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Welcome to the Eater round-up of Great British Bake Off 2019, as Paul Hollywood, Prue Leith, Sandi Toksvig, and Noel Fielding return to the tent for the 10th series of cakes, puddings, breads, and inevitable recourse to terrible baking puns.
Cake week kicked off GBBO 2019; episode 2 tackled biscuits; bread week brought in tear-and-share loaves, baps, and a lot of scoring; and dairy week was all about crying over spilt milk. Episode 5 inadvertently summoned Cthulhu for 1920s/Retro/Great Gatsby/What Even Is This Theme Week, and dessert week was all bombe and no bombshell. Henry told Paul to shut up on Festival Week, and now it’s pastry week:
00:00: It’s Pastry Week. A real, baking-adjacent theme that challenges baking skill, rather than adherence to Paganism or an understanding of how Paul Hollywood separates Christmas. Rejoice! No, not like that.
For the last two weeks, there has been some kind of dessert game in which songs are transformed with baking puns, it can’t possibly be renewed for a thir—
Total Éclair of the Tart #PastrySongs #GBBO
— Die Küchenelfe (@kuechenelfe) October 15, 2019
https://t.co/rEuifrvoYD ✌️ #pastrysongs #pastryweek #GBBO #GBBO2019 #GBBOTwitterBakeAlong #foodism .@xirimir @PerfectlyPastry .@PastryRev .@GrupAyats .@OxfordCakeCo .@OxfordFoodCo https://t.co/bdmrSsof72 pic.twitter.com/MUAZEtBmME
— Paula Almiron-Chamadoira (@almiiiron) October 15, 2019
#PastrySongs Tart Me Up pic.twitter.com/tzZ2lmf2N8
— Matt Gray (@mattgrayc64) October 15, 2019
Are you filo-ing ready? #GBBO pic.twitter.com/5qxhd3bK79
— British Bake Off (@BritishBakeOff) October 15, 2019
Like The Thick Of It’s “sweary woman of Whitehall”: It’s a pun. Not really punning on anything, is it.
01:00: Intro Watch: Weak. Where is the punning. Where is the fun. Where are the costumes.
02:40: Okay, it’s savoury tarte tatin. Okay, why? Total appreciation for the attempt at innovation, but a lot of the deep caramelisation-meets-structural-integrity of an apple tarte tatin is lost when the filling is something less able to withstand intense Maillard reactions. There’s also the unevening of the playing field by allowing free choice of toppings.
02:42: Henry is doing a crab tarte tatin. How do you caramelise crab? Steph is doing shallots and cheese. Shallots caramelise really well. It makes sense. Alice is getting a nod to tradition in with some apple; David is doing carrot, which also sounds pretty wise. His nuts are “a treasured gift.” And with all this talk of pastry and tarts, right on cue ...
I mean, who doesn't have a soggy bottom every now and again #GBBO
— Beth Kapila (@BethKapila) October 15, 2019
05:19: THERE IT IS. “No-one wants a soggy tart,” says Henry, totally innocently.
What Is This, a Crossover Episode?
Maybe the ultimate sanction against last night's Bulgarian racist chanting would be to disqualify David from Bake Off. #GBBO
— Chris Merriman (@ChrisTheDJ) October 15, 2019
07:22: David’s tarte tatin with carrots, cumin, and sumac honestly sounds very good indeed. Others are taking it as a cue to riff:
I saw Leek Antipathy supporting David's Purple Heritage Carrots at the Soggy Bottom, Baker Street, in 1993 #GBBO
— Lee Spoons (@fluffybagelmix) October 15, 2019
11:12: Tense Oven Waiting Music arrives for perhaps the first time this series. It’s exacerbated by the heatwave, and a soporific stress atmosphere has descended over the tent. Alice is struggling with the sog. It’s now Turn Out Tension Time. The pause offers some time to reflect:
The unbearable tension of a tarte tatin bake #gbbo
— Cass Lennox (@CassLennox) October 15, 2019
and ...
Fucking hell. They look dire. #GBBO
— Sweary Berry (@SwearyBerry_) October 15, 2019
Deeply upset by these savoury tarte tatins #gbbo
— Tri Northern (@trinort04) October 15, 2019
17:00: Signature challenge tiers
- Crispy bottom and therefore top tier: Henry
- Caramelised bottom and therefore top tier: Steph
- Soggy middle and therefore middle tier: Alice
- Bone dry tier: David
- Soggy bottom and therefore bottom tier: Rosie
21:23: Sandi finally calls Paul’s technical challenge advice out for what it is: BS. The Unbearable Whiteness of Bake Off then kicks in. “If anyone has heard of this, I will get naked.” Everyone in Morocco. “I saw this on a travel show.” Okay. Warqa pastry; pastilla; bastilla; b’stilla. Moroccan staple. Folks. Do some research. Please.
