Great British Bake Off: Here's how Edinburgh student Peter got on with his Forth Rail Bread

Welcome back to yet another week of GBBO where Edinburgh baking hero Peter Sawkins is going to ‘roll’ with the punches and try to ‘baguette’ that star award (OK, that was weak but I’m only just getting started.)
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With another bizarre opening sequence from Noel Fielding and Matt Lucas that feels more like a skit from the Mighty Boosh than a family friendly food show, the comp gets underway.

Oh, and it's bread week.

Apparently this is the week where Paul Hollywood is legally allowed to spike your afternoon tea with arsenic if you serve him a sub par slice… you might say it’s a matter of loaf and death (oh shut up).

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So. Round one, flavoured soda bread.

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Oor Pete chose classic Scottish ingredients making his sweet soda bread with ginger beer, and his savoury with black pudding.

He also manages to, er, win favour with Lord Hollywood by reminding him: “Bake Off’s been on for almost half my life”... smooth Peter, smooth.

Edinburgh student Peter Sawkins is bidding to win this year's Great British Bake Off.Edinburgh student Peter Sawkins is bidding to win this year's Great British Bake Off.
Edinburgh student Peter Sawkins is bidding to win this year's Great British Bake Off.

This perhaps could be shown in his feedback after one loaf was described as stodgy, and the other too crumbly - no consistency.

His flavours were spot on, though didn’t instill the same reaction as fellow contestant Sura, who’s apricot bread was apparently so good it felt as though Prue was a second away from glinting at the camera saying “this isn’t just bread, this is GBBO bread” seductively.

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Sadly, she didn’t, and we moved on to round two, the technical challenge.

Six rainbow coloured bagels are the order of the day - and no, I didn’t know what they were either.

Apparently they’re just bagels but, yeah, rainbow coloured.

Regardless of your level of apathy to the show, the technical challenge is high stress, especially with a bagel which allegedly needs boiled and baked.

“I’m not loving what’s going on inside there,” mutters Pete, curled up next to his oven.

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The tension in the room rose as the judges made their way through a mound of multicoloured bagels.

Peter’s were over proofed, but they tasted “alright though”. Phew.

Edinburgh’s own managed to snag a cheeky fourth place in the technical, putting him in a relatively comfortable position going into the showstopper.

The showstopper was a Harvest bread plaque – another head scratcher, especially when the judges added it needed to represent something the bakers were thankful for.

Er… ok then, another totally normal challenge.

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Scenes portrayed by the bread included a trip to France, musical theatre and a pear tree.

Who knew dough could be quite so expressive?

Oor Pete stayed on brand, going with a stunning Edinburgh cityscape, and boy does he do, well, OK.

“It’s like a piece of leather”: sighs Prue, and Lord Hollywood, who seems to genuinely want Peter to do well, just laughed: “Oh Peter”.

This week’s Star Baker is...drum roll please...Mark E, who celebrated his triumph with his family.

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Sadly we said goodbye to Rowan who’s charm more than made up for his baking.

Highlight of the show this week was when Prue thoughtfully said: “I’ve never had guava as a flavour” to which Noel Fielding replied: “Have you never had an Um Bongo?”

The true question we all want answered.

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