Great British Baking Show: Welcome to Pastry Week

After last weeks departure of vegan baker Freya and the rivalry of Giuseppe and Jurgen getting turned up a notch thanks to the Italian winning the Great British Baking Show‘s first German Week, we thought the drama couldn’t get any more intense. Turns out we were wrong because things got serious during Pastry Week.

For the Signature Challenge the bakers were told to make two batches of chouxnuts, one filled and one glazed. A chouxnut is essentially a doughnut but made with choux pastry. It makes for an airer and lighter dessert.

Everyone did okay in the Signature with the exception of Crystelle. She forgot to set her timer when she began frying her chouxnuts and the result was undercooked pastry. Her mango crème filling and white chocolate and miso caramel glaze were hits with the judges in terms of flavor but the pastry itself was a mess.

However, the real winner of the Signature was Lizzie, who was deathly afraid of the fryer. She would go from pure terror to utter panic to resignation at the drop of a hat. So of course she got some amazing feedback on her chouxnuts, one filled with hibiscus and raspberry liqueur and the other with a caramel glaze. It was too funny for words.

So who was sent home during Pastry Week on the Great British Baking Show?

The Technical Challenge took things up a notch when the bakers had to make a large baklava with filo pastry. The catch? They had to make the filo pastry from scratch and only had two hours and 45 minutes to do so. It was by far the most demanding Technical in the history of the Great British Baking Show.

Some bakers, such as Jurgen and Crystelle, did very well with the two bakers coming in first and second respectively. Others though had some serious issues with the design on the top of the baklava and getting their filo right. Lizzie ended up coming in last followed by George, Amanda, Giuseppe and Chigs.

Finally came the Showstopper Challenge where the bakers had to make a terrine pie. It was to have detailed pastry decorations as well as a pattern on the inside. The fillings and flavors were up to them. The key to success would be making sure you gave your pie enough time to cool so you could remove it from the mold and not have it collapse.

Both George and Amanda ignored this rule and suffered because of it. George’s terrine pie was inspired by the flavors of a Christmas Dinner but there was no Holiday Joy to be had. Due to a cascading list of mistakes his pie was underbaked and it partially collapsed.

Amanda on the other hand just mismanaged her time and it quickly caught up to her. She spent too much time working on the decorations and got her chicken pate and bacon sausage pie in the oven late. The one side collapsed as she tried to take it out of the mold and the top she worked so hard on came off entirely. In the end it was just too much to overcome and her errors sent her home.

Then came Crystelle and her pie filled with potato and Goan curry. The judges were dazzled with her flavors and the pie looked stunning. Using curry to fill her pie was a HUGE risk but it paid off with not only a exceedingly rare Hollywood Handshake on a Showstopper Challenge but the title of Star Baker for the week.

So after Pastry Week and a surprise Star Baker the official Guilty Eats Great British Baking Show Leaderboard sees yet another shake-up with Crystelle jumping into the top two and Jurgen once again falling behind his arch rival Giuseppe.

1. Giuseppe
2. Crystell
3. Lizzie
4. Jurgen
5. Chigs
6. George

Six bakers remian and next week things get even stickier with the arrival of Caramel Week. Can Crystelle keep up her hot streak? Will Jurgen get his baking groove back? Can George avoid going home next? We’ll find out when the new episode drops on Netflix later this week.

What do you think Guilty Eaters? Did Crystelle deserve Star Baker? Leave a comment below and let us know or join the conversation on our Twitter and Facebook pages.