Great British Bake Off catch up: Pastry Week sees Dan leave the tent as Bryony wins Star Baker
Briony triumphed as Star Baker thanks to her showstopping pie, while Dan left the tent following a few timing mishaps
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The Great British Bake Off contestants have waved goodbye to another baker, as Dan was voted off by the judges over a soggy fish and some sad samosas during Pastry Week. “It was a disastrous week,” he admitted at the end of the show.
Meanwhile, Briony came out on top thanks to her showstopping venison pie, which was shaped like the top hat from Alice in Wonderland. Rahul and Ruby also impressed this week thanks to some samosa advice from their mums.
Manon struggled a bit on the French technical challenge (ironique, n'est pas?), where the contestants were asked to make some "Puits D'Amour" ("Wells of Love"). It's a French pastry that's something like a cross between a creme brulee and a flan. Once again, Dan struggled to keep up, finishing with flat pastry because he forgot to add sugar and had to open the oven during the cooking process.
Catch up with the latest in this series of the Great British Bake Off (please allow a moment for the liveblog to load).
GBBO fans seemed to enjoy cracking a few pastry puns – many of them were cheeky twists on classic songs. Favourites The Independent spotted on Twitter included "Suet Child of Mine", "Don't bake my tart, my flaky-bakey tart", and "Can You Filo the Love Tonight".
We're pretty impressed with our own effort: "It takes choux to make a craquelin go right."
Earlier this week, Paul Hollywood has opened up about the latest series and also confirmed a major change – he's getting rid of his famous Hollywood Handshake! Or rather, he's reserving it for very, very special circumstances.
Speaking on The Jonathan Ross Show about how he's been receiving some criticism for how many handshakes he's dished out this series, he explained: “I've taken a bit of flack over [it]. The handshake came from when [bakes] looked very professional and they almost cross that line from being amateur to professional.
"Every year the standard has got better and better and better and this year has been phenomenal. Some of the flavours they are bringing out. Rahul's stuff has been incredible.”
He continued: “You will see it happen, the handshakes almost stop. Because what I've done is I've realised they are all moving up in standard so I've got to move my barrier up so that's exactly what I do, I raise the bar and then no one gets over the top of it.”
The Great British Bake Off airs on Channel 4 every Tuesday 8pm
Wow Briony!!! Her samosas look bloody stunning. Paul reckons the texture and flavour is PERFECT. "Best looking samosa I've ever seen."
Dan's festive samosas require a bit of effort to cut through them. Oh no, they look super chewy.
"Too much water in the pastry." At least the fillings are good, Paul says.
Rahul has made some very authentic looking samosa. Aw bless he gets so stressed! I wish Paul would stop tricking him, he looks like he's going to cry every time they stare at him.
HE GOT A HANDSHAKE. They really do mean nothing, though.
Manon's pastry is a little bit thick. Prue isn't a fan of the filling in the savoury one: too much potato, not enough chicken.
"Not like Manon to miss flavour," Dan observes.
So where are we at? I reckon Ruby and Rahul are the clear winners on this one, with Rahul possibly just a tiny bit ahead.
Here we are with the mystery recipe. The judges want the contestants to make... Puits d'Amour! Which means "well of love" in French. Manon looks absolutely flummoxed, though. Noel's pronunciation was probably off.
It's actually quite a classic French pastry, sort of like a cross between a creme brûlée and a flan.
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