RECAP | THE GREAT AUSTRALIAN BAKE OFF S04E07

My favourite thing about this season of Bake Off has been the continuing narrative (partially created by we the fans) that there’s something going on with the hosts and judges. Matt has taken up gardening, possibly as a second job. We saw that Mel is now a newsreader, with a special cross to Matt and Maggie all on Claire’s ‘moods’. Now we see that Mel is camping on set while Matt and Maggie are sleeping in the shed. Maggie also seems ravenous by the time a technical challenge comes around and just wants to eat the food. Is there a budget issue? Where is craft services? Doesn’t the shed get cold at night? Maybe that’s why it’s spice week.

Before we get into the challenge, Don points out that all the remaining contestants have won Star Baker, but no one has won it twice yet.

Signature: Savoury Pides

Pides are delicious. I love walking down to the shops on my lunch break and getting a pide from the local kebab place. I have to walk back immediately after I’ve finished eating because my lunch break is over, but I always enjoy it. This is an excellent challenge. They can be any flavour but must contain a spice.

I’ve also never had a sweet pide, so the savoury qualifier here is interesting.

David made pumpkin and caramelised onion pides, spiced with chilli, cinnamon and allspice and garnished with rocket, pine nuts and feta. Matt warned Dave about the allspice overpowering the other flavours, which he liked the sound of. When they taste, Matt said that the dough was fluffy like a bread and that he would like more of a crunch. The spices came through except for the cinnamon. The judges loved the combination of all the flavours and said that the allspice added another dimension.

Angela made vegetarian pides with a half-spelt dough to add a nutty flavour. It also turns out that Angela says tomato the normal way. She toasted her cumin and paprika before adding them to her sun-dried tomatoes. Her pides were topped with pomegranate, feta and pine nuts. Matt was concerned that the sun-dried tomato would drown out the other flavours. The judges said that the pides looked traditional, thanks to the pomegranate seeds and pine nuts. Maggie loved the nutty flavour of the dough, but it was hard to distinguish the flavours from one another. Matt didn’t get the spice coming through and said that the sun-dried tomato was too dominant.

Wynn made spiced lamb pides with feta, lemon, pomegranate seeds, cherry tomatoes and red onions. He spiced them with za’atar and sumac. While he was cooking the lamb, Wynn drained out the fat. Matt later commented that the lamb was a bit dry. He also said that there should have been more za’atar in the pides.

Don made a four cheese pide with goat’s cheese, fresh ricotta, mozarella and a sheep’s cheese. He spiced it with sumac, chilli and nigella seeds and cracked an egg on the top. Maggie said that they were golden and uniform. She loved the dough but wanted more of the cheese. Matt said that he wasn’t getting the spices.

Sunny made a sujuk (spiced Middle Eastern sausage) and capsicum pide. It was topped with feta and spiced with cumin, coriander powder, paprika and chili. She de-seeded the chilli for Maggie. With about 15 minutes left, Sunny realised that she only had 11 pides and tried to make one more, but it was raw, so she didn’t serve it to the judges. The judges commented that the pides were identical and looked fantastic. Matt said the sausage makes the pide. Maggie liked all the flavours, but the chilli was a bit much.

Dan made an Italian pide, because it’s like making a pizza, but Turkish. Dan lives in Brisbane, so maybe he hasn’t heard of manoush (I hadn’t until I moved to Sydney) – it’s delicious, that’s all you need to know. Anyway, his pides contained eggplant, rocket pesto, haloumi and chilli. He topped them with roasted tomatoes, fresh rocket and pine nuts. Dan said that he wanted to convert Maggie to chili. Matt said that it took a little while, but the chilli came through at the end. Maggie said that she was coping with the chilli and that the flavours were good.

Technical: Ma’amoul

This week’s technical was set by Maggie, and here are her cryptic clues! “Unlike Matt, I prefer blondes. Seal well and balance is the key to spicy success.” This blonde/brunette thing is starting to go too far. We know that Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, so this must mean that Maggie is the gentleman in the duo. I don’t doubt it for a second.

You may or may not remember that Sue made ma’amoul for her showstopper in Week 3. They didn’t really explain what they were, but now we know! An ancient Middle Eastern biscuit filled with dates, nuts and spices. There are also apricots, walnuts, cinnamon and cardamom in the filling. This week Maggie has left out how much spice to add, which is a nice change from leaving out the baking time (which she’s probably left out as well, let’s be realistic here).

