RECAP: ‘Great British Baking Show’ Season 17, Episode 4
Yeast? I thought you said WEAST! It’s Bread Week in the tent, and Paul Hollywood is officially on a white-hot warpath. He’s already dubbing this the worst Technical challenge in 17 seasons of television. Who will feel his wrath? Which baker will actually PROVE their mettle, and who is going to end up crying into an underbaked boule?
Let’s get this dough rising!
Read on for my take on Episode 4 of “Great British Bake-Off” (AKA “Great British Baking Show” for us American swine) Season 17. SPOILERS AHEAD!
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The Signature: Garlicky Gluten and A Lot of Cheese
The Challenge: Use garlic—shock—to bake a yeasted bread.
The Lineup:
Tom: Cheesy garlic bread Chelsea buns packed with Black Bomber cheese. Tom apparently excelled at this exact thing in GCSE Home Economics. Thanks for the assist, Mrs. Burton!
Gary: Is… literally doing the exact same thing as Tom. Garlic and cheddar buns. Talk about awkward kitchen proximity. It’s always a massive danger to run a direct copy-paste in the tent.
Connie: A four-cheese garlic star that she promises everyone will “likey yum yum.” Sure, Jan.
Yannis: A garlic loaf shaped quite literally like a giant garlic bulb.
Molly: A gorgeous, braided bread stuffed with an entire, unrepentant bulb of garlic. She apparently makes bread all the time, and Paul is visibly aroused.
Gabe: A garlic-bread pizza hybrid. It’s a whole lot of delicious flavors, but they might be punching each other out for control against the garlic.
Clara: Thai basil and garlic buns. The reigning Star Baker is clearly feeling the heat, and I’m deeply concerned by the aggressive handfuls of basil she’s tossing in.
Mo: Opting to stuff Naga chili pickles into his garlic bread, sculpted into the shape of a bear to honor Paul. But he immediately spits in the judges' faces by declaring that bread is boring. I would love to know what Mo actually finds not boring.
Moyin: A pesto garlic bread taking a massive gamble with raw garlic chunks.
Nikki: Cheesy pesto garlic bread blanketed in semolina. Will it incinerate in the oven? Only time will tell.
The Chaos & Drama:
In a prophetic omen of the carnage to come, a freak hailstorm suddenly pummels the tent. Hilariously, within two seconds of TV time, it’s back to sunshine outside. Classic British weather.
Some bakers are taking a profoundly laissez-faire approach to baking physics. Mo shrugs and says, "I don’t really know if it’s done. That looks like it’s baked. Let’s go with that."
The Signature Verdict:
Good: Tom’s Black Bomber buns; and an oddly missing-in-action Nikki.
Somewhere in Between: Connie’s tight, light-on-garlic twist; Mo’s overly spicy, zero-garlic nipple bread (yes, it accidentally had nipples); Clara’s aggressively anisey loaf; Moyin’s boring, cake-like rolls.
Bad: Gary’s buns (much like his personality) completely lack color and flavor; Molly’s "one-bulb-is-never-enough" loaf.
Ugly: Gabe’s raw, collapsed calzone; Yannis’s raw, loaded, tied-up-like-sad-BDSM loaf.
(Quick programming note: Right around judging, we find out Nikki has to head home due to a sudden family issue, so Alison Hammond has to awkwardly step in to help judge. Curiouser and curiouser.)
The Technical: Filled Flatbreads and Moldy Meltdowns
The Challenge: After two brutal weeks of blind guessing, we FINALLY get a Technical with an actual printed recipe! The task: bake eight roasted-grape-and-blue-cheese-filled flatbreads… IN ONE HOUR. Absolute insanity. And honestly, it sounds deeply unappetizing.
That little back-and-forth between Paul and Nigella where they tasted the sample and debated potential pitfalls was a delight, though. Honestly, I'd watch a whole separate show where those two just sit around eating snacks and gossiping.
The Chaos:
"I don’t like the idea of just touching mold." Finally, something I can agree with Mo on.
A wave of panic hits as multiple bakers realize the sheer moisture content of roasted grapes is going to turn their dough into soup.
"My balls are looking very nice and equal." Finally, something I can agree with Yannis on.
Gary decides to put the filling ON the bread instead of IN the bread. Let me just scroll back up my notes… yup, the challenge is called FILLED flatbread, Gary.
Not a single soul in the tent has rolled out their flatbreads so that they are actually, you know, flat.
I am having second-hand panic attacks for the judges’ digestive tracts.
"TEN INCHES!?" shrieks Clara. Iconic.
Every single one of the first seven entries presented to the judges is practically raw dough. Nigella is panicking. They literally cannot even force themselves to bite into the food.
The Technical Rankings:
At the bottom,
10th Place: Nikki (by default)
9th Place: Gary (Who essentially baked an uncooked, cheesy pizza-pancake. Sheesh.)
