So the Great British Bake Off aka Great British Baking Show books have been kind of hit or miss; more miss lately, but thankfully, in spite of some unfortunate decisions during the actual series, the book is back to what it should be: cool bakes that are actually achievable and useful to an average home baker. The Great British Baking Show: Favorite Flavors has a lot of things I think I both can and actually want to try.
Before I get into the good stuff, I do have one big complaint. Why are two recipes from Paul Hollywood red velvet cake (he’s openly said he doesn’t think highly of American baking in the past) and tacos; why would you go to Paul Hollywood for making tortillas, spiced beef strips, refried beans, and guacamole? Also, who makes their own masa (as in tracking down field corn and calcium hydroxide, etc)? Probably no one who listens to Paul Hollywood for things like this. To Mr. Hollywood’s credit, the note about a tortilla press alternative (a heavy pan plus lid) is a good idea, but as to the rest, there are so many much better places to go for this kind of thing. Prue’s spring rolls are very much in the same category. I’m not even going to talk about that stupid technical challenge recipe for s’mores beyond it’s a feasible recipe but on principle, no. Just nope. That’s not a s’more; it’s something else.
There are some recipes that I don’t reject on principle like the above, but still am not likely to attempt for various reasons. The tres leches splatter cake is one because it requires two different sponge bakes, a cherry compote, a cherry soak, a ganche, two different frostings, and a dulce de lech filling. Each element is doable, but am I going to take all the time and effort to do all that? Nope. Recipes like that are fun on principle but 1) is it really worth all the effort, and 2) I don’t have a large household or freezer, one of which would be necessary. The pineapple and ham pizza highlights another problem: the title is a tad misleading. I like pineapple on pizza, to be clear, but the recipe actually includes bacon, pancetta, mushrooms, and no actual ham. WTF?
OK, right; time for the good stuff. The bakers recipes are the stars, as they should be. I want to try most all of them. Janusz’s ginger biscuits look pretty good and are granny approved; Syabira’s curry puffs look interesting although it does involve two different types of dough and deep-frying, not baking; Kevin’s sourdough crackers present a solution to my hesitance to try sourdough baking (what to do with the starter discard); Will’s savory rolls look like a fun alternative to the traditional sweet version (think cinnamon roll type thing); I might even try the rough puff to see if I can get Sandro’s orange and dark chocolate palmiers.
