#3008 Great British Baking Show Part One: Bread in the Face

0:00Ronnie Karam: Most of us are one good deal away from finally replacing that worn out rug, fixing up the backyard, or getting the bedroom we actually want.

0:07Ben Mandelker: Good news!

0:08Ronnie Karam: That deal's almost here. Wayfair's Black Friday in July sale. Get up to 80 % off area rugs and up to 60 % off outdoor and bedroom furniture. Shop Wayfair's huge selection of styles and find the piece to fit your style, budget, and space. Plus, free shipping. Black Friday in July ends July 27th. Shop today at Wayfair.com.

0:28Ben Mandelker: Wayfair, every style, every home. This message is brought to you by Cologuard. If you recorded songs off the radio for a mixtape, it might be time to screen for colon cancer. The Cologuard test is non-invasive, requires no special prep or time off, and you start screening right from your home. It's just three simple steps. Set up, sample, and ship. If you're 45 or older and at average risk, ask your doctor about the Cologuard test. Available by prescription only. Learn more or request a prescription at Cologuard.com slash podcast.

1:23Ben Mandelker: well hello and welcome to watch what crap ends a podcast about all that crap on bravo we'd love to talk about. I'm Ben Mandelker. Joining me today is the one and only Ronnie Karam. Hi, Ronnie. How are you? Good. What's going on with you, baby? Not much. I'm very excited because today we are going to recap some Great British Bake Off. We're in the Bravo drought, so we're just sampling different shows to recap and have fun with. We're just sort of having fun with this moment. And we decided to revisit Great British Bake Off, which we've recapped in the past. We're just diving right in on Bread Week.

1:58Ben Mandelker: We actually already started this episode. We started it and we did a deep dive into the cast. We're like, let's talk about the cast before we start recapping. And that was so long, it became its own episode. And we decided to make that our bony this week on Patreon. So if you want to hear a deep dive about this cast, that's there at Patreon.com slash Watcher Crappens. But this is the episode of the recap. This is where we're going to dive into it. Now, before we get into that, a shout out that I made on the bony and I'll make out again here because it's on the bony. Our friend Ira Madison, his apartment burned down.

2:39Ben Mandelker: He is a fellow podcaster. He was the, he just left keep it, but that was his podcast for a while. He's been on this show several times. We know him both in the podcast world. We know him outside. we love this guy and um he lost everything he lost every single thing so um yeah it's absolutely it's it's terrible he has a gofundme it's on his instagram at ira the third just look up ira madison ira madison the third and go help him out if if that's something that you're able to do or want to do but um our hearts go out to him we want to see him back on his feet that way he can write cutting, cutting commentary about pop culture like he does all the time.

3:21Ben Mandelker: He's an immensely talented guy. Go help him out. So I love you, buddy.

3:25Ronnie Karam: Love you, Ira. Okay. Over there. It's a good guy over there. So yeah, help if you can, for sure. Help him out, help him out if you can.

3:32Ben Mandelker: But with that being said, let's dive into, we're just going, starting right into the latest episode of Great British Baking Show, which is the bread week. So we kind of touched on cake week and Biscuit Week in our cast preview. So again, go check that out at patreon.com slash watch what grappins. But we're going to right now, it's time to talk about bread. And one thing I have to say right away, something I am going to reiterate that we talked about on the bony is I love Allison. She's our new host that came on last season with Noel replacing Matt, who did not work for me. I'm also enjoying that they had a really big, silly Jurassic Park skit at the beginning of the season, which I was rolling my eyes at, but somehow by the end of it, I was chuckling.

4:16Ben Mandelker: I'm really glad that we are not getting really skits subsequently. Like I was happy with the big skit at the beginning and I don't need a skit at the top of every episode. So I'm glad we're just diving in. Unlike this show where we don't dive in, where we just talk and talk and talk and promise a recap. But I have to say, I'm liking that we're just getting into the episode properly.

4:38Ronnie Karam: Yeah, you know, I kind of miss the skits, honestly. I like the Jurassic Park one. Did everybody just have a tie-in with Jurassic Park? By the way, I saw Jurassic Park because I was tricked by all the advertising. It sucked. Jurassic Park sucks now. Why do they keep making terrible Jurassic Parks? It was actually more entertaining on baking shows than it was in the real Jurassic Park. I mean, what the hell? What is that show? What is that movie? How are they still making those? Make them better.

5:03Ben Mandelker: When they did their Jurassic Park thing and when Noel was like, he said something to the fact of, I'm going to save us all, and then he tapped Allison's nose. I literally cracked. And she was cracking up too.

5:18Ronnie Karam: Oh, it was so good. Yeah, you see, that's why I like them. I think they're good. Okay, where are my notes? I had them. We're going to dive. This is going to be a... I'll start. I'll start. This is a lot. This is a very dense show. A lot happens. This might be a 10-part recap. It might be 30 minutes. Who knows? But a lot happens on this show, and we have to talk about every little carb. Every little carb. Ultimately, they say recap what you love, and I love carbs more than anything, especially bread. I mean, what a way to jump into this. I fucking love you, bread. Oh, my God. I'm obsessed with you, bread.

5:55Ronnie Karam: I'm obsessed. Even the worst bread is good bread. I will eat moldy bread. I will pull the mold off the bread. It's a vegetable.

6:00Ben Mandelker: I'll eat it. It's living. It's organic. I texted Ronnie in the middle of the night and I was like, I need monkey bread. So now it's like, this time it's bread week. The bakers face a savory signature. Get down with donuts in the technical and tackle a sweet bread showstopper who will have reason to celebrate, who will end up feeling flat and who will actually look at themselves in the mirror the next day and say, it's time for me to go on a high protein diet. Yeah. It's a great British bake-off.

6:28Ronnie Karam: We see everybody coming back to the tent and Poiman, who I think we both love, but has made a few mistakes. She was shocked that she made it through to week three. I think she was right to be. She's made a few big mistakes. And she did an incredible showstopper last week. And so that saved her. So she's back, baby. Like Poiman's really good because she fails, but then she does really great things. And they're like, we can't kick off Poiman. She's amazing. And plus she makes wedding dresses.

6:58Ben Mandelker: Yeah. And then there's Ian. Ian's very excited. He's like, yeah, I'm feeling good about week three. I think my bread is my strength. If I do well in any week, it'll be this week. This will be the week where I'll do well. I'm like, oh, congratulations. You just cursed yourself. If there's any time you know you're going to fail, it's going to be the week where you're supposed to be doing the thing that you're really good at. Like on Project Runway this season, the guy who was like amazing at streetwear, then when they had a streetwear challenge, of course he flopped and he flopped big time. Like that's just what happens.

7:26Ben Mandelker: I'm sorry. You're a very sweet, lovely, small man. but this will be your failure week.

7:32Ronnie Karam: Yeah, Toby's super excited because Paul Hollywood's gonna eat his bread, which sounds kind of sexual, but he's like, oh, I can't believe Paul Hollywood's gonna eat my bread, which is kind of creepy. Also, Paulie Hollywood, Paul Hollywood has this kind of abusive nature about him where people are so afraid of him that any little thing he does, like, oh my God, it's Paul Hollywood. He's eating, a mean person is eating my bread, not spitting it out. I have made it. Like the whole, like you got a handshake from Paul Hollywood. You know, anyone else would be like, don't fucking touch me. I've seen you licking your fingers for three hours straight, sir.

8:09Ronnie Karam: Get your hands away. Yes. But because he's kind of mean to people, they're like, oh my God, I'm never washing my hand. It was a Paul Hollywood handshake. You know, he scratches his nuts with those things.

8:22Ben Mandelker: I'm sick of like the over reverence for his handshake. Because he also gives them out like a little bit too much. I think this season he actually pulled back, but last season he was giving them out left and right. And so it doesn't mean anything to me. And I'm like, why do we act like Prue is just like some slouch? Like, oh, we don't really care. Like, it's nice what Prue has to say, but like it's the Paul Hollywood handshake that matters the most. No, I think like we should care about Prue more. I think that Prue is the one to impress more, more importantly. She's just a little nicer.

8:50Ronnie Karam: Yeah. So we go, and also Prue's nicer, but she also does not hold back. I've always wondered what it's going to taste like To have a little jam That's terrible, I wanted to die I honestly will go to bed tonight Hoping that I don't wake up after tasting this She's still cutting little things It's like, bam, man

9:13Ben Mandelker: She's so economical with her distaste She'll be like, oh, it's a bit of a fright You're like, ooh, that landed so hard

9:23Ronnie Karam: I love a nice kaji from her She's like, kaji It's too cottage. Stotty, cottage, cottage, and dodgy.

