Julia Chernogorova has been eliminated from The Great British Bake Off 2017 in pastry week – despite Stacey Hart serving a pie containing PARCHMENT PAPER.
After two weeks of caramel and pudding-themed tasks, tonight’s episode was more savoury as the contestants took on pastry-based dishes.
For the Signature challenge, they each had to create four individual shortcrust pies, all connected in some way by their decoration.
Julia had a bad start after including baking powder in her pastry, with Prue Leith remarking that the finished product was “a tiny bit cakey”.
Kate suffered from the dreaded ‘soggy bottoms’, while Yan faced criticism after her pies came out unevenly baked.
The Technical round involved Paul Hollywood’s recipe for ‘pastel de nata’ – Portugese custard tarts.
Yan revived her fortunes, coming top in the judges’ ranking – with Paul praising her “excellent” custard.
But it was more bad news for Julia, who finished last after her Prue noted her pastry was more shortcrust than the expected rough puff.
Second from the bottom was Stacey, with Prue telling her: “This is not your finest hour.”
For their Showstoppers, the bakers had to create ‘family-sized’ hand-raised pies using hot water crust pastry, with savoury fillings and glazed fruit toppings.
Although hand-raised pies are usually made by stretching the pastry over a mould, Liam, Yan and Julia went rogue by deciding to form their cases inside tins.
After his “conscience kicked in”, Liam U-turned and went with the traditional method. His pie, inspired by his Nan’s Sunday dinner, won rave reviews, with Paul asking: “Your grandma is a genius. Will she come round to my house and cook this?”
Yan and Julia stuck to their guns, with differing results. Prue thought Yan’s chequerboard pie was “wonderful”, but Julia’s ‘special occasion’ pie was criticised for its “overcooked” asparagus and “undercooked” pastry.
However, it was arguably Stacey that faced the biggest catastrophe, with her pastry collapsing when she removed her mould.
Desperate to save its shape, she rushed to get her filling in – but then realised she’d left a circle of baking parchment inside the pie.
Despite this, Stacey’s “good” flavours meant she escaped elimination – with Prue and Paul instead opting to say farewell to Julia.
“Of course I will carry on baking,” she reacted. “I’m very lucky to find my passion in something I enjoy doing and absolutely love.”
Meanwhile, Liam was finally crowned Star Baker. “I didn’t think I would ever get it. Just over the moon,” he grinned.
Bake Off continues next Tuesday at 8.00pm, when the bakers will face another brand new theme: Italian week.
