Welcome to Junior Bake Off,
the show that wants to find Britain's best young baker.
Today it gets serious, as it's the first of our semi-finals.
The Bake Off Tent is home to the greatest baking battle on earth.
I love baking so I'd really, really, really,
really like to get through to the finals.
Today in the first semi-final, Cameron...
Kieran...
Saffron and Joe
will be pushed to their baking limits.
I'm definitely going to up my game
and my next bake is going to wow the judges.
Only two can make it through to the final.
I'm in the semi-finals of Junior Bake Off.
I feel epic, ecstatic and fantastic.
It feels really good.
I'm really excited to see what the challenges are.
If they want to continue competing for the title
of Junior Bake Off Champion, they've got to impress our judges...
Queen of Cakes, Mary Berry.
We're moving up a gear, things will be more difficult,
- it's getting hotter. - And Master Baker Paul Hollywood...
I expect these junior bakers to reach those lofty heights.
I will be demanding perfection.
Could we get a mop and bucket? Spillage in aisle three.
My name's Aaron Craze and I'll be with them in the Bake Off tent.
That's a bold move, Joe, in the semi-finals.
- I know what to do. - You just told me you were lost.
As they fight for the first two final places.
There's everything to bake for, so, let the semi-finals begin!
Today the temperature rises as our bakers face two tests.
First they must follow one of Paul's
technically difficult recipes for pitta bread.
Then in the second challenge
their pastry skills will face the ultimate test as they make
unique and incredible savoury tarts inspired by today's theme - sport.
Our four semi-finalists are...
Saffron from Essex,
who won her place in today's semi with her Summer Celebration Cake
made of three layers of chocolate sponge,
coated with chocolate ganache
and topped with chocolate-dipped summer fruits.
I think the semi-final is going to be quite a tough challenge,
because it's getting harder and each bake
is going to get harder and harder.
..Cameron from Sheffield...
He wowed the judges in his heat with his coffee cake
shaped like a civet.
He used civet coffee beans to achieve an amazing flavour
and decorated it with coffee beans and coffee icing.
I want to get into the final.
I like to get everything perfect
and when it's not, I get really stressed.
..Kieran from York...
He blew the judges away with his chocolate cake with green marbling
shaped into a lovely pumpkin
and topped with Italian meringue frosting.
I really want to impress the judges,
keep my standards high and keep baking well to get
through to the next round which would be good.
And Joe from West Sussex.
He got through to today's semi with a space themed
chocolate orange and vanilla marble cake shaped like Saturn
and decorated with aliens made from fondant icing.
It would mean the whole world to get through to the final
and especially to win the whole of Junior Bake Off.
That would be everything, the whole galaxy for me.
So far the judges have been impressed with the bakers'
cake-making skills,
but now the semi-finalists are being set their most difficult challenge.
They'll be tested on their ability to make bread...
but not just any bread.
Pitta bread was chosen because it's tricky.
I will no longer be judging them as young bakers,
I will be judging them as adults. That's the criteria.
This is the most tricky thing they've made.
It's a very difficult challenge.
They all have the same recipe, ingredients and time
but if they fail to get the kneading technique bang on,
the results will be very different. Guys, have you washed your hands?
- ALL: Yes! - Good.
Your pitta breads are going to be judged
on texture, taste and technique.
You've got one hour to complete your pitta breads.
On your marks...
Get set...
Bake.
These guys know their way round the kitchen,
so if you fancy baking, make sure you ask an adult.
Pitta bread is made by bringing together flour,
a pinch of salt, some dried yeast and lukewarm water,
but it's that all important kneading the judges will be looking for.
Kieran got through to today's semi-final
combining creative cake decorating with surprising flavours,
but today he's out of his comfort zone.
Do you feel any more pressure
- now this is the semi-finals? - Yes, I feel more pressure
than the first round because it's not my main area of baking.
I'm better at sweet stuff because I don't do savoury stuff as much.
Have you got a game plan?
I'm just going to work my hardest and give it all I've got, really.
But for Joe, whose hobby is baking bread,
this should be a walk in the park.
