The Great British Bake Off: Biscuit Week
September 29, 2021 7:29 AM - Season 12, Episode 2 - Subscribe

It’s crunch time for the bakers in Biscuit Week, as they put their twist on brandy snaps, make a jammy childhood favourite and create an interactive toy made entirely from biscuit.
posted by ellieBOA (17 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
What was she thinking making a sculpture out of sugar cookie?
posted by janell at 11:44 AM on September 29, 2021 [4 favorites]


Amanda was lucky her biscuit tasted so good. Freya's rocking horse was so pretty it really hurt to see Amanda's after that.

Jürgen and Giuseppe are my favorites this series. I like the middle aged men kicking biscuit butt and the Baking Terminator blows me away. He's very creative, in a technical engineering kind of way. Giuseppe has a great personality. I hope they both go far.
posted by ceejaytee at 12:11 PM on September 29, 2021 [4 favorites]


Consensus among the online group I watch and live-chat each episode with is that, barring something going horribly wrong, Jurgen and Giuseppe will be in the final.

Only one baker has won Star Baker for both the first two episodes before, Steven in 2017, and he was a finalist that year.
posted by Major Clanger at 2:53 PM on September 29, 2021 [2 favorites]


I really like Jurgen and Giuseppe. I am particularly enjoying Giuseppe's Jaime Tartt headbands and how his kids are always blurred out. I don't have any particular preference between them yet.

I'm fascinated that jammy biscuits have BUTTERCREAM in them, and then they pretend British desserts aren't very sweet.
posted by jeather at 4:31 PM on September 29, 2021 [5 favorites]


Biscuit showstoppers have become my least favorite because they're always about creating elaborate constructions. Stop making them be engineers! Just let them bake!
posted by Anonymous at 6:48 PM on September 29, 2021


I have no idea what they have against a nice, soft cookie.
posted by jeather at 11:39 AM on September 30, 2021 [4 favorites]


What was she thinking making a sculpture out of sugar cookie?

I was wondering (as I pretty much do every year during biscuit week) why does everyone use gingerbread? There must be other biscuit doughs that would be suitable. The thing about gingerbread I've discovered is that it often seems to have more eggs than most other biscuit recipes, with would suggest more protein and therefore sturdier biscuits.

I have no idea what they have against a nice, soft cookie.

British "biscuit" isn't really equivalent to "cookie". Generally speaking, (soft) cookies aren't very challenging, while making the perfect crisp, crumbly, not too thick/thin biscuit is more difficult.
posted by oneirodynia at 12:15 PM on September 30, 2021 [5 favorites]


I was glad someone answered Jürgen's phone call this week.

I hope the next showstopper is less structural. The best ones are very interesting and the fails are sometimes dramatic, so I get why the producers like them so much, but there are other aspects to baking. A challenge that plays up decorations, flavor profiles, etc. would be nice after 2 physics challenges in a row.

I was glad they gave Amanda another shot - the sugar cookie choice was ambitious, if foolhardy. I am surprised she said it worked 3 times in practice. Would have been cool to see a successful attempt.

George had a good week! His brandy snaps sounded yummy, and his plane was quite cute. Rohica's pinball machine and Chigs' snooker table were also fun.

Shortbread biscuits in the hot tent are always tricky, but I appreciate a technical challenge where everyone knows basically what they should be doing.

I kind of love Lizzie describing her signature challenge as congealed, heh. Look, food writing and baking are distinct skills! I'm glad her bake exceeded the expectations set by her description of claggy fast food apple pie.
posted by the primroses were over at 6:57 AM on October 1, 2021 [2 favorites]


I do understand that a biscuit is not precisely the same as a cookie, but there is a lot more you can do with a cookie than just "everyone make chocolate chip cookies" where you can almost cheat via using expensive chocolate. It would also be interesting to see what they can do with it as the signature. ("Everyone make chocolate chip cookies" might be a fun technical if there are exactly zero instructions written down.)
posted by jeather at 9:14 AM on October 1, 2021


I HAVE DECIDED that name changes are in order.

Giuseppi's name is now Frank Zappa.
Jurgen's name is now Thufir Hawat.

It is known.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 3:31 PM on October 1, 2021 [2 favorites]


I don’t love the way Lizzie is portrayed. Her “instead of practicing I watched Harry Potter” kookiness comes across as very affected. Is she really that daft or are the editors punching those scenes for drama? She’s probably a nice person, and I sorta feel bad that I want her to leave and make room for the “serious” bakers.
posted by Orange Dinosaur Slide at 10:56 AM on October 2, 2021


Yeah, enough with the gingerbread and dowels and motors. How about showstopper challenges where contestants are asked to bake goods that look good to, you know, eat and that exhibit complex flavors, delicate and multiple textures, and pleasing aromas?
posted by Don.Kinsayder at 8:28 PM on October 2, 2021 [5 favorites]




Portrait of the Jürgen as a young man (for real)

That moment when Amanda corrected her daughter's pronunciation, and then looked at the camera...

I was actually a little underwhelmed by Giuseppe's board game (I was looking forward to engineer madness), though I've never baked anything beyond a cookie or two and have exactly zero concept of the difficulty involved. On the engineering front though I was really impressed by Chigs's snooker table and how those legs supported the weight! It was also impressive how everyone pronounces snooker the effortful way.

I was pretty sorry to see Jairzeno go, though the painting on the ship was really something. But the judges always seemed to love the actual taste of what he'd made. And the scene where he was Amanda's buttercream supplier was so nice.

I don't know if it's Lizzie doing it or the editors or both, but I do wish they wouldn't keep playing up things like her not knowing words or pronouncing them wrong.
posted by trig at 10:05 AM on October 3, 2021 [1 favorite]


It was a good week I thought, though I agree that it's not always fun that biscuit week essentially gingerbread week.
posted by Carillon at 3:14 PM on October 3, 2021


Yeah, Chigs's snooker table was one of the best constructions I've seem on the show. Nicely detailed, well-constructed, and sturdy. I love Lizzie (I actually love all the backers this year, for the first time in a while). Her chaos muppet energy matches that of some of the best bakers I've known, so I could see her going far. Crystelle is also a sleeper.
posted by Rock Steady at 3:39 PM on October 4, 2021 [1 favorite]


The brandy snaps signature was the first time this season that I wanted to eat every bake the contestants made. They all sounded delicious to me.
posted by gladly at 10:30 AM on October 10, 2021


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