GTBBO Week 3: Bread

The Great Taisty Bytes Bake Off - Season 2

Hello friends, and welcome back to The Great Taisty Bytes Bake Off!

It’s Bread Week and isn’t it funny how things change? Last year, this was the challenge I dreaded most. And this year it’s the one I’ve been most excited for! Between last season and now, I feel like I’ve really come to understand dough - thanks largely in part to my time baking through the ‘Buns’ cookbook.

Before we move on, you can read all about how Week 2 went here »

So, normally I stick with the Signature and Technical challenges, but this week the Technical was… glazed ring donuts. And listen, I love a donut as much as the next person, especially so for those little sugar donuts you get at a fairground, but I wasn’t about to go out and buy a deep fat fryer just for the sake of a challenge.

So instead, I decided to do something we’ve all been waiting for… TAKE ON THE SHOWSTOPPER CHALLENGE! [cue dramatic music!]

*Ahem* Right then - let’s get into it, shall we!

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Signature Challenge: Savoury Monkey Bread

First up this week was the Signature Challenge - a Savoury Monkey Bread. For those who haven’t come across it before, monkey bread is essentially a tear and share ‘loaf’, made up of little dough balls baked together. It’s the kind of bread you would make to be eaten with friends (or let’s be real, demolished single handedly!).

As I mentioned in my intro, I’m definitely more comfortable with dough these days, but I still grin like an idiot when I see a good rise after the first proof.

Last year I just crossed my fingers and hoped for the best once it went into the oven. Now I feel like I actually know what I’m doing.

It’s not that everything turns out perfect, but now that I understand the process and the cues to look out for that things are at the stage they should be - it makes all the difference.

Practice makes perfect!

For flavours, I wanted to try two versions:

• Garlic butter & herb with a mozzarella centre, rolled in grated parmesan

• Chilli & smoked paprika, with a smoked cheddar centre

It was at this point where I started to wonder if I’d made enough dough balls, forgetting how much they puff up on the second proof. And since this was my first time using the bundt tin (one of many, many bits of baking kit lurking in the cupboard), I had no idea how it would turn out.

Happily, I was really pleased with the bake - it came out beautifully golden, slipped straight out of the tin and the kitchen smelled unreal.

I think I could have made the dough balls a touch smaller, which would’ve made the overall texture a bit lighter. And I definitely could have tucked in more cheese! I was cautious about overfilling, especially with mozzarella being so moist, but in hindsight a little more ooze wouldn’t have hurt.

Still, flavour wise it was pretty damn great. The garlicky, herby parmesan pieces were perfect and gooey in the middle, while the smoky, spicy ones had that warmth that hits you in the back of the throat. I served them up with two dips, a garlic & herb and roasted red pepper.

Honestly, tearing into that bread while it was still warm, brushed with melted butter…so satisfying. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!

Here’s a little video of the inside…

(p.s: I always cut wonky shaped bread upside down - I find it easier to get a clean slice!)

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Showstopper Challenge: 3-Tiered Sweet Breads

Now for the big one… the Showstopper Challenge!

I can’t tell you how excited I was to tackle this. As you know, I had been wanting to give them a go this year, but time has not been on my side recently. However, with me not attempting the Technical, it gave me the perfect opportunity to give this week’s a go.

For my 3-tiered sweet bread tower, which I am calling my ‘Ode to Buns’ (a little tribute to just how much confidence and joy that book gave me), here’s what I went with:

• Bottom layer: Cardamom dough with a buttery lemon sugar filling, shaped into a wreath.

• Middle layer: Cinnamon buns, cardamom in the dough.

• Top layer: Cinnamon buns again, also with cardamom in the dough.

For the cinnamon buns, I’d seen Tom bake his with the spirals facing outwards, so I wanted to try the same. The bundt tin came in handy again for shaping, and I felt pretty confident with how these were going to turn out.

The wreath base was something I sort of made up on the fly. I was originally going to go with a plait, which is what I made last year - but I’d seen a version of this twist with smaller buns before and thought I’d give it a go. Basically you roll out your dough flat, add the filling and then roll it into a log - where you then slice it lengthways, twisting the two strands and bringing them together into a wreath, sealing the ends.

The only problem was, I didn’t really know how long to bake it for, but opted for the same time as the cinnamon rolls - keeping an eye on it and hoping for the best!

Thankfully after 25mins of staring at the oven door, everything was perfectly baked throughout - if not a tad caught on the edges.

In my head, this was going to be a full on festive centrepiece. I was going to go with a Christmas theme but I ran out of time and energy on the day, so I had to leave it unfinished. Here’s the notes I scribbled when planning on what I would have done:

• Pearl and powdered sugar for snow

• Little marshmallow snowmen

• Piped chocolate trees

• Royal Icing snowflakes

• A cinnamon roll Rudolf with a glacé cherry nose

Looks wise it’s almost there, but it’s definitely missing the final touches that would’ve pulled the whole piece together.

That said, I’m still UBER proud of it. For a first attempt at a showstopper, I think it’s pretty bloody awesome!

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There we go, Bread Week conquered! (Sort of…)

A year ago I would’ve been happy just to get through this week without disaster. This year, I not only kept up but even dared to attempt the Showstopper. A 3-tier one! That’s progress, people!

I do this Bake Along challenge to push my skills, pick up new ones, test how much I’ve learned and most importantly, to have fun. This season I feel like I’m ticking every single box.

Thanks for reading, friends. See you next time,
Mark

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