9:31Ben Mandelker: But I do love when she also praises something and she like sets a scene. She's like that, you know, take that and get some cheese and some wine. And that's what you call a good night.

9:41Ronnie Karam: I'm like, yes, I want to be there with you, Prue. Yeah, Prue lives her life. You know, she really lives it up well. She'll be like, yeah, you know, this is like after I had sex with Mick Jagger in that public restroom and I had a decent muffin on the way out. It reminds me of that. You're like, wait, what the hell did you just say? She just says everything in such a sweet little way. I know. She's like, I did a line off a hooker's ass last time I had a bagel this good. It's like, what?

10:07Ben Mandelker: You little minx. Alison is like, welcome back to the tent, bakers, for bread week. So for your first challenge, the judges would love you to bake a delicious, savory monkey bread. And Noah's like, yes, now you have to make your own monkey bread. You can't just seal some bread off the monkey and bake that. And they're all like, ha, ha, ha, ha. And then I'm at home being like, ha, ha, ha.

10:34Ronnie Karam: Or make bread out of a monkey. Which that would be terrible, wouldn't it? That would be dark. I love it. Today we'll make bread out of monkeys.

10:45Ben Mandelker: I'm surprised someone didn't do that. The judges are looking for well-flavored pull-apart loaf made with yeas-y bread dough. I love how Allison just like punches you with her syllables. Right. Yeah.

11:00Ronnie Karam: Yeah, Allison's not a quiet person. Like, I think she's one of those people on the bus who's like phone rings. Like, she never has her ringer off and say, hey, how you doing? Good, good. Yeah, I'm on public right now. I'm on public. Go ahead. Make it quick. Don't want to bother anybody. Hope I'm not bothering you, love. Hope I'm not bothering you. It's an important one. Right, right. Phone bill. That's right. Am I still using that? Do I still have the watch on the same plan as the phone? Do I? I don't notice. Does this look like it's getting calls to you? Call again. Let's see if my watch rings, love.

11:30Ronnie Karam: All right, call again. You know, she's just like constantly anywhere she is. You're like, shut up.

11:35Ben Mandelker: And her ringer is super loud. And it's always that, it's always that like American beauty theme. A dink, a dink, a dink, a dink, a dink, a dink. And she's like really loud and you get mad at her. But then she does the thing that's so nice. She'd be like, I was talking to Susie. She wasn't, she wasn't answering her phone. No, she wasn't answering her phone. I was like, what? Answering your phone? I got to get in control. Hold on, you need the seat. You need the seat. Hold on, love. One second. Take my seat. Take it. No, don't just take it. You sit right here. You sit here. I'll stand here.

12:03Ronnie Karam: Have a seat. I'm not pregnant. You're pregnant. Have a seat. Don't be ridiculous.

12:08Ben Mandelker: Your first one. No, it's not a love that for you. So then you feel shitty because she's actually being like loud, but like way more virtuous than you are. Yeah, she's totally nice. But you're just like, shut up.

12:21Ronnie Karam: So yeah, that's her. And she's like, basically, you can go out with this.

12:29Ben Mandelker: On your monkey marks. Get set. Bake. So now it's time to make monkey bread. And so they're all talking about like, you know, monkey bread and stuff like that. And Prue is talking about, she starts telling us what they're looking for. She's like, monkey bread is a round loaf of bread, which is made up of lots of little balls of dough. And the reason it's called monkey bread is everyone pulls a little piece of, like a little tiny monkey. Fun fact, when I was hanging out with Mick Jagger in the 70s, he had a pet monkey and we would throw little balls above the monkey. That was actually where Monkey in the Middle actually began, with me and Mick Jagger.

13:10Ben Mandelker: Fun fact.

13:11Ronnie Karam: And she tells Noel he's like a monkey. And he's like, I'm part monkey. one of those monkeys you see in markets in indiana jones that kind i missed that somehow when you said that i saw a video on like i don't know social the other day where monkeys were attacking each other like gangs of monkeys were attacking each other because the tourists were feeding one group of monkeys and i guess the other monkeys heard about it so they came to get some food too and they're like oh hell no you better stay the hell away from our turf and it's like and then the monkeys went at it and there was dust flying everywhere monkey bread you know it gets violent it gets violent there's gonna be riots there's gonna be riots caused by this fight

13:53Ben Mandelker: yeah i think so so then paul's now explaining he's like to impress me you're really gonna have to come up with something that's quite unique i want it to taste amazing look amazing have a real depth of flavor in your mouth it's like oh shit i was gonna make something that tasted shitty but And now that he says it has to taste amazing, I think I have to change my game plan.

14:11Ronnie Karam: I better get rid of my shallow cheese bread. I was going to make you some vanilla shallow bread. So thanks for the tip. So he's like, cheese, you know, that's going to be quite strong in this challenge. Cheese. And then we cut to Ian and his mullet. And he's got a lot of cheeses laid out. You know what he doesn't have? A hairnet. Listen, I don't want that little mullet headed man leaking all over my or shedding all over my food. Okay. You're making monkey bread. You need to get a hair nut on, sir. Okay. I'd love your mullet. Love your gravita.

14:46Ben Mandelker: You need hair. Yeah. This is monkey. This is monkey bread, but we don't have to have it look actually like a monkey. So let's get the hair out of there.

14:53Ronnie Karam: This is not mullet bread. Okay. It's like, all right.

14:58Ben Mandelker: Well, the final finish should be a celebration of color, flavor, and a lot of seeds, nothing and nothing but seeds, which is funny because later on someone has like a lot of seeds and they're like, it looks like the bottom of a birdcage. I was like, well, you just asked for a lot of seeds.

15:12Ronnie Karam: You literally just begged for seeds, you know? He's like, but it needs to look beautiful. And above all, it's down to the bake and the proving. Proving. Today he's all about proving. Oh my God, he doesn't shut up about proving today. Like he's out to prove something about proving today. Everything he says is like, it's all about the proving today. These aren't proved very well. I can tell you failed on the proving with this one. oh handshake not a handshake not a handshake it was a wave away it was a bad prover wave away get away from me you disgusting non-proving loser

15:44Ben Mandelker: I would shake a hand but it doesn't look like a hand has proved enough so he's talking about proving is the one thing that makes or breaks this particular challenge I'm like it makes that's what you it's every season of the bread week it's always proving he's like get that wrong in any way or you under-prove or under-bake it's going to be a problem it's like okay relax

16:02Ronnie Karam: and listen you don't want to under-prove All right. We call that man Rod Stewart. All right. I get to it. That was a good one. Oh, God, that's a good memory. Unfortunately, we didn't have phone cameras back then. All right, Prue, keep it in your pants.

16:20Ben Mandelker: Well, I said to Rod, I said, if you think I'm sexy and you want my body, come on, baby, let me go. And then he just turned that into a song. And that was me.

16:30Ronnie Karam: so now um they the judges and hosts go over to check you know it's like they're checking on progress things so they go over to ian mullet first and tell us about your monkey bread bra and he's like mine is going to be modeled after an irish cheese board because you said cheese right so i've got three lovely irish cheeses and seeds do you want seeds i got cheese i got seeds i got seeds too who do seeds you can do anything you want just don't ask me to put on a hairnet I won't do it.

16:58Ben Mandelker: All right, very nice. Well, this is sort of your week, right? This is the bread. Bread's your thing, right? I'm not trying to get into your head or make you fail, fail at the thing that you do so well, but you are going to nail this one. You're the one to beat. You're going to make the best bread all week long. You're going to make a great bread for this challenge and then also for the technical and also for the showstopper, right? Right, little mullet man?

17:20Ronnie Karam: And he's like, yeah, my girlfriend actually told me to practice it more because she wanted to eat it more. She really focused on me eating her bread. Paul's like, oh, because she was hungry. Which I didn't really get, but Bale laughed. So then we see the bread he's making. One of my favorite things about this show is the carb artwork. I mean, it's always stunning. They have these beautiful drawing, painting, drawing. I don't know what you call them. Drawings? Paintings? Drawings, I think. Sketches? Drawings? They're painted as well. So I don't know what you would call that mix, but they're so gorgeous.

