Week three was Bread Week and while some bakers used their loaf, others failed to rise to the occasion.
In the Signature Bake, the contestants had to make a flavoured freeform loaf and Yasmin excelled with her Egyptian Dukkah Loaf.
“I like that idea,” said Paul, while Mary described the effort as “very bold”.
Paul was less complimentary about Ben’s Raisin, Walnut and Rosemary Loaf, saying he was “overwhelmed by rosemary” and labelled the other flavours “pointless”.
He also had harsh words for Janet’s Zupfe Loaf with Gruyére Cheese, telling her she’d “left the bottom unbaked”.
The master baker was even more unimpressed with the results of the technical challenge, in which bakers followed his own foccacia recipe but failed to nail the Italian bread’s irregular crumb structure.
Paul lambasted several loaves for being “bread-like” and “bready”, which sounded a bit harsh but then, he’s the expert.
Jo made the best foccacia, with Paul praising her “massive airholes”.
“Springy,” chirped Mary.
Yasmin excelled once again in the showstopper challenge – a display bread basket with 24 rolls – with Paul calling her sweetbread with coconut rolls “delicious”.
But Paul doubled over with disgust on tasting Jason’s rolls, as it emerged that the 19-year-old Londoner had made the cardinal sin of mistakenly confusing salt with sugar.
He lived to bake another week though, as Ian and Urvashi were booted off, while Yasmin was crowned star baker for her trio of tasty breads.