The Great British Bake Off: Big Book of Baking

People buy the GGBO books for a variety of reasons. There are profiles of the bakers featured in the 2014 competition, some of their specialist bakes, and usually the technical challenges. I noticed that a couple of the technical challenges weren't included, so to make doubly sure you get what you want, I've listed them all here.

The technical challenges for each week of the 2014 GGBO are:

Cake: cherry cake
Biscuits: Florentines
Bread: ciabatta
Desserts: tiramisu cake
Pies and tarts: mini pear pies (not included)
European cakes: dobbos torte
Pastry: Breton kouign amann
Advanced dough: Croation povatica
Patisserie: German schichttorte (not included)
Final: perfect sponge, caramel, choux pastry as petit four

The book is broken down into:
  • A baker's guide 
  • Biscuits and tray-bakes (pecan shorties; Enwezor's pumpkin and sunflower biscuits; fudge brownies...) 
  • Breads (cheddar and mustard loaf; Irish brace; Jordan's rye and spelt load; banana bread...) 
  • Cakes (Martha's dark chocolate and almond liquor savarin; Claire's miniature chocolate & cherry cakes...) 
  • Sweet pastry and patisserie (choux caramel puffs; snowball meringues, Kate's rhubarb & custard tart with almond...) 
  • Savoury bakes (salmon coublibiac; port and redcurrant charlotte; little crab soufflés; tapenade twists...) 
  • Puddings and desserts (hot white chocolate sponge puddings; Richard's Black Forest chocolate fondants...) 

It's not the best book in the series, but if you're a committed GBBO fan, there are enough of the challenges, and enough of the signature dishes to make it worth your while.


You can get your copy here: