Great British Baking Show - Halloween week

[Janet H]

This weeks show had 3 challenges:

1. Apple cake in two hours with apple prominently featured
2. S'mores - from scratch
3. Halloween themed hanging lantern with treats inside - also baked.

The second challenge - s'mores was an utter failure imo.

Bakers were directed to bake "digestive biscuits" (wheat based, thin mostly tasteless cookies)
Scratch made marshmallows and chocolate ganache. They were to assemble this into a s'more and then brown the edges of the s'more with a torch. So much wrong here!

These were missing the honey kissed graham cracker flavor that is integral to a s'more. The home made marshmallow was huge and was not toasted to melty goodness with that smoky campfire flavor and finally the ganache, while looking wonderful, is not a chocolate bar melted by fire charred marshmallow.

Bakers gave it their best shot but the premise of the challenge was destined to fail as the judges who set the challenge didn't appear to understand what a S'more is AND didn't know how to eat it. It saddened me to see judges eating this with a spoon and not enjoying the full-face sticky joys of a perfectly toasted 'smore.

Just in case you are inclined to try this your self... here's a link to the king Arthur recipe for graham crackers :https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/graham-crackers-recipe WITH HONEY AND CINNAMON. I recommend buying marshmallows and toasting them on a stick over coals to get the proper texture and flavor and use a simple chocolate bar for the melty chocolate part.

 

[taxlady]

That does sound like a fail. But, I don't know whereat kind of digestives you have been getting. The ones we get here in Montreal are not tasteless and actually taste a lot like graham crackers. I think they are made with graham flour.

 

[summer57]

I haven't watched this week's show, but I think the show's changed a lot, not in a good way, since the first few years on BBC with Mary Berry was the co-host.
I agree with taxie that Digestives are a good substitute for graham crackers. Also, I've had homemade marshmallow, and it's pretty darned good. Perhaps they should have swapped out a cadbury bar for ganache, but really, it was in the spirit of s'mores, which I'm sure is something new to the bakers.
Britain and North America are different. Nice to see Bake-Off trying North American desserts for a change, rather than sticking to Britain and Europe. If they aren't critical of my crumpets, I'll cut them some slack on smores!

 

[dragnlaw]

via dr. google:-

from The Answer Pantry:
The main difference between graham crackers vs. digestive biscuits is that graham crackers are light and crispy, while digestive biscuits are thicker, less sweet, and not nearly as crispy. Nevertheless, they can be used interchangeably in many situations.Jul 18, 2022

from sweetto eatbaking:
Specifically England. In the UK, there's no such thing as graham crackers. The closest thing we get is the digestive biscuit. A digestive biscuit is a sweet-meal biscuit (cookie) with wholemeal flour. Jun 25, 2015

Much to my surprise (although I don't know why) there were a lot more comparison.

Not having seen the show, I think I really agree with Janet. Maybe not so much with the biscuit - how can anyone make something they've never seen, much less tasted. They could have made a chocolate bar slab, also marshmallow slab cut up?
Arghhh - guess I'll have to find that show and start watching.

 

[dragnlaw]

What season is this? I can only find it on Gem, which I've never heard of and it seems to only go to Season 12. Oops and now, just going back to it, seems to have disappeared and 'try again'
Might find it on Youtube?

 

[summer57]

The original Great British Bake-Off started in 2010 on BBC. It moved to a new channel and new production team a couple of years ago. Challenges typically involve dishes that none of the bakers have ever seen or before. It relies on the baker's creativity, experience with ingredients, general baking technique, precision & skill. Some of the bakers have go on to write books and be mini-celebs in the UK.

As for baking something they've never seen or tasted before, that's part of the challenge. I've learned a lot from watching this show -- I had no idea what a Pithivier or Kouign-amann was until I saw the show.

 

[obillo]

via dr. google:-

from The Answer Pantry:
The main difference between graham crackers vs. digestive biscuits is that graham crackers are light and crispy, while digestive biscuits are thicker, less sweet, and not nearly as crispy. Nevertheless, they can be used interchangeably in many situations.Jul 18, 2022

from sweetto eatbaking:
Specifically England. In the UK, there's no such thing as graham crackers. The closest thing we get is the digestive biscuit. A digestive biscuit is a sweet-meal biscuit (cookie) with wholemeal flour. Jun 25, 2015

Much to my surprise (although I don't know why) there were a lot more comparison.

Not having seen the show, I think I really agree with Janet. Maybe not so much with the biscuit - how can anyone make something they've never seen, much less tasted. They could have made a chocolate bar slab, also marshmallow slab cut up?
Arghhh - guess I'll have to find that show and start watching.

I haven't tasted grahams since I discovered digestives, but I recall them as significantly sweeter, so any time you're subbing one for the other, consider adjusting the amount of any sugar the recipe calls for. As for subbing in 'spores--the only digestives I've had have been about the size of Ritz crackers and twice as thick as grahams, so might be troublesome, producing squashy 'smores. As for 'smore themselves, I've had a couple and they were OK, but really for kids and campfires. Maybe a more adult version would result from using dark chocolate? Meanwhile, I could eat half a p[ack of digestives plain and unadorned, just like that.

 

[obillo]

I haven't watched this week's show, but I think the show's changed a lot, not in a good way, since the first few years on BBC with Mary Berry was the co-host.
I agree with taxie that Digestives are a good substitute for graham crackers. Also, I've had homemade marshmallow, and it's pretty darned good. Perhaps they should have swapped out a cadbury bar for ganache, but really, it was in the spirit of s'mores, which I'm sure is something new to the bakers.
Britain and North America are different. Nice to see Bake-Off trying North American desserts for a change, rather than sticking to Britain and Europe. If they aren't critical of my crumpets, I'll cut them some slack on smores!

Digestives basically ARE graham crackers, aren't they? Only w/more taste and less sweetness? As for the show, it went downhill fast aft

I haven't tasted grahams since I discovered digestives, but I recall them as significantly sweeter, so any time you're subbing one for the other, consider adjusting the amount of any sugar the recipe calls for. As for subbing in 'spores--the only digestives I've had have been about the size of Ritz crackers and twice as thick as grahams, so might be troublesome, producing squashy 'smores. As for 'smore themselves, I've had a couple and they were OK, but really for kids and campfires. Maybe a more adult version would result from using dark chocolate? Meanwhile, I could eat half a p[ack of digestives plain and unadorned, just like that.

Re yr last sentence: Hear! Hear!