GTBBO Week 8: 1970s
The Great Taisty Bytes Bake Off
Welcome to #GTBBO—The Great Taisty Bytes Bake Off! 🍰
With the new season of Bake Off gracing our screens, I thought why not join in on the fun and attempt as many of the weekly challenges as I can? It’ll be a great way to push my baking skills in real time, try new recipes and give me the perfect excuse to create some chaos in the kitchen!
For more info and to see how Week 7: Dessert Week went, check out this post:
Hello, friends and welcome back to the 1970s!
Now, I wasn’t around in the 70s (late 80s baby here) but I’m assured that these 2 bakes are absolute classics. Unfortunately, both of which I’m not a massive fan of.
The only time I came into contact with profiteroles was the partly frozen ones sat on the buffet table at Christmas. They always seemed to be in a perpetual state of half-frozen limbo, regardless of how long they’d been left out for.
And as for banoffee pie? Until today, I’d never eaten one - and wasn’t exactly thrilled to start, especially knowing it involved making bloody caramel again.
Right - let’s get on with it…
Week 8: 1970s Week
Signature Challenge: Profiteroles
So, the first of this week’s challenges was profiteroles. I was amped to try making choux pastry - and I was right in thinking that it’s a lot harder than it first looks. As you can see, my pastry looks a bit flat and cracked. And there are a couple of reasons why this may have happened.
Suspect #1: You start the process off by heating milk, water and butter in a pan and bring to a rolling boil. *quickly Googles*… A rolling boil is “a vigorous boil where large bubbles rise quickly and continuously to the surface of a liquid, often with enough force to splatter.” Something that my mixture just would not do. Less of a vigorous boil, more of an aggressive fizz?
Suspect #2: Here is where experience comes in I think. You have to add 3–4 eggs, but you absolutely cannot add too much, or your mixture will be too wet. In my case, I added roughly 3.5 eggs, and the dough looked like it was supposed to, according to the recipe.
Verdict: It was likely a combo of both suspects, with a bit of cautious mixing on my part. I’ve heard overworking choux can ruin it, so I might’ve underdone it instead.
Luckily, I’ve had some fantastic advice from
who told me that if you’re not careful, you can evaporate too much of the water in the pan phase. You also need the eggs for your choux to rise - so it’s really important that you get that balance right. also had a great pearl of wisdom for choux: your dough is ready when it drops off your wooden spoon in a V shape. Then you know it’s the perfect consistency!
Despite how they look, I’m still pretty chuffed with how they turned out! They were hollow inside phew, so I scrapped the second batch I’d planned and filled these instead.
I went for a simple lemon crème Chantilly and it was absolutely DELISH! Not sure that’s a core 70s flavour, mind. But I wont tell if you don’t!
Question time! What’s your favourite profiterole filling? I love a good pistachio cream!
Technical Challenge: Banoffee Pie
Sigh. Internal screaming. Run away… all of the above. Because despite thinking the trauma of caramel week was becoming a distant memory - Paul whips out his banoffee pie.
By now, you’ve probably seen the photos and know the ending. Spoiler alert: It worked. But let’s pretend for a moment you haven’t, so you can share in the journey
First off, it’s a nice feeling when you think you’re starting to master something. (I use the word master loosely, of course!). For me, shortcrust pastry is becoming one of those things - I actually really enjoy making it!
I almost didn’t attempt this challenge purely because of the caramel aspect. But today’s soggy morning gave me the wholesome, wintry (yes, it is now winter) kitchen vibes I needed. With my last two ‘dry sugar’ method attempts ending in an obliterated pan, I thought I’d go back to the wet method that worked for my millionaire’s shortbread.
I think this is going to be my go-to way of making caramel (should I ever make it again). As you can see, it worked so well! I love the clean lines it’s giving me, and this time, I made exact notes on how it turned out:
All ingredients in the pan just before you turn the heat on
Bottom left hob, flame number 1
Once I’ve turned the heat on, yell at Siri to set a time for 18 and a half minutes
Whisk like my life depends on it
And voila… perfect-ish caramel!
The bake ended with an intricate flower/petal design on top, requiring fancy piping handiwork. Regular readers will know that this isn’t quite my strongest skill - yet. So, it’s more “shaggy flower” than delicate rose.
Cue happy dancing around the kitchen! It’s amazing how quickly you can go from dreading a bake to being over the moon with how it turned out. It’s moments like this that I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of.
Future Mark, remember these words should caramel come up once again before this challenge is done.
2 weeks left!
Well, that’s all from me today, friends. Thanks for stopping by and sharing in my little corner of the world. Next week we will be reviewing how Pâtisserie has gone. Perhaps a croissant?
As always, feel free to leave a comment or just say hi. I love hearing from you!
Until next time,
Mark
You do have a lovely flair for photography - Beautiful photos.
Those yummy looking profiteroles would not last 10 minutes on my counter.
Well done Mark! 👏 I love a banoffee pie (child of the early 80s here) and probably make one once a year. But mine is distinctly more rustic than yours. That's a satisfyingly neat layer of caramel you got there.