GBBO 2017

kylith

Well, I enjoyed it. How about ye?

Gloomtastic!

The format is obviously bigger than the presenters. Thought it was as good as usual - including the oh so politically correct mix of contestants.

Liked the fact they lengthened the show to accommodate the commercials as opposed to cutting the show to fit the hour.

Roll on next week.

Shenshen

I quite enjoyed it, I have to say. But those Dr Oetker ads have already made me swear never to purchase anything from that brand ever again.

Quite happy to see Noel Fielding, and I do like Sandy Toksvig. Pru Leith I'm not yet sold on.

Toto Wolfcastle

I thought I was fantastic. Really enjoyable. I didn't know what to expect from Prue Leith but I thought she was very similar to Mary Berry. Noel Fielding was the star for me. So lovely to the bakers.

Flo, Steven and Yan are my favourites so far. That loaf of bread cake was incredible.

kylith

I found Noel much less irritating than Mel & Sue.

That bread cake was unbelievable. Same the sugar terrarium didn't work out, I thought the plants looked really good.

Dizzyblonde

I missed it! I'll watch it on On Demand and zip through the dreaded ads
I love Sandy Toksvig and Noel Fielding so I'm looking forward to it. Pru Leith tends to be very direct and knows her stuff so I'm interested to see how she does.

Poochie05

I really liked it.
Noel was my favourite. I always liked him on panel shows and stuff, but was interesting to see this side of him. He was really good with the bakers. Sandy is always reliable for delivering the reliable scripted funny lines but hopefully she'll settle in to a more relaxed approach.

And I liked Pru - she's like Mary Berry but a bit more blunt, which isn't a bad thing.
Even watching on delay to fast forward through the ads, I found the number of breaks really interrupted the normally easy going feeling of Bake Off.

The 2 indents either side of each ad break in particular very annoying, though they were handy place holders to stop the fast forward!

Toto Wolfcastle

I liked the breaks. Perfect opportunity to get snacks or go to the toilet or whatever. I tweet about it for work too and I found that I was missing bits when it was on BBC. The ad breaks are handy for that.

Gloomtastic!

Toto Wolfcastle wrote: »

I liked the breaks. Perfect opportunity to get snacks or go to the toilet or whatever. I tweet about it for work too and I found that I was missing bits when it was on BBC. The ad breaks are handy for that.

Nothing like a popular programme to add a few more ads to the break. Managed to make a cup of tea during one break and I like my tea dark.

When I lived in Notting Hill in the 80's I used to walk past Pru Leith's restaurant every morning on the way to the Tube. She's been around nearly as long as Mary. The restaurant was always immaculate and the menu looked amazing but way past my wage packet unfortunately.

RasTa

Pretty similar which was great. I thought the last ad was one too many. The rest didn't bother me.

Super high standard, thought the pancakes looked amazing too.

SmallTeapot

Yep, I really liked it! I didn't really know what to expect tbh and for some reason I found Noels' voice-over work at the start a bit weird - he didn't really sound like himself(!)...... but that quickly dissipated and I settled into the new crew fairly quickly and think they all worked really well together.

The inclusion of new challenges were refreshing - the illusion showstopper was an interesting idea for the first show. I also never knew mini roll could be so difficult (!)

The bakes were all pretty impressive - the pancake stack, ramen/breakfast bowl/Russian doll. Although Stevens' bread loaf + sandwich creation was unreal!

The ads were a bit annoying, but did allow me to make tea, so not so bad I suppose!

Whilst bake-off has been quite consistent in terms of quality the last number of years, I did find last years season was not the usual standard, and the format was getting a bit stale. Last nights episode, however, was very entertaining! I will definitely be tuning in next week.

The Hill Billy

I miss Mary Berry as I consider her to be the ultimate authority on baking. That said, the new crew did a great job! Very enjoyable. Some really amazing showstopper too!!!

zenbuffy

Wahey, my favourite time of the year! As with last year (some of you may remember my posts on the GBBO 2016 thread ), I'll be trying to bake along, so I made a ridiculously over-the-top cake both for Cake Week and my brother's birthday.



