Bake Off week eight and as we’re down to the last five bakers it’s the quarter final. That might sound a bit confusing but don’t forget that three bakers take part in the final.
After some unusual themes in recent weeks this show returned to a baking staple as it was about all things pastry. I’ve found pastry to be the most difficult thing to master since I started baking. Probably because it’s the one baking skill where you really can’t hide mistakes. If a cakes hasn’t quite worked you can always add some extra cream or icing. If a loaf of bread doesn’t look how you intended it to there’s always the “it’s meant to be rustic” option. However with pastry there aren’t any get out of jail cards, a pie case or quiche base either holds the contents or it doesn’t.
The challenges set for the bakers this week were a savoury Tarte Tatin for the signature, a Moroccan pie using brick pastry for the technical and a vertical pie for the show stopper.
The first of these is a savoury version of what I think most people will know of as a classic French dessert. Something that you will find on virtually any French restaurant menu. Created by The Tatin sisters at the Tatin hotel in the 1860’s , Tarte Tatin is a caramelised apple tart. The apples and other ingredients go into the pan first with the pastry base placed on top. It’s then baked like this before being turned over onto a plate when it comes out of the oven.
Moroccan style pies are one of my favourites and there is a recipe for a Moroccan Chicken Pie that tops my special occasion dishes.
What was new to me was the brick pastry that Bake Off wanted the contestants to make for it. I use filo pastry for my pie and wouldn’t for a moment consider making it, shop bought wins every time. Brick pastry is a North African home made equivalent to filo. It’s made out of semolina, flour and oil with the batter then spread very thinly onto a hot pan that is over the top of simmering water. What you finish up with are wafer thin sheets of pastry.
The vertical pie showstopper was really a pile of pies. The judges seemed to be looking for a pie structure. One of those woefully impractical ideas where so much thought has to go into the look that it shouldn’t really come as any great surprise when the final tase is all a bit under whelming.
With no desire to make a pile of pies and brick pastry looking like a bit of a faff I went with option one as my Sunday bake. An onion, mushroom and walnut Tarte Tatin. The vegetables and nuts sitting on blue cheese with a puff pastry base. The filling was going to be relatively straight forward, really just a case of sweating down the onions and mushrooms in a pan before adding in the nuts at the last moment. What wasn’t going to be so easy was the pastry. My partner swears by Delia Smith and pointed me at her site for a recipe. I duly did and I’m here to tell you that Delia’s quick-flaky-pastry might just have changed my baking life. Far and away the easiest pastry I’ve ever made and some of the crispest that I’ve ever baked. So not only did Delia make the cake on the cover of The Rolling Stones Let It Bleed album (I so hope that’s not an urban myth) she also now has my go to pastry recipe.
Tarte Tatin are relatively straight forward to bake and there’s a recipe below if you fancy having a go. If you don’t want to make pastry use shop bought.
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/333631/onion-walnut-and-mushroom-tarte-tatin
Only four bakers left now and next time it’s the semi finals.
David in the kitchen. 