(Image: CHANNEL 4)
GBBO: Contestants get stressed in next weeks bread challenge
Great British Bake Off 2018 has reached Bread Week, and tonight Paul Hollywood will set the remaining bakers a whopping five-hour Showstopper Challenge.
On the show, which airs tonight at 8pm on Channel 4, the bakers will have to make a multi-tiered korovai celebration bread.
The korovai is a sweet bread traditionally served at Eastern European weddings and is decorated with symbolic shapes.
To find out more, Express.co.uk spoke exclusively with Dorota Wojciechowska, deputy director of the Polish Tourism Organisation, to find out more.
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What is a korovai?
The korovai is a sweet bread traditionally baked for weddings in Eastern European countries like Poland, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria (where it is called kravai) and Russia (karavai).
In Poland, it is part of a ceremony with bread, wine and salt. According to Wojciechowska: “At the wedding reception, the parents of the bride and groom, greet the newly married couple with bread, which is lightly sprinkled with salt and a goblet of wine.”
She added: “One should keep in mind that the bigger the korovai is the happier marriage will be. That is why the proportion of ingredients may go up.”
The bread symbolises lack of hunger, the wine lack of thirst and the salt reminds them of difficult times to come.
GREAT BRITISH BAKE OFF 2018 CONTESTANTS
The baker's are tasked with baking a korovai this week (Image: GETTY)
The making of korovai is one of Poland’s most common rituals. Traditionally, it is made by only women, and it is believed that the baker of the bread will give a piece of their fortune to the couple, so only women on their first marriage with a happy home life can bake it.
Though it has mostly been replaced by wedding cakes at Polish weddings, they are still made across Europe to this day.
It is such a part of Polish life, in fact, that there is an Annual Koravai Festival held in Mielnik, Poland.
IS PAUL HOLLYWOOD MARRIED?
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One of the bakers' korovais could be seen in the promo for the next episode (Image: CHANNEL 4)
How do you make a korovai?
Wojciechowska provided the following recipe:
INGREDIENTS
To bake a traditional korovai prepare:
- Flour – 7-9 cups
- Yeast powder – 20 g
- Oil or drawn butter – 100 g
- Milk – ½ glass (water or water mixed with milk might be used instead)
- 10 eggs
- Salt – 2 tsp
- Sugar – 6-8 tbsp
- Cinnamon, lemon zest, vanilla sugar to taste
- Nuts, raisins and other fillers
WHAT IS THE THEME FOR WEEK THREE OF BAKE OFF?
Some bakers' korovai do not go to plan (Image: CHANNEL 4)
METHOD
First, make the “brew”:
- Pour a glass of warm milk (or water) into a bowl. Milk must not be too hot
- Dissolve yeast powder in it
- Add a tbsp. of sugar and mix properly
- Slowly sieve a glass of flour into a bowl. The dough must be tough
- Put a little flour on top of brew and cover with a towel. Leave it for an hour or an hour and a half. Take it out when it rises
WHO LEFT BAKE OFF LAST WEEK?
Korovai are made across eastern Europe (Image: GETTY)
Making dough
To prepare dough for korovai:
- Separate egg yolks from whites
- Mix yolks with sugar and add the blend to the brew
- Whisk egg whites
- Melt butter or get oil ready
- Make a hollow in flour, put brew with yolks, butter, egg whites and salt in
- Knead dough well adding more flour until it is smooth – this will take about half an hour
- When all is done put the mass in a container and leave it in a warm place for two hours
WHO WILL WIN BAKE OFF 2018?
Manon and the other bakers will have five hours to make their korovai (Image: CHANNEL 4)
How to bake korovai
- Separate 500-600 g of dough for future decorations, and form a ball from the rest
- Cover an oven tray with baking paper, put the ball and damp it with water
- Heat the oven to 200 degrees
- Think of decorations for korovai and form them from the dough left
- When decoration is done mix a yolk with water and smear the bread top to help it to brown
- Put the dish in oven
- Cover with foil and reduce temperature to 180 degrees once the bread browns
- Bake korovai for an hour or more.
WHO IS NOEL FIELDING?
Paul Hollywood (left) is sure to demand perfection from the bakers (Image: CHANNEL 4)
When it comes to decorating the korovai, you can either bake it with the decorations on from the start or add to the bread 10-15 minutes before it is finished cooking.
According to Wojciechowska, this will “guarantee clear-cut shapes.”
One last top tip for our bakers: “Good mood and love are necessary for making wedding bread. If you feel ill or annoyed better leave it for later.”
Great British Bake Off continues tonight at 8pm on Channel 4
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