Week 3 Rankings

Bread making requires a feel for the dough and judgment gained through experience. You can't follow a recipe blindly. You have to know how added ingredients affect the moisture, weight, and density of the dough, its rise and its bake. Unlike cakes, biscuits, or patisserie, there are fewer ways to decorate & embellish bread once its out of the oven.

It's also Paul's specialty, and his favorite week of GBBO, so the stakes are high. This was a tough week for many, leaving Paul a little unimpressed and some bakers much lower in the rankings.  ❤️ S&A

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⭐️  Star baker awards | 🥇 Technical firsts | 🥈 Technical seconds | 🥉 Technical thirds | 🤝 Hollywood Handshakes
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#1 Sura

 ( +2 ) 🥇
Sura continues to be creative & consistent, and that's what carries bakers into the finals. Her za'atar-signature soda bread was nearly perfect, just baked a little too low to brown as much as it could have. Her under-twisted rainbow bagels landed her 8th in the technical, and that was all that held her back from a star baker consideration. She delivered a beautifully baked, designed and flavored tomato vine showstopper that showed off her plaiting, strong aesthetics, and clever ingredient combinations. Sura doesn't have a star or a handshake to her name yet, but three weeks in we think she's the most likely to be among the finalists.

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#2 Peter

 ( -1 ) ⭐️ 🥈
Peter's commitment to gluten-free baking is a bit risky and this week it caught up with him. His signature flavors were both spot on, as the judges said they always are, but one bake turned out stodgy and the other fell to bits. His hula-hoop bagels managed a 4th place finish, which was fortunate because his showstopper was also an uncharacteristic miss. Where before we've seen Peter cleverly design around the need to compete with complex aesthetics and wow the judges in other ways, his Edinborough cityscape was just 'simple'. His decision to use flat bagel-leather cutouts failed to impress, and the overall result was not a finalist-caliber bake.

As bad as this week was, we still couldn't imagine a final without Peter in it. His misses weren't down to sloppiness, time management, or other mistakes in execution. We're confident Peter will continue to operate at a different level for such a young head.

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#3 Hermine

 ( +2 ) 🤝
Hermine locked up the second Hollywood Handshake of the season with her sweet & savory soda breads. Weeks of pre-soaking her fruit in booze and introducing the judges to a salmon, chive and cheese combination they'd never encountered before paid off. She faltered in the technical, overbaking her bagels slightly to finish 7th, and took a risk in her showstopper trying to pass off a quick-freeze enriched dough as brioche. Terminology aside, everything else seemed to work. This was another great week for Hermine and as of now we expect to see her in the finals. 

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#4 Marc

 ( +3 ) ⭐️ 🥈
Two strong weeks in a row have put Marc in a completely different position than he opened the season. His flavors and designs were thoughtful and well executed and he finished second in the technical. The baker-philosopher waxed poetic on the things we can control and those we can't, and he showed us the range of styles and bakes he can control ☯️. He's settled in. He's calm and collected and it seems to enable him to channel his creativity effectively. His buddhist Dharma Wheel bake convincingly won the showstopper. He's just a few good bakes from breaking into the favorites for finalist.

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#5 LOTTIE

 ( -3 ) 🤝
Lottie didn't have as bad a week as a three spot drop might suggest. Her strong suit is creativity and she didn't find as many ways to display it with breads this week. Her concepts were good, but her signature and showstopper were both critiqued as under-flavored. Still, her bakes all turned out well and she caught and corrected the twisting step she'd missed in the technical to recover and finish fifth. She's a strong baker, but breads aren't her strongest. Now that she's made it through bread week we wouldn't be surprised to see her spring back into the finalists bracket in the weeks ahead.

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#6 Mark

 ( - ) 🥈 🥉
K-Mark had a strong week that played to his strengths- he makes soda bread daily and landed two very strong bakes in his signature. He had a strong third place finish in the technical and the judges had him as a contender for star baker this week until his lackluster showstopper. There were nice touches- frozen fillings folded into tiny plaited trees, bold flavor choices in wild garlic, apple and hazelnut. Mark is still right where he began- a strong, middle of the pack contestant. We wouldn't be surprised if some of his riskier bets land and he has a stronger showing in the weeks to come.

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#7 Dave

 ( -3 ) ⭐️ 🥇
From the greatest gain last week to the biggest drop this week, Dave is not showing a finalists' consistency 🎲. His signature soda breads were well baked, but needed 'triple the flavor'. His showstopper won some compliments for the mango-chili-lime stuffing, but was overbaked. The hibiscus and guava failed to show at all in his other bread. He said he'd made bagels before but came in second to last on the technical after overproving and oversoaking his dough. Still, Dave has one of three star baker awards so far, and if he's shown us anything it's that he can focus and bounce back. We may need a few more weeks before Dave's chances of making the finals are clear. 

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#8 Linda

 ( +2 ) 🥇
Linda's 'cyflym bara' signature had some nice flavors, helped by her nice tribute to Mak and his homemade honey. But the bake was too tight, the fruit poorly distributed and the final result soggy. Once again, her showstopper looked delightful (that 🐮!) but failed to impress the judges with its texture or flavor. Linda's picked up a first place in the technical and overtook Rowan and Laura in our rankings. She'll need to bring more flavors and more consistent bakes to climb further.

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#9 Laura

 ( -1 ) 
Where other bakers sometimes have good bakes and sometimes bad, every one of Laura's bakes so far has been a little bit of a mixed bag. Her flavors are consistently fair to strong, but this week it was an underbaked signature, over soaking her bagels for another middle of the pack finish, and a showstopper that looked and tasted great, but suffered from construction issues that made it too dense. She's never completely failed a bake and her stability may keep her in the tent a few more weeks, but she needs to figure out how to bring it all together to have a shot at being a finalist.

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ROWAN (FINISHED)

 ( -1 ) 🥉
After two weeks of last place technical finishes and yet another sloppy signature, we wish we could say we were surprised to see Rowan go, but he just wasn't participating in the same competition as the other bakers. We got glimpses into Rowan's other loves of music, gardening and theater. Rowan's approach to life and his clear enjoyment of all its facets was magnetic. It would be a different show and a different world if enjoying something was all it took to excel at it, but competition is competition. It may be for better or worse, but Rowan just didn't have what it took to remain in the tent among serious bakers.

We were happy we got to see Rowan deliver a beautiful showstopper and leave with his head held high. We're confident he's going to carry on and thrive. ❤️

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Mak (Finished)

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Week 2 results

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Loriea (Finished)

Week 1 results