Dave has had extensive experience with mammals. No idea about ma’amoul though.

Everyone had a bit of a hard time figuring out how much cinnamon to add. Dan and Dave added a lot. Dave’s idea of adding and tasting seemed to be the right one.

The highlight of this technical challenge was watching the bakers whack their moulds (which looked like wooden spoons) on the benches. It seemed really cathartic and I’m glad they enjoyed it.

Meanwhile, Mel and Claire managed to find teacups that are in proportion with their wooden spoons from last season.

From last to first, we have: Dan, David, Wynn, Angela, Don, Sunny

Showstopper: Baklava Tower

The most remarkable thing about this week’s judges’ tea time is that everyone is just about even this week. The people who did well in the signature didn’t do as well on the technical. Sunny came first in the technical, but didn’t put up all twelve pides. It’s down to the showstopper, which is… a baklava tower. When I first heard this, I had no idea what it meant. I was picturing sideways baklava shaped in a cylinder to make a tower, when it was really more of a ‘stack baklava on top of each other’ situation, which makes more sense. 75 individual pieces of baklava and must resemble a tower-like shape. They need to make it spicy, but not as spicy as Dan’s ma’amoul. Baklava is a really good showstopper challenge, because in addition to the construction, but they’re also making filo pastry.

David made a military fort with two kinds of baklava. The large fort was cashew, cinnamon and mandarin and the small fort was macadamia, cardamom, chocolate and orange. He made a battle scene to make it playful and wanted a bricklaying job out of it. Matt asked if the two sides were at war, and David confirmed that green was winning.  Matt and Maggie loved the flavour combination of the mandarin and cardamom, the crunch of the pastry and the texture of the baklava.

Angela made a palm tree out of cashew and walnut baklava triangles, which were spiced with cardamom, cinnamon, walnuts and cloves. In the middle of construction, Angela’s palm tree fell apart, but she came to terms with it and told the judges that it was a Florida palm tree that had seen a few hurricanes. Matt and Maggie said that the baklava were beautifully golden and the spice came through. Maggie loved the syrup as it wasn’t over sweet. The flavour was right, but the filling was a bit pasty as a result of the cashews.

Wynn made a spiral baklava tower. He said he was feeling good at the start of the challenge, which is possibly the new ‘this is my week,’ now that the curse appears to have been removed from that phrase. His apricot and pistachio baklava had rosemary and honey syrup, while the cranberry and almond baklava were flavoured with a cinnamon and star anise syrup. While Wynn was constructing his baklava, he felt that the spiral wasn’t working, so he abandoned the structure for a ‘sarcophagus of baklava’. Matt and Maggie said that the edges of his baklava were burnt and that there was no flakiness in the pastry. The apricot flavour was fantastic, but they couldn’t taste any spice coming through.

Don made the Colosseum out of baklava, which he pointed out could work to his advantage if it fell apart – he could just say that was intentional as it’s an ancient structure. The base of the Colosseum was pistachio and walnut baklava with almond and date on the top. Both flavours were spiced with cinnamon and cardamom. Don said he wanted to get the spices right because he didn’t use enough for the signature. He also said that on a scale of one to ten, filo pastry is about a 15 in difficulty. Matt and Maggie said the layers were beautiful and the flavour was good, but there wasn’t enough spice. The spice worked better in the date baklava than the pistachio.

Sunny made a Jenga tower, which was lots of fun. She made a chocolate and hazelnut baklava spiced with star anise and cinnamon and a pistachio baklava with cardamom and ginger. Maggie wanted to pull one out and play. Matt went first, then Maggie chickened out. Matt said he would have liked more gaps in the tower, so it resembled the game more, but that the baklava looks amazing. The combination of chocolate and hazelnut was great, but there wasn’t enough spice. Matt also commented that the pastry was really fine.

Dan made a baklava Christmas tree with three different flavours of baklava. The cashew and cardamom baklava was green, the pistachio was red, and the almond, semolina and cinnamon baklava was yellow. Dan told the judges that he was making every piece by hand. When he presented his Christmas tree, Matt and Maggie said they loved his design skills. The yellow baklava was their favourite as it had a great texture, the spice came through and there was a crunch. The red baklava was okay, while the pastry was too thick on the green baklava and there was too much cardamom.

David is the first contestant this season to win Star Baker a second time, while Wynn is going home. Farewell, Wynn! Say hello to your pet octopus for me!