The kids and I are obsessed with The British Baking Show on PBS.
This weekend turned into a 5 day weekend, thanks days off at school and Sophia staying home sick on Friday. We had to keep ourselves busy, so I introduced them to the latest show to cross the Pond to PBS.
We are in love.
If you haven’t seen the amateur baking competition show yet, you must. You can livestream it on PBS. Each week has a theme, such as cakes or bread. For each week of the competition, there are three components. First is a signature bake, where the baker makes their signature version of a specific type of baked good. Part two is the technical challenge, where everyone is given the same recipe with very general directions and they must figure out how to bake it properly. Third is the piece de resistance: the Showstopper. In between the challenges, we get a little piece of food history.
L-R: Host Sue Perkins, judge Mary Berry, judge Paul Hollywood and host Mel Giedroyc. Credit: Courtesy of Love Productions
The Great British Bake-off, as it’s known in England, is the perfect reality show to watch with young kids. Those Brits know how to do a reality show. Everyone is nice and polite, even the judges. I want Mary Berry, the Queen of Baking, to be my grandmother. Neither my mom nor my grandmother did a whole lot of baking. It’s too hot to bake in Vietnam! Even Paul Hollywood, who I assume is supposed to be the bad guy, is nice. There’s no yelling or backstabbing.
The biggest drama is whether the bread or cake will be done in time. That sounds boring, but all three of us are biting our fingernails as we wait for the outcomes of each part of the competition. And the food porn is never ending. Delicious breads, luscious cakes, crisp biscuits (cookies).
Passionate amateur bakers compete to be named the U.K.’s best. Credit: Courtesy of Love Productions
After each episode, Sophia wants to bake everything we’ve just seen. We all want to bake all. the. things. I don’t even like to a lot of sweets!
It’s been lovely to cuddle up on the couch under our blankets and watch fun show that’s inspiring us to bake together.
Now to figure out what we want to bake first. I might have to get Mary Berry’s Baking Bible (affiliate link), which is sadly out of stock at the moment. Sophia is leaning towards bagels. Got any good recipes?