17:58Ronnie Karam: And a listener who is so amazing made Ben and I, when we recapped these back in the day, made us, one of their showstopper challenges was making the head. What was it called? It was like the head challenge or something. You had to make the head. Oh, God, that was a disaster. Yeah, you had to make the head. It was like a bust. Like somebody that you liked or whatever, a bust. Kick bust. And so she drew us our own Great British Bake Off art of our heads as cakes, which were so amazing. It's in my studio in Texas. So next time I'm going to look for it, it's always in the background. I love it. I could try to rotate.

18:36Ben Mandelker: Should I try to rotate so you can see it? No, you're not going to be able to see it. I'm sorry, everyone. But it's right over my shoulder.

18:43Ronnie Karam: It's so cool. So, yeah, anytime I see these, I'm just like, wow. And this one is no exception. They're all so fucking good. So this is Ian's Irish Cheeseboard Monkey Bread. It's going to have apples in there, crepes it looks like, twirly french fries. Like berries. Roasted pear. I don't know. The apple and the pear I could do without, I think.

19:05Ben Mandelker: But that's just - So then Allison starts asking any questions about it. She's like, so when did you meet this girl, Dan? I love talking love. He's like, oh, first week of Freshers in uni. She's like, first week. Yeah, first week in the wee bar. and we were both sitting down and we were both like, do you want to get a drink? And we were both like, sweet, let's get a drink. And then I stood up and I finished here. And then she stood up and she kept on going. She finished all the way up there. She was like, oh, so she towers over you. She's like, yeah. And how, does she mind having a little man? Which is so funny.

19:37Ben Mandelker: Does she mind having a wee little man that she could put in the pocket? I'm a short king. I'm a short king.

19:42Ronnie Karam: It's like, I love a short king doll. Love a short king. So now we go. It's like,

19:47Ben Mandelker: I'm a short king. You're so cute I'm a short king Look at me with my little mullet A short mullet king

19:53Ronnie Karam: Yeah, because she's a big tall woman too You know, this Allison So she's like, how's that working out, Flora? All right, might take a page out of her book, eh, love? Yeah, short king All right, give me a ride then He's like, okay, back away Back away from my table So they go up to Aaron now Which one is Aaron? He's the one who is

20:16Ben Mandelker: Sweatergate? He's the one, Trembly Yeah, he's the one, he's the king of hobbies. You know, he's the one learning French.

20:23Ronnie Karam: Yeah. Yeah, so he's always about to cry, this guy. He's like, I don't know if I'm good enough. I don't know if I'm good enough to be here. And then he makes something amazing. And then he cries. And he's like, oh, I made something amazing. Oh my God.

20:36Ben Mandelker: He's making a bread that has yeast extract, which was funny. They're not allowed to say Marmite, I guess, because that's what it was. And that's obviously what the bottle was, but they had to like put a blank label on it. And then Allison is like, well, while Aaron is pinning his hopes on a love it or hated ingredient whose brand name we cannot mention, but we hope that you understand what it is. Jessica is taking her inspiration from her favorite alfresco flavors.

21:02Ronnie Karam: It's time for a commercial. It's time for a Crappens commercial.

21:10Ben Mandelker: Your space should feel like you. And if it doesn't, that's probably not a taste problem. It's a budget problem. And Wayfair really can fix that. What did your space look like before Wayfair, Ronnie? What were you most excited to change or refresh about your current space? Because I'll tell you one thing. This office that I record out of, it was just a generic office, four walls and a little green carpet. And then I went to Wayfair and I got two comfy chairs. And I put them right behind this desk with some microphones. And boom, I now have a recording studio. And I'm so excited to use it.

21:41Ronnie Karam: Oh, yeah. I mean, I got my rug in my office from Wayfair. I got my curtains from Wayfair. I got a couple of chairs. I got all my outdoor furniture from Wayfair. I love that place because it's also great to order things and have it put together. You know, you can have you have the option with Wayfair that they just come. They deliver it. They put it together in the room that you want. And boom, you're done. You're not messing around with the little, you know, tools and all of that stuff. So it's my jam, baby.

22:08Ben Mandelker: Are you ready to upgrade your home for way less? Head to Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home and get your space ready for less. That's W-A-Y-F-A-I-R.com. Wayfair, every style, every home. This message is brought to you by Cologuard. If you recorded songs off the radio for a mixtape, it might be time to screen for colon cancer. The Cologuard test is non-invasive, requires no special prep or time off, and you start screening right from your home. It's just three simple steps. Set up, sample, and ship. If you're 45 or older and at average risk, ask your doctor about the Cologuard test. Available by prescription only.

22:48Ben Mandelker: Learn more or request a prescription at Cologuard.com slash podcast.

22:56Ronnie Karam: Okay, so Jessica's picnic season monkey bread. This one is intense. Walnuts and blue cheese. You know, you're never going to go wrong with that for me, okay? walnuts, creamy blue cheese and succulent figs so that sounds damn good and Jessica is, let's see, what do they say he says you've got a lot of liquid in yours and she just stares at him like is that bad? and Alison's like don't let him suck you out love that's what he tries to do you put as much liquid in your bread as you want to Paul Hollywood, liquid hater come on

23:32Ben Mandelker: love what are you doing there why are you waving your hips She's like, sorry, sometimes I just step into my Oliver Close-Off alter ego. Apologies, I'll get back to Jessica.

23:42Ronnie Karam: My drag queen alter ego, Oliver Close-Off. Now we go to Nadia, whose thing is like dancing in the kitchen. So she's dancing. She's like, I dance. And she's kneading her bread. Then we see Leslie kneading the bread. And she's building up gluten strands. And that's the kind of building we need in this country. You know what? I think so much could be healed with just more building of gluten strands. and communes. Yeah.

24:08Ben Mandelker: Yeah. So now Prue goes over to Jasmine and Jasmine is going to be doing like an olive and rosemary one, but then also and basil, which sounds fantastic. And Nora's like, Jasmine's spicy sausage and bathing fillet will be rolled into swirls and packed with dough balls filled with kalamata olives and rosemary. Then afterwards, she's going to go jogging with the friends again because that's apparently all she ever does.

24:35Ronnie Karam: and paul's like have you ever tried olive and coriander she's like no should i he's like well yeah it's very superior greek so yeah okay well thanks for dropping that paul okay thanks can you just appreciate everything she's putting into this bread it's a lot going on here okay we don't need you like walking around telling everybody already how they failed he's like you've got too much liquid you don't have enough coriander you didn't even think of coriander. Like, for Christ's sake, man, let them make their bread.

25:03Ben Mandelker: We don't need your whataboutism. If she says she's making olive and rosemary, you don't have to come in and say, what about olive and coriander? If she wants to do olive and coriander, she'll do olive and coriander.

25:15Ronnie Karam: This isn't Gwyneth Paltrow and sliding doors. We're like, have you ever thought, what if I chose a different path? Yes, and you know what? They're both fucking Gwyneth at the end of the day, so just shut up and eat your slice of Gwyneth.

25:26Ben Mandelker: He was just bragging. He's just bragging that he knows what Cypriot bread tastes like. He's like, oh, I know what Cypriot Greek bread tastes like. Well, congratulations. This is olive and rosemary. Okay. It's going to be delicious. Get over it.

25:39Ronnie Karam: While Jasmine is sticking to tried and tested Mediterranean, Poiman is going for a more exotic ingredient. She's over there cooking with fucking wedding dress scraps. She's like, this one was a real pretzella.

25:55Ben Mandelker: So she's got morning glory. and Al's like, what's morning, Laura? And Poiman says it's a Chinese vegetable and Poiman says, well, it's a bit limp. And then they all start giggling. He's like, what? And Pooh's like, stop that. Stop that. It's funny, a bit limp is what I told Rod Stewart after he tried to do me after he sang Maggie Mae once. It's not a good story, but it's relevant to the moment.

26:23Ronnie Karam: She is making Festival Basin monkey bread with coriander, red red beans is that what she said yeah red beans ginger curd pesto so this one sounds crazy and it has like big flowery things coming off of the top which is yeah so she's got a lot of different good

26:40Ben Mandelker: it looks really cool but she's got a lot of she's got a lot of ball aspirations because again they all have to make these balls that they're going to be putting into a bunt pan which i also want to do this because i bought like three different bunt pans i was like these are all so cool i'm just gonna make lots of fun bun cakes and it'll just be so fun and that'll be like my thing and then i like never make bun cakes i have these bun pans so i think i'm gonna make a monkey bread in my cool bun pans just so you know just letting everyone know i would love to make a monkey bread

27:08Ronnie Karam: it looks hard though it looks really really hard i don't know if this is the thing i should start on i've never pardon me guys so disgusting i'm so sorry no i'm just laughing because you you like

27:20Ben Mandelker: you had like a gasp. You're like, I've never, it seemed like normally I would mute or something,

27:26Ronnie Karam: but that one just came on. So it was a fast one. Yeah. I didn't see that coming on, but yeah, I'm not really, I haven't proven myself. No pun intended in the bread genre. And I don't, I just, I don't know. I don't know that I have the confidence to make it, but after seeing all of these, I just want bread filled with shit. You know? Yeah. I make sure it's all cooked evenly and stuff. Like how is it not all do the inside?