Chocolate sponge, white chocolate buttercream, belgian chocolate drip, and all the chocolate in the world. I think I'm just going to keep everything in one album here as well as on my FB page, for ease of sharing

As for the show, I found myself more sucked in than I anticipated. Some really impressive showstoppers, I wonder how they'll keep up that standard. The star baker showstopper (Stephen?) was really fab, excellent airbrushing.

I wonder if we'll see more fondant being used in general, or if they'll keep the focus on the baking? I know that some bakes won't allow fondant just by their nature, but I'm curious to see if it creeps in even more.

I thought some of the interactions between Sandi and Noel were a wee bit awkward, but I already liked Sandi from other things I had seen her in, so I was well disposed towards her no matter what anyway, and I thought things loosened up towards the end. It'll never quite be the same without Mary, Mel, and Sue, but I'm happy to continue on my tradition of visiting my family with increasingly mad bakes and settling in to watch bake off

RacoonQueen

I hope you made those mini rolls yourself

I've been wanting to make mini rolls for ages. Nots o much now after watching that.

I liked it. Doesn't feel like anything is missing from previous years and I've been watching all the old ones on good food over the last few weeks.

zenbuffy

RacoonQueen wrote: »

I hope you made those mini rolls yourself

Hahahaha, not bloody likely!

Although, I have often said that about technical challenges in the past, but then found that they were ok when I actually made them, so maybe when I have some free time....

Now to come up with some elaborate biscuit construction. I see the technical challenge is going to be fortune cookies, and I don't fancy my chances making those!

Dizzyblonde

I watched it last night and really enjoyed it. The standard is way up this year, and the showstoppers blew me away!

sammyjo90

Just watched it there and thought it was very good.
Noel is just the right amount of quirky which must be hard for him, seeing as he's the mighty boosh and all!
Glad i have something to watch again

confusticated

Only watched it tonight, was a bit wary of the new team but thought it was great, I loved Noel, he was so nice! The standard was crazy high too, looking forward to seeing if they can hold it.

B0jangles

I'm going to wait to build up a bit of a backlog before I start watching, I like to have a few on hand so I'm not dying for next week's episode to come out - I'm really glad to hear that all the changes haven't wrecked the basic premise and atmosphere.

Can I mention that the Great Australian Bake Off (apart from season 1) is really good and comes pretty close to capturing the feel of the original while managing to have a distinctive Australian tinge. I started watching it after I ran out of old GBBO seasons to watch; I came late to the whole bake off thing, so when I started watching it I was galloping through seasons in a few days and when I ran out I was kind of desperate for a replacement

Season 1 of the GABO is not great - whoever produced it added too many of the standard reality TV touches like fake rivalry and dramatic music, but after that they replaced the whole presenting and judging team and switched to something a lot closer to the style of the original.

Daisy78

I love Noel Fielding and would watch him in anything but I thought he was an odd choice for the GBBO. Nevertheless the new series looks like it will be as popular as ever I'd say once the two presenters relax into their roles a bit more. Those sponges looked amazing...

yummymummyjay

I wasn't expecting too but I really enjoyed it. I didn't miss the others even once! Very impressed!

goldlocks10

Love it. Great show. Liked the ad breaks. Watch masterchef Australia too. Record them on sky and sit down and watch loads together. Baking heaven.

yummymummyjay

goldlocks10 wrote: »

Love it. Great show. Liked the ad breaks. Watch masterchef Australia too. Record them on sky and sit down and watch loads together. Baking heaven.

Masterchef Australia is amazing!!! So much better than any other Masterchef! The chefs they have on week in week out...

tea and coffee

This week's starbaker's showstopper was outstanding!!

Gloomtastic!

tea and coffee wrote: »

This week's starbaker's showstopper was outstanding!!

I thought it was on Wednesdays? :eek:

kylith

Check out Steven's Instagram. The man has some serious talent!

goldlocks10

kylith wrote: »

Check out Steven's Instagram. The man has some serious talent!