23:40: The pastry assembly is not going well. Steph weeps. She’s been probably the best baker throughout. An Australian comedian, Adam Hills, appears out of nowhere. Harissa is too hot for the bakers. Paul and Prue can’t stop squawking MOROCCAN PIE, MOROCCAN PIE, MOROCCAN PIE.
Bake Off contestants absolutely soiling themselves over a bit of spice
— Overzealous Kath (@pterodactyljack) October 15, 2019
26:39: Noel and Sandi are throwing citrus fruit around the tent. Rosie looks angry at the site of fun. The commitment to filling time on a culinary tradition no-one in the tent knows anything at all about is at least admirable.
27:42: Henry’s collapses. Rosie’s collapses. Steph’s collapses. Everyone looks deeply traumatised. The impossible phrase “Moroccan pie” rears its head for the twentieth time.
33:20: Technical challenge tiers
- Filling’s good and pastry’s good tier: David
- Filling’s good but pastry’s weak tier: Steph
- Filling’s weak but pastry’s good tier: Henry, Alice
- It exploded tier: Rosie
39:12: Despite these tiers, Henry is bottom, and Rosie is second, despite having no base and an exploded pie, while Alice is third for soggy pastry and Steph is fourth. This judging is a little whack honestly. David is a deserved winner. Here’s Conspiracy Theory of the Week:
Rosie second in the technical? Absolutely not. Ridiculous. #GBBO
— Katie Anna Harding (@KatieAHarding) October 15, 2019
Rosie coming second in the technical after it fell apart and had no base? Bit of a set up there #GBBO
— DJ Mum Jeans (@dunkel_berry) October 15, 2019
I sense another bullshit elimination on the horizon. Can the country cope? #gbbo
— AAAAH-riadne Grrr-iffin (@Ariadne_Griffin) October 15, 2019
How the hell was Henry last in the technical?? Rosie’s burst, there was no bottom and you couldn’t cut it, it was literally like filling with ghost pastry flying around #GBBO
— polo apologist (@histcire) October 15, 2019
42:17: Now it’s time for ... a Vertical Pie. A Tower of Pies. A Leaning Tower of Pies. A Piescraper. Call in London’s pastry deviant Calum Franklin.
43:10: Alice is making a Pie Treehouse. David is doing a nautical “open pie,” which is a tart. Steph is taking the carousel route, while Rosie admits that her husband eats “nothing spicy at all.” Rosie: Get rid. Hers has 9 (nine) pies.
48:19: Henry is doing an upside down chandelier, which sounds frankly dangerous. The next 90 seconds is just Paul Hollywood leering creepily over Henry and Alice’s shoulders like a lamination-focussed pervert.
49:02: Halfway mark. Pies are going in the oven. Rosie’s nine pies are looking increasingly like Foolhardy Manoeuvre That Will Likely Backfire As Soon As It Is Mentioned Of The Week. Until, Henry realises that there are 60, and not 90 minutes left, and he is consequently in a pie of peril.
51:15: Everyone is tense about their rims. That is all for the ridiculous pies.
Pastry week is intense #GBBO
— Carla (@_carlamills) October 15, 2019
Pile o'pies piled up! #GBBO
— Gabriel & Hare (@Rosyosy) October 15, 2019
Mid ad-break, someone contributes to a hashtag with around 30 new tweets per second:
Is it me or has #GBBO fallen a bit flat this year? Don’t think I’ve heard a single person talk about it...and I’m not sure in 12 months’ time I’ll remember any of these contestants
— Tom Hourigan (@TomHourigan) October 15, 2019
51:01: Showstopper challenge tiers
- Nailed it tier: Steph
- Incredible design, poor execution tier: Alice, David
- Scared of moisture tier: Rosie, Henry
Judging tweet:
‘Today we’d like you to build a Tower out of pies, so the pastry will have to be sturdy and can’t have much moisture’
— Sam Atkins (@Atkins_Sam) October 15, 2019
‘Your pie crust is too thick and the filling is too dry’
#GBBO
Judgey tweet:
Picking Star Baker this week will be like picking the funniest clown in the circus #GBBO
— Nick Dent (@NickDentsBrain) October 15, 2019
Judgment tweet:
I think we should all be worried that we’re gonna lose our boy. We must prepare ourselves. #Henry #GBBO
— Taylor Learmouth (@taylorlearmouth) October 15, 2019
Star baker: Steph
Going home: Henry, somehow, honestly.
Running theme: Some completely ridiculous judging.
HEEEENNNRRYYYY #GBBO
— Robyn (@owensie) October 15, 2019
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! #GBBO
— Rose (@MsRoseCavalier) October 15, 2019
David should have been Star Baker , odd decision tonight on all fronts #GBBO
— Joanna Mc (@mc_joannamarie) October 15, 2019