27:50Ben Mandelker: Just cook it, man. I don't know, but I have to say, well, that's why you're doing it in a Bundt pan, maybe, because the Bundt pan will, you know, there's a lot of surface area for the heat to come into. But I looked up some monkey bread recipes last night. A lot of them are actually like a cinnamon roll type. Like, I wonder if that's like a classic monkey bread, maybe almost like a cinnamon bun.

28:11Ronnie Karam: I want to do like cheesy and garlicky. I want caramelized onion. Like a cheesy garlic nut type thing.

28:18Ben Mandelker: I want like a caramelized onion, garlicky thing with like lots of like everything bagel seasoning. That's what I would love. Just like, don't you love like a caramelized onion, like a focaccia with caramelized onions sort of in it or on it?

28:32Ronnie Karam: I love caramelized onions with anything.

28:35Ben Mandelker: Yes. Like starving right now. I'm getting there. Let me just calm myself down now from this monkey bread talk. Okay. So she is going to be making this with like morning glory and everything and paul's like well it sounds off paul because she's like oh do you like milk bread

28:53Ronnie Karam: i hope you like it too because it's not in your recipe book and why not paul and he's like um it is actually and she's like oh sorry

29:05Ronnie Karam: because you know yeah i don't know where she got that little factoid some pa probably set her up with that like oh god paul doesn't even have a milk bread in his thing she's like i'm gonna repeat

29:15Ben Mandelker: that get paul and it felt whatever it's a lie i almost want to look up his his cookbook and see if he has milk bread in there because part of me feels let's look it up i'm gonna look right now i've got a service hollywood milk bread i'm looking up i have a thing called eat your books

29:31Ronnie Karam: milk loaf from how to bake by paul hollywood yep it's in there well you know what stop yelling stop yelling and on reddit he there's something called bread it which i like i would subscribe to that. I'm going to subscribe to that. Paul Hollywood's milk loaf bread. Let's see what people say about it. It doesn't look that impressive, but I think it's because it's a homemade thing. It's soft and dense, but there's no moisture in it. Maybe more like a brioche. It was really good. His recipes are great. That's what they said. Milk loaf. Wow.

30:00Ben Mandelker: Is it like a milk? Is this bread? Someone says this bread is a revelation. Is this like a milk bread the way like an Asian milk bread or is it just a bread that's like made with milk? And is there a difference that's what i don't know because the recipe is not actually in here you want me to look

30:15Ronnie Karam: at it because there's country skill blog country skills for modern life says this bread i have to tell you is a revelation a genuine flavor of my continental childhood the first taste was one of those madeline moments where time peels away and you're no more than five or six years old again standing in your childhood kitchen with a slice of bread and butter in your hand or like this morning in my house i mean what the hell you know it's one of those recipe blogs where they're like oh my god i died this takes me back to the time where i was five or six and i first saw daddy come home with a bowling ball it's like what does this have to do tell me

30:49Ben Mandelker: how to make the bread well i just don't know if like if his is just a bread with milk versus milk bread which is like a japanese type of bread and that's what i don't know okay flour butter

31:08Ronnie Karam: sugar, skim milk, instant yeast, salt, olive oil, and extra milk. You know what? For a milk wash before baking. It's bread with some milk in it. That's it. Well, but it doesn't look soft like the one you're talking about.

31:24Ben Mandelker: I don't know if it's, I think this is just a bread that has milk in it. Yeah.

31:30Ronnie Karam: I just want to say, I'm getting angry.

31:33Ben Mandelker: I'm getting angry now. I'm getting angry because he made Poi Man feel bad. And I'm like, is his a Japanese milk bread

31:42Ronnie Karam: or is it just a bread that's milky? Okay, well, now I'm going to look up Japanese milk bread. Japanese milk bread. Let's see if it looks the same.

31:50Ben Mandelker: Japanese milk bread has a whole look. Oh, that's not the same thing.

31:53Ronnie Karam: No, that's very soft. It's kind of got like a brioche. Yeah, it's got like a certain Hawaiian roll or whatever, like buttery, fluffy top. Yeah, this is a different bread. That's what she meant. Paul.

32:07Ben Mandelker: That's what she meant, Paul.

32:10Ronnie Karam: You ignorant

32:12Ben Mandelker: milk breadists.

32:13Ronnie Karam: Yeah, I didn't even realize that he was being problematic there. I'm glad you brought it up.

32:17Ben Mandelker: It's actually a little bit problematic. It is. Yeah, he's like, how dare you?

32:21Ronnie Karam: He's like, I do make milk bread. It's like, no, Paul. She's talking about the real milk bread, not your dense ass country shit.

32:29Ben Mandelker: Wait, wait, wait.

32:31Ronnie Karam: Uh-oh. Wait. Oh, God, I'm glad you looked it up so I can just apologize now and not have to apologize later.

32:37Ben Mandelker: The Great British Bake Off Favorite Flavors. I'm sorry, that is a cookbook. Page 250, Japanese milk bread.

32:46Ronnie Karam: But is it by Paul? It is by Paul. It's credited to Paul and Prue. Oh, okay, because his other milk bread recipe was just regular. Okay, so you know what? I apologize, Paul. I'm the problematic one. And I can admit when I'm wrong.

32:59Ben Mandelker: To be fair, wait, but to be fair, that was in the Great British Bake Off cookbook. it was not in paul hollywood's paul hollywood has milk loaf yes you're right that was different okay you know what like you know what like okay i resent my apology it was not inherently in your tome it was more like you got credit and the great british bake-off and they probably just

33:22Ronnie Karam: slapped your name on it let's be honest this is like one of those shows where i know 90 percent not of what i speak and so i'm just going to go off and start yelling at people and then find out later that I was completely wrong about everything that I said. And you know what? I've just, it's something I've learned to accept over the years. So anyone who's hitting their steering wheel right now and calling me horrible names, you're right. Okay. Enjoy it. Enjoy it.

33:49Ben Mandelker: I have to say it's Rosh Hashanah today. And I love starting off the new year by, by taking this dance on Paul Hollywood that he was mixing up his milk reds.

33:59Ronnie Karam: Do better in the new Jewish year, Paul.

34:02Ben Mandelker: Thank you. Thank you.

34:04Ronnie Karam: All right. So now Noel is telling us, you know, the judges are expecting of flavors that pack a punch. And now we go over to Natalia, who's super into bacon, guys. She loves bacon. And she's like, bacon, it's so delicious. And she's really into it. So we see hers. She loves it. Yeah. She just loves bacon. I don't know.

34:27Ben Mandelker: I don't want bacon in my bread, but I'm, you know, I don't eat bacon. No, I'm okay with it. Then we go to Tom, who is our resident, very serious anal gay. He's our hot anal gay. And he's like, so today we're calling it a French degustation because it sounds fancy, I know. But really, it's just some very simple French flavors. Croque monsieur inside one, French onion soup inside another, steak and peppercorns in the final one. Okay, Tom, relax. This guy would be like, it's just simple flavors, just a steak and peppercorn and croque monsieur. I mean, they are kind of simple, but like that's...

35:01Ronnie Karam: This ain't French until you put freedom fries in there.

35:07Ben Mandelker: That's what I say. Until I see Gerard Jeopardy's sweat glazed on top of your monkey bread, it ain't French, okay?

35:15Ronnie Karam: But I like it because the drawing has little croissants all over it, you know? Yeah. He's like, don't forget croissants. I love croissants, even though there's nothing croissant-y about it, but he's not going to let you forget that croissants are amazing.

