Willkommen zum großen britischen Bake Off

With this being a bake-off first, The Great British Bake-Off tent welcomes German Week. And once again Twitter has blessed us with some amazing content giving us another insight of Week five.

After Chigs cruised to victory with dessert week with his flavours and precision, it was retired midwife Maggi traumatic technical and sloppy showstopper that saw her become the latest baker to leave the tent.

But now, the Great British Bake-off turns German, which means the bakers are halfway through the competition.

“What is German Week? I’ve never baked anything German in my life,” Said Amanda.

“It’s Jurgen’s week, like every week, we are all just on the ride”, Commented Lizzie.

Although he is the only German baker in the tent on a week such as German Week, Jurgen mentioned that he feels the pressure and wants to impress the judges.

As the bakers nervously awaited to start their signature bake. Excelling with his joke’s Week in and out, Matt Lucas announced the star baker, “We can reveal the star baker is Jurgen”.

Unterschrift:

For the first German signature challenge in GBBO history, the seven remaining bakers had to make two batches of 12 German biscuits – Also known as Christmas biscuits.

“We are after two different types of biscuit. Maybe the bakers might consider using a shortbread or a textured macaron biscuit,” said Paul Hollywood.

Prue Leith made it aware that she wanted the bakers to focus on the decorative element. “I don’t want them to step too far away from the traditional German biscuit”.

For German baker Jurgen, he became inspired by his brother’s recipe for this signature challenge. Some could say he had home advantage with this signature bake. On the other side of Europe, Giuseppe was approaching the German biscuit with an Italian approach. Yet, each baker chose both shortbread and a macaroon biscuit, creating a classic shoehorn shape.

Although technical was similar to what the bakers had made in biscuit week, the Language was somewhat different, which phased somewhat of a confusion to some of the bakers, like Lizzie, who converted the German Language to mean “Cheeky Boys”, which inspired her German biscuits.

This bake was the juggle of the decorative element mixed with keeping an eye on the biscuits in the oven. Baker George seemed to struggle with this and mentioned he could hear the bake-off rushing music continuously getting faster in his head.

As us viewer understood that Lucas couldn’t speak any word of German and tried up to make up with it with his below-average German accent and that Noel Fielding doesn’t have any links to Germany, we saw the bakers past the half-way mark.

Baker Amanda began to understand the meaning of multi-tasking with her Christmas biscuits as she tried to incorporate the taste of Christmas with her mulled wine inspired jam. 

There is a tiny window for the bakers to accompany their bakes with any jams or fillings to be achieved. However, her focus on mulled wine jam made her lack concentration with counting as when it came to judgment time, Amanda was a biscuit short!

As the judges tasted each of the contestant’s German biscuits, it seemed that this week was a home from home for Jurgen, as he exceeded beyond the judges taste buds and his signature bake saw him become the third baker to gain a Hollywood handshake.

“It’s just so overwhelming, I feel like I am going to cry”, Said Jurgen.

Both Amanda and Lizzie excelled with their jam, as the judges labelled them as spectacular and tasty. Likewise, Giuseppe and Crystelle produced biscuits that were beautifully finished with their flavours. However, George and Freya seemed to have struggled with this challenge as the judge found both of their German biscuits overbaked and tough to eat.

Paul said that George’s biscuit was having a battle in his mouth…

Technisch:

Leith set this week’s technical challenge, and she wanted the bakers to make a Prince Regent cake.

Leith’s Top Tip: Don’t panic and think methodical.

“Prince Regent cake is a perfect cake to make in German week. I can’t wait to see how Jurgen deals with this one.” Said Hollywood.

With that, the camera turned to Jurgen, the German baker, as he speaks with Lucas and Fielding.

“I have not tasted one, and I haven’t made one.” Said Jurgen.

The bakers had to make sure that their Prince Regent cake achieved thin layers for this German technical. Matt said that these layers could pass for a poppadum.

Like all technical bakes, the contestants are reliant on the minim guidelines in the judge’s recipe. But this week, these instructions were in German.

For Amanda this German technical had an unfortunate ending, leading her to come last in the challenge, due to her uneven bake and rough glazed finish.

Giuseppe had a different experience at the judges’ table. With Paul mentioning, “it takes an Italian to make a German cake.”

Stopper Anzeigen:

Being the last chance to secure a place in the tent, this week’s showstopper instructed the bakers to make a two-tiered yeast cake.

“This is a first for me!” Said Crystelle.

“This showstopper could take all day… Or four hours.” Joked Amanda.

For the bakers to make a two-tiered yeast cake, most of their time in the tent will be spent on the proving. With the competition halfway through, Leith had high expectations for this week’s showstopper and said she wanted the bakers to focus on the design of their yeast cakes.

It wouldn’t be the Great British Bake-Off if the challenges were anything but easy. For Jurgen, he said that “In Germany, you wouldn’t get a two-tiered yeast cake. That is like baking a two-tiered apple pie.”

Bakers Jurgen, Lizzie and Amanda took their showstopper to the boozy side, whereas George wanted his to be a belated anniversary cake. (Even if he couldn’t remember how long he has been married.)

A German yeast cake risked forming to a dough rather than a cake if it was over-kneaded. German baker Jurgen took the French approach with his ‘French Slap’, his way of kneading his cake. With different sized cakes, the bakers had to be successful multi-tasker as well as a baker. Most of the bakers managed their nerves, whereas George couldn’t resist leaving his cakes in the oven a minute longer.

It’s judgement time!

Lizzie: “You tried with the finesse we were asking for.” 

Crystelle: “As a package, it all works together.”

Chigs: “A little overbaked but the flavours and ideas are good.”

Amanda: “Your flavours are fantastic, and the bite of the bake is perfect.”

“This is the best thing I’ve tasted in a long while.” Said Hollywood.

Freya: “Too much dough to toppings. It could have done with a longer bake.”

George: “I love the flavour.” Said Hollywood. “This is rushed, and it’s raw.” Said Leith.

Giuseppe: “You have done an amazing job.”

Jurgen: “Your cake is too dry and bread-like. Your flavour is good. I like it, but I don’t.”

With German week ending, it was time for Lucas to reveal the star baker and the baker that was sadly leaving the tent.

The star baker of German week went to the Italian baker Giuseppe. Sadly, the vegan baker had failed to impress the judges this week and was the next contestant to leave the GBBO tent. 

“She is a 19-year-old vegan baker and has come halfway into the competition. She has done very well.” Said Hollywood.

Next week: Pastry Week.