It was an unusual introduction to this challenge. Normally, the bakers find out what the challenge is (this time it was "create a plaited seven strand bread wreath") and then they lift their checkered cloths and read the recipe. This time, there was an added piece, while the bakers watched, with delight, a demonstration by Paul Hollywood of the plaiting process.

Paul Hollywood: "Okay, you start off with seven strands. Four on one side, three on another. You work from the outside in. I take the outside piece of the group with four and move it to the inside of the group with only three. That side now has four, and then I take the outer strand and move it over to the middle, once again making a three into a four. So it's out ... in ... all the way down until you get down to the bottom, and then you invert it, and then you work exactly the same. Go over all the way down to the bottom, and then all you do is trim off the end, and you want to join the two pieces together. A little pinch. That's it."

The bakers had 2 hours 30 minutes to make the dough, plait it and bake it.

We heard one of the bakers say: "So it's 500 grams of strong bread flour, a sachet of fast action yeast, salt, a bit of olive oil, and it's giving us a bit of leeway on how much water to add."

Prue Leith: "Paul, it was such a pleasure seeing you plaiting a loaf. And what's so beautiful about. This is the perfect definition."

Paul Hollywood: "Yeah. You can see each and every plait. If the dough's too soft, then you lose all definition in the plait. The other thing we've asked for is the hole in the middle, so the bakers have got to get the strands a decent length."

Prue Leith: "I think the other thing that is difficult is to know exactly when something has proved enough."

Paul Hollywood: "Yeah. And sometimes if you under prove it, the yeast hasn't reached its full potential yet, so when it goes into the oven, the bread will expand quickly and it's going to rip and it's going to look terrible."