"Great British Bake-Off/Baking Show" fans, please check in!

[TygrBright]

My esposo and I admit, we're powerless over the remote control at 6 pm on Sundays, which is when TGBBS airs in our time zone.

Haven't been this hooked on a teevee show since "Wizards and Warriors" in the 1980s...!

Anyone else?

Anyone?

BBC Website "Great British Bake-Off"

PBS Website "Great British Baking Show"

After many years, I've finally gotten to see "Spotted Dick" being made, and learned how appetizing something named "suet pudding" could look!

fascinatedly,
Bright

[Warpy]

1. This is one of their earlier seasons, one I've binge watched on You Tube

Season 6 this year was a real nail biter, they had some incredibly talented bakers and the technical challenges are getting downright diabolical. The only spoiler I'll give you is that one of the showstoppers in the Season 6 finale was a cake derived from a British steamed pudding---and it worked!

You Tube posted the current series on Thursday nights. I hope they do the same thing next season. Yes, I'm totally hooked. I'm also frustrated as hell because I was just getting good at baking when the damned wheat allergy cropped up.

[tishaLA]

3. the steamed pudding was from a couple seasons ago, no?

I don't recall that this past season. The most recent season had an amazing lion's head made of bread and, in the semi-finals, a desert structured as a well...with a working winch that lowered into white chocolate.

[Warpy]

5. I think PBS is showing Season Two or Three

but they always manage to sneak one in there, one year it was roly poly pudding.

I'm talking about the finale. It was a cake based on a steamed pudding. Watch the finale to find out.

[tishaLA]

6. I just checked the wikipedia page to refresh my memory

And it says the final was: Signature...16 iced buns; Technical...Miller feuille; Showstopper...classic British cakes in multi-level presentation.

At any rate, it doesn't matter. The show is exemplary in terms of presentation, drama, and talent. Australia just started its second season a couple weeks ago; it follows the structure of the British show almost exactly (unlike its first season, which was far too frothy), but the talent level isn't as high, the hosts don't have the easy rapport with the contestants, and the judges don't have the gravitas, or provoke the same emotional connections from the bakers.

[TygrBright]

8. Then hopefully you got (sorry) a rise out of last night's wheat-free episode?

I thought that focaccia looked pretty delicious, actually.

I think Paul has a 'down' on Becka, though.

sadly,
Bright

[tishaLA]

2. it's one of my favorite shows

I adore Mel and Sue and Mary and Paul ...and I'm always amazed at the way the editors are so capable of creating such intense drama out of whether a cake rises successfullyo r whether a dough has been prooved evough.

I watch them, though, immediately after they air. The most recent season ended, I think, three weeks ago. The current series now airing on PBS aired, I think, in 2013 on BBC

[TygrBright]

7. No spoilers, please! We're at semi-finals on Season Four.

It's amazing how addictive it can be, with the loving camera work on all those delicious-looking items, and the contestants working under pressure.

I think Paul is a bit of a sadist, though. He seems to love dropping little semi-threatening "hints" to the contestants just as they're starting a bake... "Oh, you think you can add your other ingredients BEFORE proving? Has that worked for you in the past? Ohhh..."

amusedly,
Bright

[hollysmom]

4. I do enjoy it.

[Lunabell]

9. I love this show!

Mel and Sue are a hoot.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

10. I'm a real fan as well

My wife, who generally likes cooking contest shows -- she is a real fan of Cutthroat Kitchen and Chopped -- doesn't like this one. I should say that I am originally English, and sometimes she gets annoyed at what she terms my "Britishness".

[TygrBright]

13. Oh, the understated and ironically played-up drama is one of the things we love best!

That and learning what all those unfamiliar British food items are.

I always thought "pudding" was more like a blancmange, not so much like what we Yanks call "cake."

amusedly,
Bright

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

15. "Pudding"can be a generic term for a dessert

The difference between the sort of pudding that is cake-like and a cake is that a pudding is steamed, while a cake is baked.

Every autumn, my father used to make a large batch of fruitcake batter. Half of it he would bake as fruitcakes, the rest he would steam as a Christmas pudding. I don't do it, because I'm the only person in my family who actually likes either one.

[TygrBright]

16. Oh, your poor family....

Little wot they, what they're missing!

Count me firmly in the "pro-fruitcake" camp. My gran made it for years, her treasured recipe has descended to my sister and that's always the parcel we await with the most eagerness around the holidays!

wistfully,
Bright

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

17. You might enjoy this article by the late Robert Farrar Capon

http://www.nytimes.com/1983/12/14/garden/fruitcakes-solid-evidence-of-christmas.html

[TygrBright]

18. Hee! Love it! "atomic weight just below uranium!" n/t

[Bjornsdotter]

11. Huge fan here!

Love, love, love the show!

I can't wait for the new season to air here.

[catbyte]

12. Yeah! I got hooked on it earlier this year when my local PBS station aired the latest season.

Love it.

[GoCubsGo]

14. Better than any of those Food Network contest shows.

[dem in texas]

19. Ready, Set, BAKE!

I love when Sue Perkins calls this out.

[TygrBright]

20. We really get attached to the competitors.

They do a good job of letting the audience get to know them, without resorting to obvious smarmy manipulation.

appreciatively,
Bright

[peacefreak]

21. I rush home from work to watch it.

I love how kind everyone is. "Oh my, it does have a soggy bottom, but it tastes lovely."

[Lucinda]

22. Netflix has one season now

We've seen them all already. Love it.

[sinkingfeeling]

23. Love it!