I'm feeling confident that I can do this
because I'm really, really, really good at making bread.
I've done it before.
Joe's very confident, the problem is his kneading is very weak,
you've go to fold it to start building the gluten up,
to get power into the dough.
Cameron won his place by impressing the judges
with his melt in the mouth flavours...
he is one serious baker.
- Have you ever made bread before? - I've made white loaves and stuff,
- but I've never made pitta bread. - OK.
What would it mean to go through to the final?
It would mean everything to me.
For the past two months, this has been my life, practising my recipes.
And make sure everything's right.
Saffron earned her place with professional looking cakes
and she's a real whizz in the kitchen.
- Have you done bread before? - Yep. - Nice one.
Have you done pitta breads?
- Yep. - So how you feeling about the semi-finals? Are you confident?
- I'm very confident. - Yeah. Are we going to see you in the finals?
- Yeah, I'm sure of it. - Nice. That's what I like to see,
confidence oozes out of Saffron.
Saffron may be confident about getting through to the final
but are the judges convinced she's kneaded her dough enough?
The problem I have with Saffron,
is she just pushed it together.
There was no kneading at all.
It took her five minutes from start to finish.
This is typically Saffron. If you remember the heat,
she was racing through. It was just too quick.
There's times when speed is good,
but speed can cause problems.
Before the dough can be shaped into pitta bread,
the bakers must leave it to prove and Saffron is first.
But will her rushing have an effect on her results?
The others finally catch up and while their dough proves,
all they can do is wait.
With time ticking away the bakers just have to hope
they've let their dough prove for long enough.
OK, rise and shine, bakers, 15 minutes to go.
It's looking really good and it's feeling nice as well.
It's rised and the yeast has started to activate.
I'm just sort of concentrating a bit more because
we have only got 15 minutes left, and they take ten minutes to cook.
To get the best results, the bakers need to follow the judges' recipe
but Joe is doing it his own way.
He rolled them out not thin enough and he's put all four on one tray,
so he's going to end up with four pitta breads that are rather thick.
- They're probably going to end up like floury baps. - Yes.
The breads are doing OK, they've only been a couple of minutes.
They're getting some air bubbles round the side.
I think they're pretty good. They're making me hungry.
I hope theirs don't rise and mine do rise.
One minute left to go.
They smell good. Hopefully they taste good.
OK, I'm afraid your time's up. Please step away from your worktops.
There's no more the bakers can do.
They've faced the judges before but this time it's tougher than ever
as there are two places in the final at stake.
Mary and Paul are looking for perfectly risen
golden pitta breads with a light and airy pocket.
I think you've all done exceptionally well.
We chose pitta bread because it's a semi-final
and it's quite tricky to do. The dough has to be kneaded properly,
to create a good finished product. We'll start here with Joe.
Joe was super confident with his bread making skills
but will the judges be impressed with his results?
You put them all on one tray.
In your recipe it clearly says, put it on two trays.
The reason we put them on two trays is because they have to be bigger.
Let's have a quick look. It looks more like a floury roll
than a pitta bread.
You see inside it's more bread-like than it is pitta-like.
Now it smells good.
- To me it's more like a crisp bap. - Yes.
Tastes delicious though, lovely.
Good effort, Joe.
Has Cameron's first ever attempt at pitta bread
got what the judges are looking for?
- You've managed to get... - A lovely pocket.
That's where the pork could go or chicken or anything.
- You've got a nice sandwich. - They're a nice even size.
It's a good bake.
You've managed to create something tasty.
It'll pass as a pitta bread. It's pretty good.
Kieran was out of his comfort zone on this challenge
but has he risen to the occasion?
Those look good. An even size.
Yes, you've got a bit of a rise from them as well.
Let's look for this envelope.
- There she is. - It's all in the taste.
You've got a lovely flavour, a lovely look,
and you've got a great bake.
Saffron raced ahead of everyone else
but will the judges rate her bread any higher?
You managed to mix it and knead it in five minutes. I couldn't do that!
But the structure inside is quite irregular.
You get little bits of pockets, then it's quite tight.
