHIGS

Elimination was between Lizzie and Crystelle. Lizzie was eliminated.

Not sure that was the right decision.