8th Place: Yannis
3rd Place: Moyin
2nd Place: Clara
And in 1st Place: Gabe! Somehow, through sheer witchcraft and baking his bread a microsecond longer than everyone else, he takes the crown.
Nigella genuinely floats the idea of punishing the surviving bakers by forcing them to eat the raw flatbreads themselves. I deem that fair.
The Showstopper: A Celebratory Dough-Stopper
We learn that Nikki will not be returning for the Showstopper. But as Paul grimly reminds us, someone will still be getting the chop tonight. He also accidentally misquotes Ghost and announces, "Molly is in danger again." No, Paul, it’s
The Challenge: A grand display of enriched bread built around a cohesive theme. It feels like this is always the staple bread week finale, but honestly… what else can you even do with bread other than bake it, eat it, and toast it?
The Highlights & Disasters:
Molly: Building a literal bread basket overflowing with extra baked goods. Paul immediately sprinkles doubt over whether her pumpkin flavors will actually come through.
Gary: "Excited,” or as close to excited as a human statue can get, about a Christmas star featuring mini panettones.
Fun fact: FOUR more bakers were also possessed by the spirit of Christmas:
Moyin is making Swedish cinnamon kanelbullar.
Yannis harkens back to his youth in Vienna with a mini Christmas market stall. His primary goal is for the bread to actually be baked. Aim high, Yannis!
Clara’s bolo rei Christmas bread looks visually underwhelming in the photo, acting more like a fabric "mat" for the rest of the bake to sit on. Zero points for creative flair.
Tom is engineering three separate enriched doughs to build a Christmas gonk, whatever the hell a gonk is. It’s cute, though! And he’s trying Chelsea buns again. Will he finally get the spiral right?
Gabe: Decides to buck the holiday trend and celebrate the summer solstice instead with a saffron brioche maypole. He claims he saged the tent beforehand to spiritually cleanse it of Paul Hollywood’s negative energy, but sadly, it has failed.
Mo: Celebrating Eid with a massive crescent moon and milk bread "stars,” though calling those lumpy spheres "stars" feels like a generous interpretation. He watched three TikToks to prepare, which is easily triple the effort he put into the Technical.
Connie: An Easter basket featuring hot cross buns and cute little bunnies. She apparently borrowed the recipe straight from Paul’s playbook.
As the clock ticks down, the panic sets in. Molly’s basket and buns are looking alarmingly dark; Gabe’s phallic maypole is listing dangerously to one side, held together by prayer and hot caramel glue.
Judging Highlights:
Yannis: Good flavor profile, but the structural bread is sadly overbaked. "You sacrificed texture for beauty, and it’s a shame." Oof.
Mo: Paul calls the flavors underwhelming, though Nigella politely disagrees. His individual stars are far more successful than the main moon.
Connie: The cardamom isn't pulling its weight, and the overall proof is off. The buns are much too tight.
Moyin: The color on the brioche is all wrong - it tastes more like a jam donut. The halos on his Christmas tree are also too flat. Paul gives him the unfortunate grade of "See Me after class."
Clara: The booze punches through nicely, but the texture is tight and dense. Nigella is a fan, but Paul is (per his M.O.) deeply unimpressed.
Molly: It looks visually stunning, but dark. As foretold, the pumpkin loaf is missing its pumpkin flavor and tastes strangely sour; the babkas are bone-dry. A total lack of butter abundance; pure austerity baking.
Gabe: A great visual display with fun flavors, but the saffron completely overpowers the main loaf, while the lemon dominates the smaller bakes.
Gary: The star looks sharp, and the flavors are technically there, but the texture is a brick. The mini panettones are just as dense.
Tom: The Great Gonk! His Chelsea buns finally taste great and show he actually listened to Paul’s earlier feedback about tightening the spiral. The date-and-ginger loaf is a hit, though the structural base still struggles a bit with texture.
Nobody truly soared this week. There wasn't a single handshake to be found; only deeply disappointed, disapproving head shakes from Paul. Frankly, I wouldn't have been shocked if they canceled Star Baker entirely.
The Final Verdict
Star Baker: Given the absolute trainwreck of the week, it feels like a profoundly hollow victory… but Tom walks away with the star.
Eliminated: Even with Nikki bowing out earlier, the rules demanded a sacrifice. In this weird alternate version of Ghost, Willie Lopez finally wins out, and Molly succumbs to the danger zone.
(As the final credits roll, a heartbreaking title card informs us that Nikki’s mother passed away. Our deepest, sincerest condolences go out to Nikki and her family during such a difficult time.)
Tom is quietly running away with this competition. Will anyone manage to catch him before the finale? Tune in next week and catch our full recap right here on Saturday!
What do YOU think of “GBBO” Season 17? Drop your comments below!
