The Great British Bake Off
Season 5
TV-PG
100%91%
This British television baking competition selects from amongst its competitors the best amateur baker. The series is credited with reinvigorating interest in baking throughout the UK, and many of its participants, including winners, have gone on to start a career based on baking.
Where to Watch Season 5
10 Episodes
- Cake
E1CakeThe Bake Off is back for another year, welcoming the tent's youngest-ever baker and the oldest. All 12 bakers will be challenged on their baking skills from every angle by judges Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood, all the while helped - or hindered - by Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins. But their first hurdle is cake. As they enter the tent for the very first time, their first Signature Challenge is to make a swiss roll. But with such a seemingly simple challenge comes a risk - who will have the tightest roll? Whose roll will split? Should the bakers go for the classic or push the boat out to impress? Recovering from their first challenge, they face their first ever Technical Challenge. It's cake week... it's a Mary recipe... it's a classic cherry cake. But will the bakers be able to suspend the cherries and ice their cakes to the exacting standard of Ms Berry? As the next day dawns so does the Showstopper. The bakers must make classic British cakes... in perfect miniature... all 36 of them... 30 challenges, 12 brand-new bakers, two judges and two presenters, but there can only be one winner. On your marks, get set... bake! - Biscuits
E2BiscuitsOne week down. Having survived cakes, the remaining 11 bakers are tested on biscuits. Serving up signature savoury biscuits, the bakers must push themselves on flavour to create biscuits that go well with a cheese course, and Sue learns the dirty secret behind the invention of the ice cream cone and the start of the UK ice cream industry. In the technical challenge Mary sets the bakers her recipe for florentines. With their chewy caramel sauce and lacy brandy snap texture covered in tempered chocolate, the bakers must follow Mary's basic instructions, adding up to a more exacting bake than expected. And finally a showstopper like no other - in the most ambitious biscuit challenge to date, the bakers are challenged to create three-dimensional biscuit scenes. They can make any scene they like as long as it is made entirely from biscuits and doesn't fall over... easier said than done in the Bake Off tent. The bakers are really put under scrutiny as the biscuits must taste as good as they look, as the judges make their decision about who will leave the Bake Off tent. - Bread
E3BreadIn week three, the remaining ten bakers get ready to brave bread. The boys are confident that this is their week, but the girls have other ideas. Knowing that Paul will be watching their every move and prove, the bakers must bake 12 perfect rye bread rolls, shaped in any way they like and using as much rye flour as they dare. Paul is enigmatic in the technical challenge, telling the bakers to 'be patient' with his recipe for ciabatta loaves. But which bakers will listen to his words of wisdom and which ones will lose their nerve? The bakers have their work cut out for them in the showstopper challenge, making a filled centrepiece loaf that will make an impact on a table as well as on the judges. Mary and Paul are looking for real talent and natural instinct, creativity and baking brilliance - but which one of the bakers has what it takes? - Pies and Tarts
E5Pies and TartsAlmost halfway through the Bake Off and the remaining bakers are facing pies and tarts. No self-respecting home baker is complete without being able to make all kinds of pastries, and today the bakers are challenged to do just that. Starting with a signature custard tart that gives more than one of them a wobble, the bakers must make sweet custard tarts of their own invention, ranging from 'rhubarb and custard' to 'chocolate and coconut' to a 'tropical Manchester tart' (a tart with tropical flavours made by a Mancunian). Paul sets the bakers mini pear pies; one of the more unusual technical challenges that the Bake Off has seen. The bewildered bakers get in a twist as they attempt to wrap poached pears in a spiral of rough puff pastry, whilst Mel investigates the ancient wedding centrepiece that was the aphrodisiac known as bride pie. Finally the bakers battle their biggest bake yet; three-tied pies. In just four hours they must create a towering collection of pies from any pastry or pastries they like. With 'three-little pig' pies and a 'pieful tower', Mary and Paul have their work cut out for them and Mel and Sue really will eat all the pies... On your marks, get set... bake! - European Cakes
E6European CakesThe signature bake features a cake leavened with yeast, inspired by classic European cakes. The technical challenge is for Mary's Swedish princess cake, and the showstopper requires the bakers to make a modern version of the Hungarian Dobos torte, with at least two tiers and decorated with caramel. - Pastry
E7PastryPresenters Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins set the remaining contestants three tasks involving pastry, beginning by asking them to make signature savoury parcels. For the technical challenge, they must prepare a cake that hails from the Brittany region of France - the kouign amann, which none of the bakers has ever heard of - before creating two different types of eclair in the showstopper round. Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood judge the hopefuls' efforts before deciding who is star baker and who is going home. - Advanced Dough
E8Advanced DoughIt's the quarter-finals of the competition and only five bakers remain. Mary and Paul up the ante to see which bakers will rise to the challenge. The competitors must make enriched sweet fruit loaves for their Signature, followed by a Technical challenge that stretches them to the limit. Finally, the bakers must make 36 showstopping doughnuts, demonstrating skills and ideas that take baking to a new level. - Semi-final - Patisserie
E9Semi-final - PatisserieIt's Patisserie Week, and the remaining four bakers will need to demonstrate that they have skills worthy enough to see them through to this year's final. The bakers are challenged to make a signature baklava - two types of any flavour they like, before the technical challenge demands they knock up a German Schichttorte, a cake cooked in stages under the grill to create 20 layers of different coloured sponge. Finally, the showstopper sees the semi-finalists baking non-stop to create two entremets in which they should demonstrate as many personal skills and techniques as they can. - The Final
E10The FinalThe three finalists face a Signature Challenge in which they have just three hours to prove they have mastered a pastry technique that usually takes a whole day. They then have to tackle a Technical Challenge without the aid of a recipe, before rustling up a Showstopper that turns sponge, caramel, choux pastry and petits fours into a winning combination.