35:27Ben Mandelker: so is he putting french onion soup on the inside i guess he's just putting in a bunch of caramelized like probably like brandy soaked onions well from the picture it looks like he's doing caramelized

35:38Ronnie Karam: like balsamic onions or something and in as a filling and then he's got like a dip thing in

35:43Ben Mandelker: the middle that you dip it into sounds actually amazing delicious we need sounds exactly what i

35:49Ronnie Karam: want i actually have plans this afternoon and i might cancel them because i am literally i'm

35:55Ben Mandelker: I'm considering making a monkey bread. I'm not even joking. I want monkey bread.

36:00Ronnie Karam: Let's do it. All right.

36:03Ben Mandelker: Let's just pick one and let's have a monkey bread. I have a cookbook. Actually, it's a group. I'm so excited because I have a cookbook that I picked up. I had it for like a year and a half, maybe two years. I finally bought it and I still have yet to cook from it. It's called savory baking. Cause I just love the idea of that. I love savory bakes. And she has like a few different monkey breads in it. And today may be the day that I finally cook from savory baking because this is, I cannot look at these drawings of monkey bread any longer. And there's still so much more bread on this episode, but really it was about the monkey bread.

36:35Ben Mandelker: The monkey bread, you guys. I actually rarely, can I say, I rarely care about the star baking thing. It's usually some over the top thing that's like not like a realistic bread that I would have on my day to day life. But it's always, I think it's this, the signature bake. Like, that's the one that I really like because it's like I could see this being served to me and eating it, you know?

36:57Ronnie Karam: Yeah. Well, you know, let's do it today. That's going to be the rest of our day after this. Monkey bread off. Monkey bread it is, baby. So, let's see. They don't want too much moisture in there.

37:11Ben Mandelker: I love our listeners having to be subjected to our real-time descent into monkey bread madness. Well.

37:21Ronnie Karam: But that's what these shows do, right? Like Project Runway, you start sewing something. Top Chef is on, we start cooking things. And now I'm like, it's time to do some baking. I mean, some of this stuff just is too incredible. Also, I would love to be one of those people who's like a cake gay. You know, who's like, oh, there's Ronnie. Like my friend, the Beth is a really good baker. And she does, she's actually really good at bread too. I'll never forget a fucking bread, a sourdough she made. It was incredible. I just couldn't believe someone could do that at home. and she's a cake gay. Like she brings cakes to people and it's just such a beautiful, like she, it's just such a beautiful thing to do and everybody, I mean, Zabeth is also a really good person and really funny.

38:03Ronnie Karam: So people remember her for like her talent, but really it's all about the bread. Like at her, like if she passes before me, I mean, I think I'll skip everything about what a good friend she is and just go straight to the cakes because wow, you only have a limited time in a funeral. And I think I'm going to remind people You got to make it a tight five. Not even tight five, tight two. I literally just killed my friend in a recap for no reason. Sorry, Zabath, but I love your cakes. Okay, so let's go over to Nadia. The judges go over to her. Nadia's monkey bread is from Calabria, where her dad is from.

38:41Ronnie Karam: And there's sun-dried tomato and black olive. And she's foraged some wild garlic.

38:48Ben Mandelker: which is pretty cool because that means i guess that's i'm assuming this was filmed in the spring because that's when you're going to get your like green garlic and wild garlic i mean that stuff to

38:56Ronnie Karam: go through the fda first i'm not going to have your hand-picked poop grown crap but the fda in

39:04Ben Mandelker: britain is called the food and darcy administration it's like we discussed food and mr darcy should he have really gotten with her i'm not sure the fancy tonic association

39:17Ronnie Karam: so um let's see

39:21Ben Mandelker: the gay donut child um i love i love the vision for this monkey bread because it's just filled with garlic and pesto just everything and olives everything that i could ever dream of and i also love how she says she says garlic in this way she goes garlic garlic garlic she keeps yeah She does. She's like, make it some garlic. I'm like, okay, all right. We'll have some garlic in. Let's hold back on the spit.

39:46Ronnie Karam: Yeah, she has that in her accent. I like it. So Paul's like, you nicked that from a field, did you? And she goes, yeah, in Otter's Pool, right by mine. It's good. And he's like, yeah, now I know where it is. I'm going to go steal your garlic.

40:01Ben Mandelker: Just as a recap, the garlic that you're eating is from a place called Otter's Pool. So just know that's what's going in your mouth is some otter's pool garlic. Otter was swimming in this.

40:16Ronnie Karam: Another thing I really like about this show is all the prep that goes into it. Because not only do we get this artwork that somebody, I mean, there's probably a whole team that does this artwork, but they actually practice all these recipes. Like they know what they're going to have to make and they are given time at home to actually make it. It's like getting picked to go to fashion week before you even know you're going to be on Project Runway. You know, they're like, here's everybody do your thing before you go. So they've already practiced all these recipes and that's why they can be so intricate and delicious.

40:46Yeah.

40:47Ben Mandelker: I just heard a thump outside, but a good thump. The thump of something arriving at my doorstep and I'm going to have Don bring it in.

40:55Ronnie Karam: I was going to say, I hope Zabeth didn't just fall off your roof because I just killed her. I brought you a cake. Oh, no. Did someone mention my cake? so what do you think it is what was delivered to you i know what it is and i want to open it up

41:13Ben Mandelker: here on the on the thing but i'm hoping that dom can just bring it in so i don't have to step away

41:17Ronnie Karam: oh it's related to what we're talking about i'd love a packaging unopening okay so uh now let's see nadia talks about her bread the picture is gorgeous italian monkey bread pesto black olive garlic and then she said they all stink of garlic in her family and then we go over to Toby who's and by the way

41:40Ben Mandelker: and I don't doubt it because the amount of wild garlic she poured on this thing was it was so aggressive that I thought for sure Paul was going to have a fit later on you know because he's got delicate taste for as well

41:52Ronnie Karam: I'm a garlic man Lebanese people we love that shit too I mean it's in everything you had dinner at my house the other day did you wake up garlic infested Did you smell yourself? No, I was fine. Really?

42:04Ben Mandelker: Well, because I'm a garlic being myself. I'm a garlic monster. I feel bad for people who are around me. It probably comes out of my pores. But you know what? Sorry. Sorry.

42:16Ronnie Karam: I'm a garlic brat. Toby. Toby is making a pesto for his. And a couple of people are making pestos today. Love a pesto. and he is trying i don't know he's kind of boring his pesto we already know sucks because

42:33Ben Mandelker: because we just saw nadia pour an entire foraged fields worth of wild garlic onto hers and his is like he put like a few like two cloves of garlic into a food processor i'm like you know you're not gonna you're not gonna hold she's a real italian first of all and you're not your pesto is just not gonna is not gonna match up i'm sorry it just won't yeah well also his pick in his

42:54Ronnie Karam: picture his bunt is very ridged he's using like a very ridged thing and it's very i don't know straight and narrow when all the other ones look like big balls full of stuff his just his doesn't really look like that i need big balls full of things toby his this is a deep cut a specific cut

43:13Ben Mandelker: but his bunt pan looks like the haircut of that lady diane who was on british traders Remember her who had the sun? Yes. So to those people who have also watched that, you'll get my reference. Oh, God. That was a good show. That was a good season. So good.

43:30Ronnie Karam: So Toby's ode to Italy will be a Parmesan-topped monkey bread with porcini mushroom-flavored dough balls and nuts filled with this tried-and-tested green pesto and red pesto. So he's like, well, right after that, he goes, I've never actually made red pesto before, you know. Okay, well, is it tried and true or not? Or is only the green tried and true? And you're just going to wing it with the red. What's in red pesto anyway? Blood.

44:02Ronnie Karam: Fairy donut child blood.

44:08Ben Mandelker: commercials here comes one right now

44:14Ronnie Karam: losing weight can be like trying to roll a wheelbarrow up a hill you can do it but it's so much better and easier with support noom combines glp1s to kickstart your weight loss with healthy habits to help you keep it off even if you stop the meds noom helps you lose more weight they found 37 % more weight is lost with Noom than just taking a GLP-1 on its own, and you can sustain it too. Noom helps you make progress that you can keep.

44:40Ben Mandelker: And its psychology-based science-backed program pairs GLP-1s with behavioral changes, daily lessons, and food logging to support weight loss that lasts.

44:50Ronnie Karam: The Noom GLP-1 program starts at$39.

44:54Ben Mandelker: And is delivered to your door in as little as seven days. Start your GLP-1 journey today at Noom.com.

45:00Ronnie Karam: That's N-O-O-M.com. Initial one-month subscription from$39 plus tax and$99 plus tax per month thereafter. Cost of medication not included. Final pricing depends on program selection.

