The Great British Baking Show ™

Season:

Episode:

Challenge:

Spanakopita

"For this week's technical challenge, Paul Hollywood would like you to bake his take on the classic greek pie, a spanakopita. He would like you to make a spiral shaped pie with homemade phyllo (filo) pastry packed with fragrant filling, consisting of feta and spinach. You have 2 hours and 30 minutes.

Paul Hollywood: "It's basically spinach and feta in a phyllo (filo) parcel. Phyllo is all about being thin. It's about the layers. The longer they rest it, the easier it is to work with. Allows it to be rolled out very, very thin."

Prue Leith: "I imagine they have to get the moisture levels right inside."

Paul Hollywood: "You need to pat dry the spinach just to take out almost all of that excess water. If you don't, then the whole thing will be soggy underneath. And the bake is critical now, 45 minutes minimum till it's nice and brown."

Paul Hollywood: "Feta, spinach. It's just beautiful. Now, although that goes beautifully together, crispiness that comes from the phyllo is the real test. We don't want a soggy bottom."

Our recipe for Spanakopita is here .

How the bakers performed

Dylan

Ranking

1

"Yeah, you've got some definition in this spanakopita, which is good, but it's not quite long enough. It's got a good color on it though."

"Yeah. And it's crunchy. That is delicious. Nicely balanced seasoning."

"It's good though, cuz it's got a nice flake on it and it's not wet."

"I like that one."

Christiaan

Ranking

2

"That's a good color."

"This spanakopita is a little bit wet. It could be down to the spinach. Nice flavour."

"Excellent flavour."

Nelly

Ranking

3

"This spanokopita isn't too bad. There's a bit of definition here. Yeah, it's had a little bit longer in the oven and that's good"

"Nice flakes in the pastry."

"The flavour's not bad. It's a nice color, that one."

Sumayah

Ranking

4

"There needed to be another loop on the outside of that. Really struggled with the length of that spanakopita. The colour's not bad. This has got a nice flavor."

"Bit soggy underneath, but very nice."

Illyin

Ranking

5

"This one's a bit pale. Needed longer in the oven. The definition is there. See, it's still wet inside."

"But that is delicious."

Georgie

Ranking

6

"This spanakopita looks a bit soggy. You know, you really have to squeeze the spinach to get all the moisture out of it, otherwise it'll sog up the pastry."

"The length of that spiral is not bad. It's lost a little bit of definition on it. It's quite wet inside."

"And the trouble is the bottom pastry doesn't cook then."

"But it's very delicious."

"It's not bad that, for a filling. It's just the pastry is very wet."

Andy

Ranking

7

"This spanakopita is very uneven - needs longer in the oven."

"That is really soggy, isn't it? And the trouble is that the layers then all stick together. It actually tastes quite nice, but it's not what we're looking for."

Gill