Have you a link. Thanks

kylith

Some pics on here: http://www.stylist.co.uk/life/bake-off-steven-professional-amateur-conspiracy-gbbo-instagram-controversy-baking

Dizzyblonde

Steven's my favourite to win at the moment. His chess set was fabulous. I think a few people dodged a bullet last night, but the right one was sent home.

kylith

I think the aul wan will be the next to go. She just doesn't seem to have the technical skills of some of the younger bakers.

Dizzyblonde

Me too - she was good last week but she really floundered this week.

tea and coffee

kylith wrote: »

I think the aul wan will be the next to go. She just doesn't seem to have the technical skills of some of the younger bakers.

Noooo. I love Flo!
Stacey next to go I think.

sammyjo90

Is paul a little biased towards steven? That was an awful lot of praise there!


Noooooo flo:(

kylith

I knew Flo was gone. Flo knew Flo was gone.

Paul is getting quite fan girly about Steven, but how on earth did he make that chain?! It must be witchcraft!

Dizzyblonde

Poor Flo, she was the obvious choice for the boot. I'd say that if given a choice Paul would still have given Steven star baker. That handbag was pure genius. He must move at twice the speed of everyone else to get things like bread stick chains done in the time!

kylith

Dizzyblonde wrote: »

Poor Flo, she was the obvious choice for the boot. I'd say that if given a choice Paul would still have given Steven star baker. That handbag was pure genius. He must move at twice the speed of everyone else to get things like bread stick chains done in the time!

I got the feeling Pru had put her foot down there.

sammyjo90

kylith wrote: »

I got the feeling Pru had put her foot down there.

Most definitely, was a tough enough call, there wasn't really a star at all this week but I agree it shouldn't have been Steven. He did not do well in the first 2 rounds at all!

huskerdu

Liam seems like a nice chap but I dont think he'll be with us for much longer.

Lo_La

Apparently there's rumours that Steven is a professional chef!!

kylith

I've heard that, but he claims to just be an avid baker.

Dizzyblonde

He's certainly used to making showstoppers! Any blurb I've read about him talks about his 'background in marketing' but there's no mention of a day job.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2017/09/06/great-british-bake-stevens-stunning-instagram-account-explains/

huskerdu

huskerdu wrote: »

Liam seems like a nice chap but I dont think he'll be with us for much longer.

Got that one wrong ! Liam was nearly star baker this week

tea and coffee

huskerdu wrote: »

Got that one wrong ! Liam was nearly star baker this week

Ah sure lookit, the person who went this week had done some super stuff in previous weeks. You're only as good as your last bake!

Jentle Grenade

For me, the best thing to come out of the move to C4 is Prue as a judge. She completely refreshes the format. Pulls no punches I'd say when it comes to Paul or the contestants.

sammyjo90

I love Prue, thought I could see shock on her face when paul gave steven a bad comment at one stage :pac:

My housemate for some reason can't stand Liam.. I don't mind him but I don't think he'll last much longer.

Katie also needs to tie her hair back properly!

treenytru

Anyone else really happy to see the history segments back?

Toto Wolfcastle

sammyjo90 wrote: »

My housemate for some reason can't stand Liam.. I don't mind him but I don't think he'll last much longer.

I love Liam! I always think the younger contestants seem really twee or something but he's just a regular guy who genuinely seems to know what he's doing. He deserved Star Baker.

kylith

I'm warming to Liam, his millionaire bars sounded very tasty.

Was sorry to see Tom go, but he had an awful couple of days.

Dizzyblonde

treenytru wrote: »

Anyone else really happy to see the history segments back?

I am - I've missed them up until now.

Toto Wolfcastle wrote: »

I love Liam! I always think the younger contestants seem really twee or something but he's just a regular guy who genuinely seems to know what he's doing. He deserved Star Baker.

He deserved Star Baker. He has a real passion for baking, and it's starting to show now.

Dizzyblonde

I felt sorry for Tom too, he's been so good up until now and it was just bad luck that he had such a bad week.

kylith

That winning showstopper...

Shame about James. I think some cracks are starting to show in Steven; he's straying too much into style over substance. Meanwhile Stacey seems to be going from strength to strength, and Sophie's doing really well too.