45:15Ben Mandelker: Hi, it's Kat and Nat, and this episode is sponsored by Michaels, your destination for all things birthday parties. With seven kids between us. We're always planning a celebration. Summer is no exception. With prices starting at just 99 cents, Michael's Party Shop has over 4 ,500 party supplies across more than 60 themes for every age and every celebration. Whether your kids are into bluey, rodeos, soccer, rainbows, or something totally different, you'll find everything you need in one place. Plus, you can get a free helium inflation on select balloon styles. Shop online, pick up in-store, or get same-day delivery.

45:51Ben Mandelker: Visit michael's in store or shop online now red pesto well as we all know red pestos it's just strawberries

46:04Ronnie Karam: you know strawberry jam it's british jams and jellies and everything it's a jams it's a sicilian style sauce made primarily from sun-dried tomatoes nuts and garlic oh i have had

46:16Ben Mandelker: that actually i have that sounds guys guess what i've had it i've had it you can all be impressed

46:22Ronnie Karam: i've had it i know it's often making that as well sun-dried tomatoes nuts and garlic what kind of nuts let's see probably okay well while you wait we're gonna look that up wait give me 10 seconds

46:34Ben Mandelker: the door's just on the other side of this give me just 10 seconds okay you do it i'm gonna look at

46:38Ronnie Karam: it so i just looked up a red pesto sauce let's see what story comes with this one in my years of cooking as a habits expert, I've learned that a good sauce can completely transform a meal. Okay, an ad just popped up. And sauces do not need to be complicated in order to be good. I have a few sauces that I fall back on all the time. This is a three ingredient. Whoa, that's crazy. Pesto Rosso or red pesto sauce is a delightful Sicilian inspired sauce. You know, I'm actually disappointed that this one doesn't come with a story. Like when I was a child, I first stumbled upon red pesto. This one actually is just telling you about the pesto.

47:21Ronnie Karam: And now I resent this person for not telling me the story. Like you're not going to fucking win, you know?

47:28Ben Mandelker: First of all, update, I hurt my toe in the process of doing this. I'm opening this up because...

47:34Ronnie Karam: It's almonds you put in there. That's what they use.

47:37Ben Mandelker: Almonds into the red pesto?

47:38Ronnie Karam: Yeah. Yeah. Bread, pesto, almonds, garlic, olive oil. This looks amazing. I'm doing an unboxing. A live unboxing.

47:46Ben Mandelker: Because. As well. Basil and rosemary. I received two cookbooks. The new Samin Noserat cookbook. Good things. Good things. It's a pretty cover. Which is salt, fat, acid, heat. And I'm wondering, do you think she has bread recipes in here? She must.

48:03Ronnie Karam: Ooh. Let's have a milk bread off. Let's see what she has a milk bread. She must.

48:09Ben Mandelker: She's a real bread person. Okay. Yeasted breads and waffles. She has an entire chat. I love that. She has an entire chapter dedicated to both breads and waffles. Okay. Three. I'm into that. That's great. By the way,

48:22Ronnie Karam: if you guys haven't watched salt, fat, acid, heat on Netflix, great, great documentary. Check it out. Food documentary. God,

48:29Ben Mandelker: you know, I will, I will skim through this while we, while we recap, because we don't have to sit here, watch me turn every single page in this book.

48:37Ronnie Karam: Okay.

48:37Ben Mandelker: Do you think she has a monkey bread recipe though? What was the other one?

48:43Ronnie Karam: We're only showing one thing. Now we're going to wonder what's in the box. We're going to be like, what was the other thing in the box? I'm only showing one thing because I'm deranged right now. It's a Thai cookbook called Lana. Oh, nice. God, your cookbook collection is... I have to stop. It's huge. I have to stop.

49:01Ben Mandelker: I've decided that I'm going to start making videos where I review cookbooks. That's what I've decided.

49:06Ronnie Karam: That's what you should do. You definitely should do that and make things from the cookbooks. Yeah, you should totally do it.

49:13Ben Mandelker: And it motivates me to actually cook from the cookbooks because I feel like you should probably have like five. You should have cooked five things from a cookbook before you can speak authoritatively about it, right? I think so, yeah.

49:24Ronnie Karam: Sure. Sure, that sounds good. I just look stuff up on the internet. That's my cookbook. And then I memorize it and then I cook it wrong every time going forward. I never get anything tasting exactly the same. So anyway, okay, so Natalia is doing her family table monkey bread, okay? And it's going to be stuffed with cheese, bacon, onions, and guys, they're a nod to big Ukrainian Terran shared loaves. Okay.

49:52Ben Mandelker: Just watch no monkey bread or milk bread in Simi Nosrat's new book. So really burst my bubble there. Yeah.

50:02Ronnie Karam: No debate today then. guess that's over all right everybody thanks for coming to the show

50:10Ben Mandelker: okay ukrainian tear and share well no this is not tear and share this is monkey bread there apparently is a difference between tear and share and monkey bread by the way

50:18Ronnie Karam: that comes on okay i mean i wouldn't know the difference but this is also technically a share bread that you tear and share so i don't know so um she makes this every sunday and it reminds are of the Ukraine, guys. And so Noel's like, there's still quite a bit of emotion in your bread. I love you in your bread. I love depression in bread. I love, what a delicious ingredient in bread. You know what's good in bread? Loss. God, I love it. Tastes delicious. I love an emotional monkey bread. I love misery bread. Misery bread. Mmm, delicious.

50:57Ben Mandelker: so then we now they go up to Leslie Leslie's the she's the gran right she's the one that you love I believe it's her I do like her she's not a gran is she Mabel oh that's Mabel yeah yeah she's like everything I do I do for Mabel

51:17Ronnie Karam: look what happened to Mabel she has a Jerry Herman song as a daughter like how do I not love this woman.

51:27Ben Mandelker: She loves Mabel. So she's making a Stilton pear and walnut monkey bread, which sounds nice. Although just not as exciting to me as all that garlic stuff that was going on with other people. And Leslie is like, so I'm going to chop the pears up and I'm going to mix it in with the Stilton. And Paul's like, how much Stilton? He's like, I think 120 grams. He's like, oh, 120 grams, not a lot. She's like, you think it should be more? He just shrugs. Paul, you obviously think there should be more. You just said it's not a lot. So just say it. Just say, put in a little bit more.

52:02Ronnie Karam: Yeah, because he'll be telling you in about 20 minutes that wasn't enough. So now everyone's looking at their bread, checking up, you know, now the bread has doubled in size. Now we can shake the dough balls, guys. So let's ensure the monkey bread is bursting with miserable flavor. So we watch everybody fill their bread up. Should we just go to? The judging. Yeah, let's go. We're going to be here for 10 hours. We still got two challenges left.

52:29Ben Mandelker: I already stopped in the middle of this recap to go fetch an Amazon box.

52:39Ben Mandelker: So they're doing the normal thing. Well, we can give a high level thing of some of the issues that are happening. One thing is that Nadia and Poiman, their balls took a long time to finish up. so theirs had less time to prove and less time in the oven and it became a drama. And then at one point, one of my favorite parts was when they are removing their monkey breads from their bunt pans, like the narrator at some point, one of them says, the bakers must release their monkey balls carefully and delicately from their pans so that way nothing breaks apart. And then it just cuts to Nadia being like, shaking it like crazy it's like oh no and then the balls go flying everywhere

53:28Ronnie Karam: um toby and aaron do not have proved bread so they're worried boymans is um looking better than it did at home so that's good and toby's like something is gonna have to be sacrificed unfortunately i've chosen my boyfriend i've chosen my boyfriend toby's straight no toby's

53:49Ben Mandelker: a straight one as well. You're right. Toby's a straight

53:51Ronnie Karam: one. Yeah, Toby's a straight one. So I'm gonna sacrifice the insecure gay guy's boyfriend. How's that?

54:03Ben Mandelker: So yeah, but his is not rising. It's crazy.

54:09Ronnie Karam: 30 minutes left. 30 minutes left. And so, you know, everybody's running around. And on this show, running around means literally staring into the oven going, oh my god please work please work please work yeah like one person's totally losing their mind which in british means oh heavens so that was it so then now we now it's time for the judges to

54:34Ben Mandelker: judge so they go to ian first they we see his irish cheese board monkey bread which kind of looks like a big orange brain with seeds on it if you if you really think about it um yes i'm

54:44Ronnie Karam: I'm looking at that. This one looks crazy. Irish cheese board monkey bread. This looks crazy. It looks like a mangled person with bad skin. Here, can we show it on the, we should show it on the thing so people can see what I'm talking about. It looks, it's disturbing looking, I have to say. It looks like a brain maybe, like a brain with bad skin or like a brain with some kind of disease here. I'll put it up here. Sure, screen. Give me the window, baby. Give me this window. Okay. Come on. We got to share this Irish cheese board. There it is. Yeah. That doesn't look great. Ian's. Yes, that's Ian's.

