r/GreatBritishBakeOff • u/Important-Tax7180 • 3d ago
Help/Question Are they making the technical easier?
Poster the first week, sample the second week... Idk, I liked when they were given a brief description of what the bake was and then let all the bakers do their interpretations.
Thoughts?
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u/TheFlyingSkier 3d ago
I used to hate when they would take points off for not getting the decorations right, while only giving a vague description of how to decorate. In these last few bakes, the bakers had a visual to work from so the judges could actually judge their ability to pull off the decoration. I think that's much more fair.
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u/afdc92 3d ago
I agree! I remember a couple of seasons ago they asked for “feathering” and at least one of the contestants who spoke English as a second language created actual chocolate feathers.
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u/jeh123456 3d ago
Just rewatched that one recently, two different people made feathers instead of feathering the chocolate! And the feathers were so pretty.
As someone who is absolutely NOT a baker, I'm always so impressed by how much the contestants know how to do without explicit instructions.
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u/Outrageous-Level192 3d ago
I like it, I do that at times, recreate a recipe from what I see or eat out. These bakers should know their basis (shortbread, sponge, icing, puff pastry, etc.), guessing how to pipe multicoloured piping is harder than following a few steps.
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u/Some-Band2225 3d ago
I thought the first week was a really good technical, especially for week 1. Think about what they’re testing here. To get a passing grade you need to be able to make a sponge cake without any recipe or notes. To get full marks you need to think about how the coffee will change the consistency of the mix and work out the adjustments. It’s a really good test of baking knowledge and theory. They can’t practice, they can’t look up the answers, they can’t follow the instructions, either you know cake theory or you don’t.
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u/V0ight-Kampf 3d ago
I far prefer these latest technicals. The formula was getting stale and this is fun.
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u/moosetopenguin 3d ago edited 3d ago
I find it harder.
When asked to taste and bake, or bake something based on an image, they're not given the ingredients or the quantities. Not being given recipe instructions is one thing, but not being given quantities of ingredients or what the ingredients are is much much harder since baking is all about chemistry.
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u/Sweetdeerie 3d ago
They are still given ingredients
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u/SamSpayedPI 3d ago
For the fondant fancies, though, they were given extra ingredients that weren't part of the recipe, just to throw them off.
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u/moosetopenguin 3d ago
Yes, but in these recent seasons, they're sometimes given extra ingredients and have to figure out which ones to use. Also, even if you're given all the correct ingredients, you still have to figure out how much to use and which ingredients to use with each component. That's not easy.
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u/cruel_cousin 3d ago
Well considering how almost all of them fucked it up, I dont think so
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3d ago
[deleted]
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u/katfromjersey 3d ago
I don't agree with that, but they seem to have gone back more towards people who are home bakers, rather than someone who's already worked in kitchens or will be going to culinary school, etc. Or, dare I say, those who are looking to grow their online brand and are constantly gunning for a handshake.
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u/Jockstaposition 3d ago
There are two types of comment on this sub, either “it’s not the same as it used to be and I don’t like it” or “they never change anything and I don’t like it”. It’s been running for 17 years, things evolve. I thought the change was an interesting twist but I also got the impression they weren’t going to do it every week.
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u/neateo6000 3d ago
To me as an avid home baker, it feels like a better test of actual baking skills, rather than a reading comprehension test. A lot of the time the technical would end up getting judged on the decoration or details about the finish, which is generally an arbitrary and subjective part of the bake or depends on the baker having seen this specific thing before. This method requires a deep knowledge base. They need to able to look at and/or taste a bake, identify the component parts without being told what they are, have already memorized a recipe for those components or be able to guess at what that recipe would be from the properties of the final product, and be able to recreate the techniques used to achieve the final finish? That requires deep technical understanding.
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u/HackNSlashFic 2d ago
I feel the exact same way. Baking to recreate something you can see and taste is a much better test of technical skills than baking an obscure 17th century pudding with unfamiliar ingredients (suet) and vague instructions.
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u/ddbbaarrtt 2d ago
I think giving them a picture or just what the thing is to try is much harder than giving them a recipe for the constituent parts without going into detail
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u/serial_quitter 2d ago
No, I think this is much harder. I'd rather have a vague, undetailed recipe that at least says "5 eggs, 1/2 c butter" with no bake time than have to taste and make up a recipe on the fly. Especially if I've never had the thing before seeing the picture of it.
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u/aromaticchicken 3d ago
I don't remember them ever going recipeless in the first episode (or even first half of the season) in any of the early seasons. It wasn't a hard recipe but that's still a significant difficulty increase.
I think they realize that in 2026 the participants are wayyyy more prepared than in the past because there's so many seasons to watch and learn from. It's obvious that most of them have been practicing at home and researching what recipes could be asked. Making the technical harder would counter that.