It is bread week and Julia was trying her hand at being puny and I agree with Dan, they weren’t that great. My issue with Canadian versions of any reality show is the blatant product placements. I get annoyed during The Amazing Race Canada where the racers have to say their flight is on their BMO card. In this case, all of bakers have to use Robin Hood flour but so far I haven’t had to hear them drop its name during conversation.

Signature Challenge

The Bake: Focaccia

Time: 2 and half hours

What I would make: Sun dried tomatoes with roasted red pepper, chives and provolone

James

Blue chees and walnut focaccia with rosemary and pears. Rochelle thought it was a great focaccia and Dan really liked it and walked off with a huge slice.

Vandana

Mediterranean focaccia with goat cheese, sun dried tomatoes and spinach pesto. Bruno liked the pesto but Rochelle thinks there was topping overload.

Linda

Traditional focaccia  with rosemary infused olive oil and rock salt. Bruno and Rochelle liked the flavour of her well executed focaccia.

Sinclair

Parmesan and herb focaccia topped with rosemary and parsley. Bruno and Rochelle noticed that his focaccia was under baked.

Jude

Italian boot focaccia topped with herbs and olives. Rochelle appreciated the whimsy and thought the flavour of the bread was spectacular but the technicality of the focaccia was a miss.

Terri

Family favourite focaccia with goat cheese, figs and mushrooms. When it came out of the oven, out of all the bakers it looked delicious. Rochelle thinks that Terri’s focaccia looks more like a pizza but they still like her toppings.

Julian

East Coast focaccia with dulse and spruce tips. Bruno thinks the black pepper overpowered the dulse. Also, Bruno thinks Julian’s focaccia lacked bubbles.

Corey

Moroccan focaccia with almonds, tumeric, saffron, and pickled pears. Bruno notices the oil oozing out when he presses on the focaccia. Rochelle liked the subtle flavours of the tumeric and saffron.

Sabrina

Italian pride focaccia with garlic, pesto and tomatoes. Rochelle liked the bake on the bottom and Bruno liked the burst of tomatoes. Rochelle tells Sabrina that she has done her Nonna proud and I have to say her focaccia too looked great and would totally want to try.

Technical Challenge

The Bake: 12 Montreal-style bagels (6 poppy seeds and 6 sesame seeds)

Time: 2 hours and 10 minutes

It is hilarious that this is the technical bake. When I was preparing for my audition, I practiced tons of Canadian baked items as I didn’t know what we would have to bake during the audition. Montreal-style bagels was one of the things I made.

One of the things that I had difficulty with was when I dropped the shaped dough into the honey water that the circle didn’t hold its shape and I had some bagels that were more U-shape than bagel. Also, I only made sesame seed ones as I couldn’t find poppy seeds.

The bakers’ bagels, aside from mines not holding its shape, do look like what I made. However, I don’t recall having to dry them before baking them. Maybe next time I make these, I will dry them.

In the end, I thought it tasted really good, despite its look and I did notice the sweetness to it.

Here is how our bakers did starting from worse to first:

9. James: his bagels were raw thus inedible

8. Corey

7. Vandana

6. Julian

5. Sinclair

4. Sabrina

3. Linda

2. Jude

1. Terri

Showstopper

The Bake: Sweet bread centerpiece that must look and taste spectuclar

Time: 4 hours

One of the things that I thought would be challenging for me if I got on this show is coming up with a creative bake and this one would proved a challenge to me.

But if were doing this challenge, I definitely would do chocolate pecan cinnamon rolls and form the pieces into a globe. I would top it with candied pecan and decorative chocolate.

Corey

Tree of Life Challah filled with orange, dates and almond mixture. Topped with chocolate and cinnamon. It was so big that Dan had to help bring it to the judges. Rochelle thinks it is one of the best challah she has ever seen and called it spectacular.

Julian

Cinnamon bun Kraken. Rochelle thinks the look is creative and think the cinnamon buns were amazing.

Terri

Caramel Apple centrpiece with cinnamon rolls and dough roses. Bruno and Rochelle liked the flavours but suggested the bread have more shine to it.

Sinclair

Walnut bread wreath with puff pastry pear and thyme. He had under-cooked puff pastry and Bruno sees that it is under-baked.

James

Middle Eastern Star Bread with dates, cinnamon and pistachio. Bruno liked the shape of his centerpiece. Rochelle calls it heaven and a comeback effort.

Vandana

Winter Melon and Cashew wreath. Bruno liked being introduced to new flavours.

Sabrina

Bread basket filled with stuffed apple buns. Rochelle and Bruno thinks the presentation is spectacular. Rochelle likes the balance between the cinnamon and apples. Bruno liked the skills Sabrina used to make the basket.

Jude

Paint pot centerpiece filled with lemon curd and raspberry jam and with chocolate breadstick paint brushes. Bruno calls it whimsical and the raspberry and blueberry filling were delicious. However, Jude’s center dough was raw.

Linda

Bread flower basked with chocolate roses and filled with honey. Rochelle says the flavours worked beautifully together

In the running for Star Baker: Julian, Sabrina, Vandana

In danger: Jude, Sinclair

Star Baker: Sabrina

Going Home: Sinclair

After watching two episodes, the front runners are definitely Terri, Julian, Vandana and Sabrina. People that really need to step up their game is James and Jude.

Next week: Dessert Week