55:27Ronnie Karam: Okay. So Paul loves the setup. The bake looks great. Strong color. You can see individual bowls, which is great. And one has blue cheese. I love those individual bowls. I love Indie bowls. Indie bowls are where it's at. so there's blue cheese and pear and fennel and um and another one there's a harder cheese and it has apple and caramelized onion and for the last there's a brie style with blackberry and rosemary now uh he likes it because paul prude likes it paul says it's superb he's loved the nuts in there okay well the nuts you know what pear and blue cheese go together and that's just a fact

56:07Ben Mandelker: i love your balls well there are nuts in there too i was like paul you have to listen to these words as they come out you know what i'm also getting sick of i'm sick of paul that when he oh actually i'm sorry this is that's for later i'm gonna pause i'm gonna this this this complaint i'm gonna save for later at the star baker challenge but he likes it it does well and we think that ian is on a good path because ian is a bread guy and so we're like oh he's living up to it so now that we move to leslie's monkey bread and uh it's leslie's family favorite f-a-v-o So you are I-T-E, monkey bread. And Prue's like, well, I think that looks really appetizing.

56:48Ben Mandelker: It's interesting that you've used so many seeds. Who asked for so many seeds? Certainly there wasn't anyone here who asked for lots of seeds. It's crazy. Where'd you get that mandate from?

56:57Ronnie Karam: It's like the bottom of a birdcage, isn't it? Yeah, bird brain. You're the one who made her do it. You guys are gaslighters.

57:04Ben Mandelker: also what sort of inefficient birds are you keeping around that they don't eat all their

57:09Ronnie Karam: little seeds the birds love the seeds right yeah take your birds off weight loss meds if that's your bird cage okay um and leslie kind of gives them one of her murderous looks and she's like okay well i've got a pair still in walnut monkey bread i can't wait to talk about how fat you've gotten in my hair salon and um prue likes it um paul really loves the flavor of the pear but the stilton is lacking okay he needed a bit more stilton in there which is why i said did you mean

57:44Ben Mandelker: pretty much that's exactly what he did now we go to tom the very serious anal danish gay and he's the one who made the French Dégustation monkey bread which seems to be served with some sort of hollandaise or an aioli or whatever it looks good you know it's interesting because they ding someone I think Poyman later for not glazing her monkey bread and here his does not look very glazed I just want to point that out but he has made lots of miniature croissants we were like what do the croissants have to do with anything in the drawing but there's actually it's like a scattering of croissants It's like a very fancy bird's cage.

58:24Ben Mandelker: It's like, oh, this looks like a French bird's cage where there's nothing but tiny croissants at the bottom of it.

58:28Ronnie Karam: Yeah, and this one's colorful, which I like. There's greens and oranges and the white one. This one looks very nice. It does look like individual little rolls. And, you know, I like that his croissants are just, what do you call it? Like when someone has too much money, like they're just decadent. Like they don't need to be there. They're not part of the actual thing. He's just like, also I had time to make croissants as well.

58:53Ben Mandelker: They also look kind of pale. Those are some pale croissants as well. I just want to point out.

58:57Ronnie Karam: They're pale in the right places. It's what I like to call myself. Like under my arms, my butt, under my boobs. It's like pale in the right places. This basically looks like me without a shirt, these little croissants.

59:12Ben Mandelker: So Paul likes, he's like, flavors are great. Punchy, strong, spot on. So when he says it's punchy and strong, that means there's like one black peppercorn in there. He was like, oh, it's on the verge of being too hot. So then Prue is saying, oh, I love that croque monsieur. I spent two years in Paris as a student. I lived on croque monsieur. Literally, there was a man I'd call croque monsieur, and I'd just climb up on him. I said, ride him, cowboy. But yeah, it tastes great.

59:40Ronnie Karam: Oh, when I lived in Paris, I lived on croque monsieur. So, Prue? More like.

59:46Ben Mandelker: more like cock monsieur like monsieur may i see your cook see what i'm saying here yeah

59:52Ronnie Karam: like prue come back to the five and dime prue prue prue prue come back um so let's go over to natalia's bread let's check out what it looks like here and uh here it comes everybody here it comes this is natalia's family table monkey bread this looks pretty good i mean they all look pretty good right now that we're looking at a lot a lot of them look very similar and they are all very seed

1:00:18Ben Mandelker: heavy well yeah exactly very seed heavy honestly i love a seed heavy bread like i think that's where seeds shine shine shine shine um so paul is like well the bowls are quite big which makes it more of a tarant share than a monkey bread i'm like you know what more like you're you're a tarant

1:00:38Ronnie Karam: share more than a monkey bread sometimes paul and why is that bigger than anyone else's that's they're not any bigger than leslie's did he tell hers her were too big they're no bigger than ian's ian's are way better so absolutely why is her why are yeah what's wrong why can't why can't

1:00:56Ben Mandelker: you know what maybe hers is taller i bet hers is a little taller too tall and now that i look at it

1:01:03Ronnie Karam: Maybe it's because some of those other ones with big pieces are actually a couple of pieces of bread stacked on each other where I think these probably baked into each other.

1:01:11Ben Mandelker: You know, it is a bit tear and sherry. I'm not going to lie. I think tear and sherry is more like the monkey bread has to be like balls. I think it has to be like, or ball-ish or ball adjacent. Layers of balls. It's like loads. This is like a ring of bread druids that got together and stuck shoulders to shoulder or something.

1:01:29Ronnie Karam: Yeah. But also, I'd just like to point out while we're talking about consistency and judging is seeds. There's tons of seeds on this. He doesn't say anything about that. Why is he okay with these seeds, not the other seeds?

1:01:42Ben Mandelker: He's really lost the thread, I think, when it comes to this. He's lost the seed thread. He has. Okay, so now we go to Jessica's picnic season monkey bread, which looks good. It's got some char in places, but I like the size of it. It's kind of like a big disc and it's got like pools of mozzarella or something or blue cheese, I guess. This one looks different than all the other ones.

1:02:05Ronnie Karam: And it looks like, yeah, there's a lot of melty cheese all over it, like burnt cheese kind of. And it looks gooier than the other ones, which I like. This looks really damn good.

1:02:14Ben Mandelker: I could get into this one. Wow. I'll tell you one thing. All of her clothes off more like all of her monkey bread is delicious.

1:02:26Ronnie Karam: well i don't know in the world of drag king names is probably not that far off base you know yeah

1:02:32Ben Mandelker: nadia's monkey bread so her her whole thing is that her monkey bread isn't staying together because she shook it violently out of her pan so it's all falling apart so she kind of like stuck it together with all this pesto honestly i'm not mad at it i don't mind a pre pre-pulled apart monkey bread, like it's still going to do the same, same, it's going to be the same effect. I'm still going to go in there.

1:02:59Ronnie Karam: There's just like one, well, I mean, we're only looking from one angle, but we can only really see one loose thing right here in this area. I think this looks great. Yeah. And I think adding all the green, like all the fresh green was actually really smart because it does look so much fresher and new darling is new and fresh and interesting.

1:03:20Ben Mandelker: yeah yeah well and then here's what's funny too so prue says i quite like that i mean i love a milk loaf because it's a little bit cakey and i think it's really delicious so i'm like see this just goes to show they are talking about a different milk loaf than what poi man was talking

1:03:33Ronnie Karam: about yeah and we're gonna have to let the milk loaf go i guess at some point but i don't want to i'm still thinking about it because now i want to make like both kinds and see how i can ruin both kinds. Yeah.

1:03:49Ben Mandelker: Toby, his is called Trey Skimmy, which means, I guess, three monkeys.

1:03:56Ronnie Karam: The Skimmy or the Shimmy? Oh, the Skimmy. I guess it would be the Simmy. Maybe it's Simmy.

1:04:03Ben Mandelker: It's probably Simmy. I don't know.

