Every week around this time of year, I get a little extra excited for Fridays. Of course, not having to work on weekends has its allure, but Fridays during the fall also mean that a new episode of “The Great British Baking Show” is dropping on Netflix in the United States.

At its heart, this season of “The Great British Baking Show” is the same as it’s ever been; a group of amateur British bakers is assembled in the infamous tent to bake cakes, breads, cookies, and more delectable delights. Yet it was the small changes to the show’s format in its most recent episode that made “The Great British Baking Show” my favorite stream of the week.

In the third episode of its fourteenth collection — or so this season of “The Great British Baking Show” is labeled in the United States — the show’s producers opted for a new format: audience choice. Bakers had to choose challenges specifically chosen by the viewers, and even got to have family members help out during their first challenge of the episode.

That was the first reason I really liked this episode of “The Great British Baking Show.” I love small vignettes at the beginning of each season that show off the bakers’ home lives — they’re quite humanizing, and that’s all too rare in reality shows, which are usually desperate to turn their subjects into characters with which to drive the narrative. Having family members bake alongside contestants for a challenge helped me get to know the remaining bakers even better, and I appreciated the show for it.

The episode also introduced a unique format for its dreaded Technical challenge: giving bakers a cabinet of ingredients and telling them to make something out of what they were given with no recipes. Nearly all of them struggled, despite being quite talented, which gave me an odd sort of comfort that even the most skilled amateur bakers need some kind of structure to produce their best work. Having dabbled in baking myself, I know how hard it can be when you have to improvise without having a camera shoved into your face.

“The Great British Baking Show” has a new celebrity judge this season, with English food writer and former journalist Nigella Lawson stepping in alongside Paul Hollywood. Thus far, Lawson has brought a fresh perspective to the show, daring to disagree with the expert baker Hollywood more often than I remember past co-judges doing.

And of course, the “Baking Show” producers have managed to assemble yet another group of adorable, vivacious bakers in the tent. My rooting favorite, the experimental forager Danni, was the first baker eliminated during the season, and I’ve yet to settle on a new favorite, but there doesn’t seem to be a villain in the bunch.

I’m always thrilled to be able to turn on a new episode of “The Great British Baking Show,” but this week’s episode shook things up in a delightful way. Viewers can find new episodes of “The Great British Baking Show” on Netflix each Friday morning, and the season will end in November.

The Great British Bake Off

August 29, 2017

Britain’s best amateur bakers compete in the iconic white tent - all united in their aim to prove their baking skills and impress judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith.