"Pastry Week" Seeks Perfect Brests on Season 15 of 'The Great British Baking Show'

It's Pastry Week in the tent as The Great British Baking Show returns on a rainy day, with the bakers bundled up against the chill. This is notably the second time in a row the series has put Pastry Week smack dab in the middle of the season. One might chalk that up to an accident of decision-making, but Chocolate Week and Caramel Week are basically the same beasts, and they both were Week 4, and now Week 5 is Pastries again. We won't be able to say with certainty until at least next year that this is a sign that, having removed National Theme Weeks, the show is trying to set the schedule so that it's the same order of challenges every time. However, twice in a row does feel a touch deliberate, and it's a pattern we will be keeping an eye on.

Pastry Week is easier than some themes, but only because it encompasses such a wide swath of sweet and savory bakes. It's really up to the judges how difficult the week turns out to be. More than once, the decision has been to make "Pastry Week" a euphemism for "Pie Week" or "Tart Week," and that's not just Channel 4; it happened multiple times during the BBC years as well, especially because those were the seasons that did have actual Pie Week and Tart Week, only to see them turn out dreadfully.

While this week will have tarts, it will thankfully be the only tart or pie-based challenge. That means Season 15 is setting its Pastry Week on the more complex end of the baking spectrum, but as viewers, we get to see the contestants make something new.