1:04:06Ronnie Karam: This one looks different than all the others, and this did come out with all the ridges and stuff, whereas the other ones look like big balls. This one, I don't think this one came out very good looking. It didn't come out good looking. We don't know what it tastes like, but this looks nothing like that drawing except for the ridges, the harsh ridges. I mean, that's an abject failure.

1:04:24Ben Mandelker: I think like it's cool that it took on the shape of the pan, but like, I don't know with like where I would like go in. Like, I feel like it's not approachable, you know, like whereas, whereas Natalia, which was already kind of pre-broken apart. I actually know exactly how I'm going to approach it. I'm going to go that ball or that ball or that ball. But this is sort of like, do I slice it? Do I pick at it? How do I do it?

1:04:49Ronnie Karam: Yeah, I don't really know. Yeah, this one isn't like a grabby type thing. So yeah, this one's not great. Okay, who's next?

1:04:58Ben Mandelker: Jasmine. Jasmine's really good in general. Like she's been really on point so far this season. And she has a very good looking monkey bread here. It's got a nice ring shape. It's like cohesive, but it's definitely balls. you know where you're going to pluck from. Paul's like, oh, this is very neat. The balls are all here. You can see everything. Clever. Clever balls. I could just put my fingers around that ball and just touch the ball and pull at it and have a lot of fun with that ball. You know what I'm saying?

1:05:26Ronnie Karam: Really tickling the balls there is what I really like. You know, I could just guzzle these balls. I could really just guzzle these balls. It's fantastic work.

1:05:36Ben Mandelker: So she says, well, there's an olive and a rosemary one. Not coriander, right? because that's Greek Cypriot. You don't have, do you know about, have you heard of Greece before or Cypriot? No. Oh, I have. Just want to put that out there.

1:05:50Ronnie Karam: Yeah. So they love hers. And next up is. By the way,

1:05:53Ben Mandelker: and he even says it, he literally even says, he's like, I'm not getting the rosemary with the olive. I'd like to see more olive. And even then, I would have always had coriander with an olive. I'm like, you know what? You have to really get, you have to get over this. This, it's not a Greek Cypriot monkey bread. And that's just how it's going to be, Paul.

1:06:11Ronnie Karam: Yeah, you need to get over it, Paul. Like, seriously. Get rid of it. We know it. We know you've had the Cypriot before, okay? We're all extremely, extremely impressed with you, Paul. Okay? Yeah. All right, let's look at Poiman's flowery thing, which I really like. So what are these flowery things? The Festival Basin Monkey Bread is what this is called. It looks gorgeous. She's got a bunch of little balls that are all put together of different colors. and then she's got these like red flower things coming out of it. Are those bell peppers? What are they? They look sort of like bell peppers.

1:06:45Ben Mandelker: I think they are bell peppers that have been shaped into sort of like blossoms. Oh, that's pretty. Oh, no. Yeah, yeah, it is. I have to say that Prue suggests that it needed some glaze. And honestly, you can see it does. It does need some glaze, especially because the pesto kind of like sits on top of it in this weird kind of lumpy, like it's just, it looks dry. And when they say that it needs more salt, it's almost like you can, you can almost see that it needs more salt, unfortunately. I don't know. Really? You just can tell. What does that look like? Somebody needs more salt. It's like, I think what, when, by not having that glaze on it, let's some shine, it like you already, it already kind of like looks kind of bland.

1:07:30Ben Mandelker: And like the shine tells you like, Like, oh, this is going to be like a delicious monkey bread with some shiny and salty and yummy. And this is...

1:07:40Ronnie Karam: Well, yeah, because when we just looked at pictures of Japanese milk bread, while we were talking about it, that is a very shiny, buttery looking top. Yeah. Right. Shiny top. Yeah. We need a shinier top on this. Can I return this for a shinier top?

1:07:57Ben Mandelker: These balls need a shiny top. Okay.

1:08:00Ronnie Karam: This looks lacking in salt. I want to say that at a restaurant one day. I haven't tasted this yet, but it definitely looks like it's lacking in salt. Could you take that back? Thanks. Hey, everyone.

1:08:11Ben Mandelker: This is the end of part one of this recap. For part two, keep an eye on your podcast feed. It is coming up in just a moment. Thanks so much for listening. Catch you on the second half. Watch what Crappins would like to thank its premium sponsors. Ain't no thing like Alison King. It's always a party on Alison Block. Our way is the Amber way. It's the Foster and the Furious. It's Amanda Foster. It's Always Automatic with Ashley Otto. Put your hands together for Carly Clapp. Get on the right foot with Chrissy Offutt.

1:08:42Ronnie Karam: She's not just a Sheila, she's a Daniela. Itchles.

1:08:45Ben Mandelker: We never miss her call, it's Diane Call. Erin McNicholas, she don't miss no trick-a-less. Hava Nagila Weber. You'll never hide from Heidi Eleanor Jones. I go, you go, we all go for Hugo. Jamie, she has no less namey.

1:08:59Ronnie Karam: She's our kind of mess, it's Jennifer Messer. Sips some scotch with Jessica Trotz.

1:09:04Ben Mandelker: She's our favorite streamer, Caroline Peacock.

1:09:07Ronnie Karam: Kristen the Piston Anderson. Get a bee in your bonnet with Lacey B. Que sera, sera, whatever we'll be, we'll Lauren Sills be. She gets an A from us, it's Lindsay D. Let's give a kisserino to Lisa Lino. Fresh as a daisy, it's Maisie McHenry. We love her on the rocks, it's Melissa Cox. Megan Berg, you can't have a burger without the Berg.

1:09:29Ben Mandelker: This is Livin' with Michelle Vivian.

1:09:32Ronnie Karam: I love-a-ya, Olivia Williamson. Tastier than Flanderson, it's Rachel Manderson.

1:09:37Ben Mandelker: She sure is swell, it's Raquel.

1:09:40Ronnie Karam: Yes, we canna, it's Savannah.

1:09:42Ben Mandelker: Cast a spell with Shannon Spellman. Let's share with Sharon Eldridge. Darn Skippy, it's Tippi.

1:09:48Ronnie Karam: And our super premium sponsors. She's VVIP, it's Amanda V. Can't lose when you're with Amy Baldwin.

1:09:55Ben Mandelker: Somebody get us 10 cc's of Betsy MD.

1:09:58Ronnie Karam: We're taking the gold with Brenda Silva. Let's get real with Caitlin O 'Neill. Put us on a stretcher. It's Charlotte Fletcher. Don't get salty with Christine Pepper. Can't have a meal without the Emily sides.

1:10:11Ben Mandelker: Who, what, why, where, and Gwen Pentland.

1:10:14Ronnie Karam: Let's go into the woods with Guy Tubbs. It's our queen. It's Queen Laifa.

1:10:20Ben Mandelker: Nobody holds a candle to Jamie Kendall. Hail the cork master, the master of the cork, Jennifer Corcoran. We got our wish. It's Jen Plish. She's not harsh, she's Jill Hirsch My favorite Murdo, Karen McMurdo We love him madly, it's Kyle Pod Chadley In the study, with a candlestick, it's Leslie Peacock G, it's Lisa H We're ride or die for Lisa Ryder Baron She's a whiz, it's Liz Sarthy Always killing it, it's Lola Alkalani

1:10:47Ronnie Karam: The Incredible Edible Matthew Sisters She eases our woes, it's Melissa St. Rose There's a chance of meatballs, it's Rebecca Cloud

1:10:55Ben Mandelker: Neat, it's Ronit Feldman Maximum love for Sandy Maximoska She's the queen bee, it's Sarah Lemke We cannot tell a lie, it's Sarah Talafsun Shannon, out of a cannon, Anthony Please don't stop, it's Solian Pop Let's take off with Tamla Plain

1:11:12Ronnie Karam: She ain't no shrinking Violet Kuchar We love you guys

1:11:45Ronnie Karam: We'll be right back. Shop today at Wayfair.com.

1:12:18Ben Mandelker: Way fair, every style, every home. one place. Plus, you can get a free helium inflation on select balloon styles. Shop online, pick up in-store, or get same-day delivery. Visit Michael's in-store or shop online now. This message is brought to you by Cologuard. If you recorded songs off the radio for a mixtape, it might be time to screen for colon cancer. The Cologuard test is non-invasive, requires no special prep or time off, and you start screening right from your home. It's just three simple steps, setup, sample, and ship. If you're 45 or older and at average risk, ask your doctor about the Cologuard test, available by prescription only.

1:12:55Ben Mandelker: Learn more or request a prescription at colaguard.com slash podcast.