It’s the trained vs. the self-taught in Hulu’s ‘Baker’s Dozen’
Is it better to be trained formally or in the school of hard knocks? That’s a question to be worked out in a new baking competition series coming to Hulu.
“Baker’s Dozen,” which begins streaming Thursday, Oct. 7, pits 13 bakers who are formally trained pros, self-taught pros or self-taught home bakers in a competition to see who can create the most elaborate and impressive desserts. Over the course of three rounds, their confections will be judged on the basis of creativity, execution, presentation and taste, with the winner of each episode receiving a $5,000 grand prize and the coveted golden rolling pin.
Hosting the series are Tamera Mowry-Housley (“The Real”) and cookbook author, restaurateur and former White House pastry chef Bill Yosses, who thinks that the series will strike a chord among a surprisingly wide swath of viewers.
“It seemed just right after quarantine (that) many people took up like new hobbies or new activities, something to keep them busy,” he says, “and apparently a lot of people took up baking. So there were these great home cooks, basically home bakers, who had accomplished so many great things and so they are part of the mix as are some professionals who have branched out into new areas. And so that was, I think, one of the main things that interested me.”
And the contestants are put to the test in a number of areas. For instance, in the opener they’re challenged to decorate cake pops, then make 13 exactly uniform pastries followed by a hybrid of two different desserts. Like any competition series, pressure comes into play as TV cameras bear down and the clock ticks away. All appear to handle it well.
But what pleased Yosses most was the camaraderie of the contestants, who seemed to be genuinely rooting for one another, even after they were eliminated.
“Even though they’re competing, they were sympathetic to one another,” he says. “I thought that was really cool. I don’t know if that’s a generational thing because most of the contestants were pretty young. But they sort of encouraged each other and there was a little bit of like, I don’t know, comical trash-talking. But you could see that they were enjoying it and they kind of bonded over this shared experience and so I really enjoyed seeing that.”