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The Great British Baking Show Season 1 Episodes
Season 1 Episode Guide
7 Episodes 2010 - 2011
Episode 1
Cakes
Sat, Dec 27, 201458 mins
In the first challenge, contestants bake a signature cake that expresses a personal meaning. The second challenge has them follow Mary Berry's general recipe for a Victoria sandwich. During the third challenge, they create a chocolate celebration cake with originality and flair.
Episode 2
Biscuits
58 mins
The remaining eight bakers have moved to the next stop of Scone Palace in Scotland, where they will be down two more by the end of the next three bakes, which are all about biscuits and other tea-time baked goods. In their first challenge, they are free to make whatever biscuit they want that they feel shows who they are as bakers. Their second challenge is to make Paul's personal recipe for scones, apropos considering they being in Scone this week. They are provided with only an ingredient list and their amounts, the technique up to them to figure out. For these first two bakes, they are required to present their entire batch so that Mary and Paul can gauge consistency throughout the batch. And the final bake of the weekend has them making twenty-four petit fours of three different types: macarons, choux buns and meringues. Interspersed with the bakes, Mel and Sue learn about the history of biscuits in Britain, including what may arguably be the most beloved types, namely digestives and shortbread, and get to see what may arguably be the most expensive, albeit inedible, single biscuit in the world.
Episode 3
Bread
58 mins
The remaining six bakers have moved onto Kent this week to bake bread, after which they will be down one more person before moving onto their next stop. They may or may not be aware that they will be judged more critically as bread is Paul's obsession. As with the previous signature bakes, they are given free reign to bake the bread of their choice. No creativity allowed in the technical, which is to make a cob loaf, the only stipulation being that the kneading needs to be done by hand. And for the final bread bake, they are asked to make twelve sweet rolls and twelve savory rolls in up to three different flavors for each, the entire batch which must be presented for judging so that Mary and Paul can check for consistency. Interspersed with the bakes, Mel and Sue learn about the importance of bread in British food history, the controversy surrounding the actual structure of windmills which were needed for grinding grains, the history of the sandwich especially as a convenience snack, and the effect of industrialization on the rise of the standard white sandwich loaf.
Episode 4
Puddings
56 mins
This week in what is the quarter-finals, the remaining five bakers are in Bakewell to bake puddings, which they will see will include the pudding tart named after the town. As with all previous signatures, the bakers are given free reign to bake any pudding they want that best represents them. For the technical, they are proverbially moving across the channel to bake four individual lemon soufflés apiece. As soufflés are best served minutes out of the oven, the bakers are staggering their start and stop times to allow Mary and Paul to judge each of them at their peak. And the final bake, or bakes as the case may be, of pudding week is for each to make one crumble, one bread pudding and one suet pudding. Interspersed with the bakes, Mel and Sue learn about the history of pudding including why the addition of animal offal and suet at its origins, how Britain became associated with it worldwide, and why it became the nutritional element in a British diet during the industrial age.
Episode 5
Pastry
58 mins
It's the semi-finals, and the four remaining bakers are in Cornwall this week dealing with all things pastry. Unlike past signatures, there are some stipulations as to their signature pie, where it must be savory, and double crust. As the bakers may have guessed due to their locale, what they are asked to make for the technical are four Cornish pasties. And for the final pastry bake, they are to make three different savory canapés and three different sweet tartlets. Interspersed with the bakes, Mel and Sue learn about the history of pies in Britain: why it was considered the domain of the working class, when it moved into the realm of haute cuisine, and the unsavory notion of bakers hiding unexpected fillings inside the pastry casings, especially during the Victorian era such as with the fictional character of Sweeney Todd.
Episode 6
Tea Party (Final)
58 mins
It's the final two bakes of the competition with the only three remaining bakers of the original ten being Miranda Gore Browne, Ruth Clemens and Edd Kimber, one who will be eliminated after the first bake leaving only two for the final bake. They're at Fulham Palace this week, appropriate as what they will be preparing is a proper British tea fit for royalty. For their signature, they each need to make twenty-four identical mini cakes. After what ends up being a five hour deliberation by the judges and the announcement to the three of who has been eliminated, the final two have another nervous night before the final day and the final bakes for that royal tea party, they each to make twenty-four miniature tarts, twenty-four scones, twenty-four choux buns, and twenty-four finger sandwiches with their own made bread. The announcement of the winner will be made in front of forty special guests for tea, including their friends, family and some familiar faces from this season.
Episode 7
The Great British Wedding Cake
59 mins
The most recognizable of celebration cakes, the wedding cake, has a strong history in Britain, but any tradition is bound to change with the times and new ideas, including what is available for its creation. Mary and Paul bring back this season's three finalists, Miranda Gore Browne, Ruth Clemens and Edd Kimber, and set two different bake-off challenges for them on this theme of wedding cakes. The first is to create an immaculately decorated traditional three-tier marzipan and sugar paste covered wedding cake using fruitcake as the sponge, which they have 11 hours to complete. For their second and last bake of the weekend, they have five hours to make their version of a contemporary wedding cake. Who Mary and Paul choose as the winner may come down to personal taste of their selves as a former bride and former groom. Interspersed between the bakes, Paul and Mary learn about the history of the wedding cake in Britain, including how what is known as the traditional wedding cake came into being. They also learn about changes needed in the mid-20th century due to rationing, and changes desired in the late 20th century starting in the counter-culture of the 1960s when there was a general trend away from anything traditional, with sugar paste revolutionizing what could be created as a wedding cake.