It's not even enough because the kneading wasn't done properly.
The taste is fine.
Thank you very much, judges.
OK, guys. That's your first challenge complete.
You've got one more to face. Good luck.
I think I'm going to give it more welly in the second one
cos I would really, really, really like to get through to the finals.
I'm in a stronger position than some of the other people
who didn't get as good comments.
If I do well in the tart challenge and don't screw up massively,
then I'll get through.
I think my chances of going to the final four are looking quite good
because I got good comments,
but everyone else's pitta breads were really good, especially Cameron.
I think the other bakers did better than me in this round
but next round I'm definitely going to up my game
and I know my next bake is going to wow the judges.
The semi-finalists are about to face the ultimate test
of their baking ability, pastry making.
They will be expected to tackle this trickiest of techniques like pros.
It's one challenge that really will push them to their baking limits.
Bakers, this is the Invention Challenge - the last test
that stands between you and a place in the finals.
We want to test your pastry skills.
You have to make a savoury tart inspired by today's theme of sport.
And Mary and Paul are going to be very tough on their judging.
They are looking for fantastic ideas,
really brilliant presentation
and it's got to taste out of this world.
This is your last chance to impress the judges before they decide
who goes through to the finals.
Good luck. On your marks...
Get set...
Bake.
The semi-finalists have just an hour and a half to bake their tarts.
It's their most difficult bake so far
and a real test of their baking skills.
To go through to the finals today would mean everything to me,
but to win, would actually mean my whole life.
The bakers have to make their own pastry from scratch
and after getting a bit lost with the recipe in the first challenge,
Joe is more at home with the well-practised savoury tarts.
- Hello, mate. How's it going? - Really well.
I'm making spinach and gruyere tarts.
Oh, lovely. How do you fancy your chances?
I think I have a pretty good chance of getting through.
But I don't know. It's all up to the judges.
Yes. And have you tested this out before at home?
- Oh, yes. - Tried and tested.
- And how did it taste? - It tasted delicious.
Well, good luck and don't forget to read that method, OK?
- Yep. - Nice one, mate. See you in a bit. - OK.
As well as perfecting their pastry,
the semi-finalists must also cook up a unique
and delicious filling, good enough to win them a place in the final.
Kieran has come up with a clever twist
on the sporty theme for his tarts.
Keiran, how are your tarts going?
I'm making club tarts,
because they have the same ingredients as a club sandwich.
Club for football clubs,
and I didn't want to do a specific club in case I offended anyone.
You could have done Liverpool and I wouldn't have been offended at all!
What's your main ingredients?
Mainly tomato, bacon and chicken.
I call it "with a kick" as well,
because it's got some cayenne pepper.
Can't wait to try these later.
- Thank you. - Thanks very much.
Kieran isn't the only baker taking his inspiration from football clubs.
Cameron is making a tart named after Stoke City, AKA the Potters.
It's a Staffordshire classic.
- So, Cameron, what are you making? - It's Potters' tarts.
It's based on the traditional Staffordshire oatcakes.
There's a lot of sporting clubs in Staffordshire.
- There's Stoke City FC... - I know Stoke, yeah.
I'm filling it with bacon, leek and cream.
That's what they traditionally have on them.
The judges felt Saffron rushed her pittas in the technical challenge,
so she needs to pull out all the stops to impress them
with her savoury tarts.
What sort of tart are you making?
- Smoked haddock and roast quail's egg. - Nice.
How is this relating to sport?
Because haddock gives you protein, and so does the eggs,
and the pastry gives you carbohydrates, or energy.
- Yes. - Eggs and smoked haddock go really well together.
Good luck, Saffron.
Saffron and Cameron are both pre-baking their bases
without the filling
to make sure they're properly cooked and don't soggy at the bottom.
They feel this blind baking will give them the edge,
but Kieran has other ideas.
I'm not blind baking.
Always when I've blind baked, it's never gone as well.
Keiran's got a great idea - the whole theme is club sandwich.
But of course, if you want to have a good tart, you MUST blind bake it.
That's it.
