GTBBO Week 4: Caramel

The Great Taisty Bytes Bake Off

Oct 22, 2024

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 3: Bread Week went, check out this post:
The Great Taisty Bytes Bake Off!
Mark Thomas
·
October 15, 2024
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Hello, friends and welcome back!

We’ve arrived at Week 4: Caramel Week — and let me tell you, I’ve quickly realised that Bread Week was actually a piece of cake! (Or should I say, a slice of bread?)

Believe it or not, we’re almost halfway through not only this year’s Bake Off but also our home renovation! Despite our downstairs being pretty much out of action this week, I still managed to squeeze in an attempt at the signature bake — and even whipped up a dozen or so muffins!

I am still excited and determined to try this week’s technical challenge: Prue Leith’s Pear Tarte Tatin. I even popped out to buy a brand new cast iron dish! Once the kitchen is back in order in a couple of days, I’ll be tackling this too.

I’ll share how it goes in my next post — which, funnily enough, will be Pastry Week. Well timed as I’ll have to make puff pastry for the tarte tatin! *gulp*

Rhubarb and vanilla muffins with a rich, buttery crumble

Our lovely new neighbours (and now friends), who recently moved onto our road, very kindly gave me some rhubarb from their allotment. I was keen not to let it go to waste. My first thoughts were a pie or crumble — because who doesn’t love pie or crumble? But I ended up settling on muffins, thinking they’re more appropriate to eat for breakfast (and let’s be honest, who wouldn’t want cake for breakfast?).

Week 4: Caramel Week

Signature Challenge: Millionaire’s Shortbread

Let’s start off by being a tad soppy in saying that I can’t put in to words how bloody chuffed I am with how these turned out. This challenge was a triple threat for me: not just trying to make caramel, but it was also my first time making shortbread, and if we remember back to biscuit week… tempering chocolate didn’t quite go to plan either.

I’m will also say that I’m not a massive fan of Millionaire’s Shortbread normally, but - and perhaps it was the effort involved - they’re bloody good!

Did you know: Back in the day, biscuits were taxed as a luxury item, but bread was not. Since shortbread was considered a luxury biscuit, it would have been subject to such taxes. However, bakers fought to classify shortbread as a form of “bread” to avoid the biscuit tax, allowing them to dodge these luxury taxes. This allowed shortbread to be sold without the higher costs imposed on other sweet or rich biscuits.

Don’t get me wrong — it was no easy feat and definitely a process of trial and error. This was actually my second batch. In the first attempt, the shortbread was spot on, but I definitely overcooked the caramel. I’m not sure if it was too hot or cooked for too long. Both, probably! But as soon as I poured it, I knew it wasn’t right. After a few minutes, it had set like toffee. Time for round two!

This time I purchased a thermometer which clips onto the pan so I could make sure that the caramel didn’t go over 120 degrees. I think I was also more acutely aware of how much moisture had been cooked off. As soon as it looked the right color/consistency, I took it off the heat. But had I taken it off too soon this time?

Thankfully not! Allow me to sound a little big-headed for a moment and say that it’s pretty much perfect.

While I was whisking, I thought, “Wouldn’t it be great if you could get a whisk with a built-in thermometer?” Turns out, you can! I’ll 100% be ordering one of those come payday!

Finally, I was a little more confident tempering the chocolate this time as the recipe I was following had a bit of a hack. Heat 3/4 of your chocolate in a makeshift bain marie until almost melted then take it off the heat and scoop into a new bowl. Add the remaining 1/4 until all dissolved and you’ll have, in theory, the perfect chocolate to pour onto your caramel.

I am very pleased to say that after setting overnight in the pantry - all layers seem well defined and the chocolate had a nice ‘snap’ to it when cutting in to it. Hopefully you can see that from the photos.

Despite the dodgy start, I feel like I learned so much this week and got hands-on experience with a variety of baking techniques that I know I’ll be using regularly. Heck, I suppose I know how to make toffee now, too!

If you’d like to have a go at the same recipe I tried, here it is:

What I’m listening to

I am being very cliche this week once again and Chappel Roan has been on heavy rotation. Pretty much non-stop, in fact. Such a great talent and if I can recommend any song of hers that will get you bopping around the kitchen… Pink Pony Club is the one.

Who I’m loving lately

Julia - The World According to Tausch
The lovely Julia is also a fellow Bake Off bake-along-er and is currently tackling The Great Canadian Baking Show! A phenomenal baker, recipe developer and all round great cook. I have only recently subscribed but thoroughly enjoying her posts.
Lynn - FoodStack Library
Lynn needs no introduction, I’m sure — she orchestrates one of my all-time favourite places to hang out on a Sunday morning with a big brew: the FoodStack Library. There are recipes, interviews, invaluable hints and how-tos… you name it, they’ve got it! I love the ‘Other People’s Kitchens Q&A’ feature, not only because they’re a great read but also because they’re giving me great ideas on how I’d like my kitchen laid out!
Jo - The Gardening Mind
I joined one of
Mark Diacono
’s Gatherings where Jo was giving a talk and found her to be so inspiring, knowledgable and all round bloody lovely. One of, if not the, top garden designers in the UK — I’ve learned so much about what I can do in my own garden, which, admittedly, I have totally neglected this year. Very excitingly, Jo will be returning to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2025 with a garden for The Glasshouse — and will be sharing the development on her Substack.

Do you have any suggestions of who to check out on Substack? Leave them in the comments below!