The Great European Bake Off: are you Team Giuseppe or Team Jürgen?
It’s the most hotly debated European issue since Brexit, Gareth Southgate’s penalty takers or which holiday destinations are on the amber list. Except this time, we’re all winners. So when it comes to The Great British Bake Off, are you Team Jürgen or Team Giuseppe?
The sweet-toothed contest is currently being dominated by two continental cake maestros who’ve made the UK their home. In the black, red and gold corner, German Jürgen Krauss. In the tricolore corner, Italian Giuseppe Dell'Anno. Let’s make it a good clean food fight, gents.
Between them, the dough-proving duo have won five of the eight Star Baker accolades so far. A month into the contest, the judges realised they'd better give it to someone else (Andy Garcia lookalike Chigs Parmar, twice, and spice queen Crystelle Pereira), presumably just to maintain the illusion that this 12th series is more than a two-horse race.
So let’s run the rule over the tent’s two Euro titans. It’s Germanic efficiency against Roman artistry. It’s sausages versus pizza. It’s Beckenbauer versus Baggio. It’s Riesling versus Chianti. All that’s left to decide is who gets your vote in the European baking referendum…
Giuseppe Dell'Anno v Jürgen Krauss
Age
Giuseppe: 45
Jürgen: 56
Originally from
Giuseppe: Southern Italy.
Jürgen: The Black Forest in south-west Germany.
Now lives
Giuseppe: In Bristol with his wife and their three noisy but adorable young sons - who have the none-more-Italian names of Alberto, Ricardo and Giorgio.
Jürgen: Overlooking Brighton seafront with his wife, Sofia, and teenage son, Benjamin.
Looks like
Giuseppe: An ageing musketeer or flamboyant stage magician.
Jürgen: Winnie the Pooh. Or a bushy-eyebrowed woodland troll. Or an avuncular artisanal carpenter.
Job
Giuseppe: Chief engineer at the National Composites Centre and an industrial fellow at the University of Bristol.
Jürgen: Database administrator with a physics degree.
Hobbies
Giuseppe: Giuseppe has a passion for design, architecture and gardening. Together with his wife, he has renovated their family home. When he watches himself on Bake Off, he keeps to hand “a good Italian white, popcorn, tissues for the tears and a big cushion to shove my face in when the cringe gets off the chart”. He’s no sloppy Giuseppe but he is quite a soppy Giuseppe.
Jürgen: He’s an accomplished trombonist - a talent he’s proud to have passed on to Benjamin. His wife plays violin and the trio often jam together, while pet rabbit Humphrey looks on bemused. Jürgen is pleasingly cultured, too. The first book he read in English was Thomas More’s Utopia and Dessert Week's showstopper was inspired by “Pastime with Good Company”, a Tudor folk ballad written by Henry VIII.
Baking style
Giuseppe: His love of baking comes from his father, a revered professional chef who did all the cooking at home during Giuseppe’s childhood - including making a cake every Sunday and wedding cakes to order. Inspired by his culinary heritage, Giuseppe loves using Italian ingredients in his bakes, while bringing his engineer’s precision and love of design to their presentation. Bellissimo!
Jürgen: Unable to find traditional German bread in his adopted home, Jürgen decided to make his own and his passion was born. His bakes are influenced by his own heritage and his wife’s Jewish culture. He’s known for his challah bread and celebration cakes for Jewish festivals. In Dessert Week, he made a Passover pavlova with matzo and charoset paste. He approaches baking like the scientist he is: using scale drawings and calculations to ensure the utmost accuracy, while wielding thermometers, rulers and even a spanner. Wunderbar!
Contest so far
Giuseppe: Giuseppe started the series strongly, being one of the judges’ favourites for the first two weeks. He then won Star Baker in Bread Week - always a hotly contested accolade with bread specialist Paul Hollywood on the prowl. His triumph included this year’s first Hollywood handshake for his signature focaccia. Giuseppe’s stunning showstoppers have included a Jack and the Beanstalk anti-gravity illusion cake, his Reversi biscuit board game, a stunning hamper of milk bread vegetables and an imprimé dessert hailed by Hollywood as “something they’d serve in a five-star hotel”. He even managed to steal the Star Baker title in German Week from under Jürgen's nose. Golazzo!
Jürgen: Jürgen started with a bang, winning consecutive Star Baker awards in Cake Week and Biscuit Week. He duly declared himself “a very happy Jürgen indeed”. If only his family had picked up when he phoned to tell them the good news. His spectacular showstoppers have included a bedside lamp anti-gravity illusion cake, a gingerbread windmill and a mildly disturbing milk bread baby. After a slight dip by his high standards, Jürgen recaptured his form to win Star Baker in Caramel Week. The Jürgenator was back. Paul Hollywood has been so impressed, he dubbed Jürgen this year’s “flavour king” and “konditor meister”. Sehr gut!
Is he going to win?
Giuseppe: He had a rare wobble in the quarter-final, with his gluten-free celebration cake showstopper disappointing the judges, but we blame the unfamiliar ingredients. With his flair and elegance, Giuseppe still looks set fair for the final. But can he edge out arch rival Jürgen? If so, it would continue Italy’s golden year after winning the Eurovision Song Contest, the men's football Euros and an array of Olympic golds.
Jürgen: With his magical flavours and unflappable calm, Jürgen is surely favourite for the glass cake stand trophy. A late charge from Chigs could make it more interesting but it's the konditor meister's to lose. No pressure, Jürgenator.