With the bakers at the halfway stage,
the pressure is starting to get more intense
and it seems to be having an effect on Joe's memory.
- Hey, Joe. - I'm lost!
You're lost?
- What's going on? - I've forgotten how to make the sauce, the filling.
Forgotten how to make the sauce. What did it say on the instructions?
Um...
- Have you been following that? - That's for the pastry.
Where's your other recipe? You haven't got one.
You're doing this without any method?
Straight off the top of your head - that's a bold move, Joe.
- In the semifinals! - I know what to do. - You just told me your were lost!
Joe seems happy enough to work without a recipe,
but over in Cameron's corner there's a big problem to be dealt with.
My pastry's not cooking.
Cameron's pastries aren't blind baking properly,
but he needs to get them filled and back in the oven, sharpish.
My pastry's really oily and wet,
and I want it to crisp up and crumble a bit more.
I'll be so annoyed if I have to make more pastry.
Does he start again or work with what he's got?
Cameron needs to make a decision, and fast.
I'm just going to have to go with it. OK.
OK, guys, we've got 30 minutes left to go.
With time against them,
the bakers need to quickly get their tart cases filled and into the oven.
I'm happy with it so far. It's going quite well.
They look lovely there. The tarts look good, the pastry looks nice.
So hopefully, I'm a winner!
But whilst the other semifinalists' tarts are baking away,
speedy Saffron, amazingly, has fallen behind.
She still hasn't filled her pastry cases.
She's been very ambitions. She's chosen different ingredients.
It should work really well. She's got to catch up on the baking.
- Let's hope they're done. - That's my concern - time.
And for Saffron, things are about to go from bad to worse.
SAFFRON SIGHS DEEPLY
Don't worry. You've got loads more.
We only need to taste one of these lovely babies.
With no time to start again, Saffron tries to salvage what she can.
Spillage on Aisle 3... Spillage on Aisle 3, please.
Can we get a mop and bucket on Aisle 3? Saffron.
Saffron's not giving up that easily.
She quickly fills her rescued tarts and gets them in oven.
OK, guys, you've got five minutes left.
Cameron, Kieran and Joe are putting together their final touches
on their sporty presentations.
Got my players, and the tarts are going to be their heads.
And I've got on here..."Bake Off United". That's the football team.
But all Saffron can do is wait and hope.
OK, guys, your is time up
and the baking is over. Please step away from your worktops.
Three of the semi-finalists have finished their baking on time...
but Saffron's tarts are still in the oven.
Right, how are they doing?
They're doing pretty well - they just need a couple more minutes.
- They have to come out! - Yes.
It's time to face the judges.
Each semi-finalist's savoury tarts will be judged on taste,
presentation and creativity,
before the important decision is made
on which bakers deserve those two places in the final.
Joe, you're up first.
Joe made his tart filling without the aid of a recipe,
but he's hoping his spinach and gruyere tarts
will still score with the judges.
A couple of them look quite pale - did you only put cream in that one?
Yes, I only put cream in them. I was experimenting.
I wanted to see what they turned out as.
Bit of a dangerous time to experiment, wouldn't you say?
It actually tastes really good. The pastry's a bit thick, though.
There's a little layer that's uncooked slightly,
because it's so thick.
- But the flavour's coming through. They're very tasty. - Very tasty.
The onion could have done with a little bit longer cooking.
Thank you very much indeed. Well done.
Up next is Cameron, who was unhappy with his pastry bases.
But will his oatmeal tarts,
filled with Staffordshire smoked ham, cheese and leeks
win the judges over?
- I like the idea of everything from Staffordshire. - Mmm.
The pastry is a little bit underdone,
and rather overworked, I would say.
The shell is a little bit too tough.
Oatmeal I can just get in the pastry,
it's giving it a little bit of crunch.
A nicely flavoured filling.
Next is Kieran, who took a huge risk and didn't blind bake
his club tarts with a kick.
He filled the tarts with chicken, bacon, tomato and cheese,
and flavoured them with spicy cayenne pepper.
When you look at them, I immediately want to taste them.
They look this gorgeous golden brown colour.
They look so tempting, I can't keep my hands off!
Visually, the pastry looks fantastic. The shape is bang-on.
The colour on the pastry,
and the bake you've got on the pastry, is very good as well.
- You blind baked these, didn't you? - No. - You didn't?!
The cayenne is coming through. Any more...
They're very hot, but not too hot for me.
You may have gone slightly overboard with it, but only slightly.
- Absolutely delicious. - Fantastic.
Last to face the judges is Saffron.
She nearly lost the pastry shells
for her smoked haddock and quail egg tarts
and then struggled with timing issues,
but has she done enough to impress the judges?
You had a tough time,
but you were very ambitious and you did an awful lot.
It's good pastry. You baked it blind.
It's not QUITE done,
but it's very good pastry - it's the evenness of it.
It needed just a little bit longer.
The filling is absolutely delicious, and very unusual.
The bases on some of the ones I've seen are quite raw.
The pastry is quite flaky, though.
You were very, very ambitious with the idea of doing this.
- Filling is very good. - Your skill and craft is good, and your flavours.
- Thank you very much, Saffron. - Thank you.
Well, good effort. Thanks a lot, guys. You've done all you can.
It's now in the hands of Paul and Mary,
for them to make the decision on which two go through to the final.
But what exactly are the judges thinking?
So let's start off with young Joe.
The fillings were fine and flavoursome,
but he experimented with putting cream in one,
because he felt like it, and they didn't set.
The pastry was just a little thick,
and the onion wasn't quite done.
And his pittas this morning were, unfortunately, not very good.
He turned them into baps and rolls rather than pitta bread,
as he never rolled it thin enough. Unfortunately, they were too fat.
My tartlets...
the judges said they were a bit raw and they were a bit uncooked,
so I'm still happy, but I think I'll take that in
and try and fix that next time.
Moving on to Cameron...maybe not as much of a theme as everyone else.
Sadly, the pastry was rather undercooked.
The result was just a little bit soggy.
His pittas were fantastic. I would have put him straight up there.
He was very, very good at doing them.
But his tarts have let him down a little bit.
The base was a slight bit undercooked.
But I think I've still got a 50/50 chance of getting into the final.
- Let's move on to Keiran. - Look at the colour! You want to eat those.
They have got the colour that makes you think "savoury pie".
Cayenne pepper may be a little bit much for me.
The reason he got good colour on his pastry rather than anybody else
was because he put finely grated cheese IN the pastry,
which always gives it a lovely colour.
His pittas were very good. He came out with a great product.
There was a bit too much of a kick in my tarts.
I said there was meant to be a kick,
but Paul said there was a bit too much of a kick.
- Moving on to Saffron... - Her flavours!
She did something unusual, something that she in the family likes.
Haddock and egg goes very well. She had dill in her pastry.
The pastry was correctly made - just needed a bit longer cooking.
The idea was good. She's lined them to the top, excellent filling.
Her pittas, she didn't knead very well.
However, her ingenuity, her skill and her flair are good.
Despite the bad comments,
I think I've done enough to get through to the final.
It's decision time.
All the bakers' hard work has brought them to this point.
Two will go through to the Bake Off final.
For the other two, it's home time.
Paul and Mary have made their decision.
The first person going through to the finals is...
Keiran.
Wow! Thank you.
The second person going through
to the finals of Junior Bake Off is...
Saffron.
I'm really, really proud of myself. It's just a really amazing feeling.
Well done, Joe.
There's not enough "amazings" in the world to describe how amazing it is!
The two bakers that have gone through,
I feel they certainly earned their place.
With Saffron and Kieran setting the benchmark,
the next people that come through
and want to get to the final have to reach that benchmark.
Next time, four more semi-finalists
have their skills stretched to the max...
I've got to push now, to hurry up and get it...
..as they bake their hearts out...
Looking pretty good!
..to try and snatch those last two places...
I haven't got long to let them cool.
..in the Junior Bake Off final.
It's going to be epic.
Phew! Disaster averted.
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
Email subtitling@bbc.co.uk