Series 17 of Bake Off starts on Channel 4 on Tuesday 22 September. Netflix gets it in the US three days later, on Friday 25 September, under the name we all end up using over here anyway, The Great British Baking Show. New episodes run weekly through the end of November.
Paul Hollywood and Nigella Lawson are judging. Noel Fielding and Alison Hammond are presenting. Twelve amateur bakers go into the tent. That is about all anyone knows for certain until the first episode airs, and we are not going to pretend otherwise.
What we can tell you is what the recipes will ask for. If you are planning to bake along, or just want the right biscuit in your hand while you watch, this is the list of things British recipes assume you have and your local supermarket probably does not.
Five ingredients British recipes assume you have
Most Bake Off recipes, and most British recipes generally, use a handful of ingredients that are either hard to find in an American supermarket or go by a different name. Substituting works up to a point. It is easier to have the real thing in the cupboard.
Self-raising flour
British recipes use it constantly. American recipes almost never do. It is plain flour with baking powder already mixed in, at a ratio that British cake and scone recipes are written around. You can make your own, but the ratio matters and it is one more thing to get wrong. We stock Be-Ro self-raising flour, a brand a lot of British home bakers grew up with, plus Homepride and a gluten-free version from Doves Farm.
Golden syrup
Not corn syrup. Not honey. Not maple. Golden syrup is a thick, pale, slightly caramelised cane sugar syrup and there is no American equivalent that tastes the same. It goes into treacle tart, flapjacks, sticky gingerbread and steamed puddings. The green and gold tin of Lyle's Golden Syrup is the one you want, and there is a squeezy pouring bottle if you would rather not deal with the tin.
Suet
Steamed puddings, dumplings, spotted dick, mincemeat for Christmas mince pies. All of them need suet, and it is hard to find in the US. Atora shredded vegetable suet is the standard box in British kitchens. It keeps for months in the cupboard.
Custard powder
British custard is usually made from custard powder, not from eggs. It is cornflour, colouring and flavouring, and you whisk it into hot milk with sugar. If a recipe says "serve with custard", this is what it means. Bird's custard powder is the original. If you would rather not make it at all, Ambrosia Devon custard comes ready to pour in a can.
Icing sugar and brown sugars
Icing sugar is powdered sugar. Demerara is a coarse golden sugar used on top of crumbles and in coffee. Light brown soft sugar is closer to American light brown sugar but finer and more moist. British recipes name all three by these names, so it saves guessing to have the Tate & Lyle icing sugar, demerara cubes and light brown soft sugar in the tin already.
The full range is in our British baking collection, including Doves Farm flours and Goldenfry Yorkshire pudding mix.
Things to eat while you watch
Baking along is admirable. Most of us watch Bake Off with a cup of tea and something from a packet, and there is no shame in it.
Mr Kipling Cherry Bakewells are the obvious choice. A Bakewell is a shortcrust base, a layer of jam, almond sponge, white icing and half a glace cherry on top. It is one of the things people most often find us by searching for, and the six-pack is the same one sold in UK supermarkets.
Mini Battenbergs are the pink and yellow checkerboard cake wrapped in marzipan. They are a British classic and, in our experience, the thing American guests photograph before eating.
For biscuits, Walkers shortbread is made in Aberlour, Scotland, from butter, flour, sugar and salt and nothing else. The triangles are the classic. McVitie's Digestives are the biscuit British bakers crush for cheesecake bases, and the one most people dunk. Real Lancashire Eccles cakes are flaky pastry rounds full of currants, and worth trying if you have never had one.
For the tea itself, Yorkshire Tea and PG Tips Gold are both in stock. The rest of the tea range is here, and the biscuits are here.
A note on timing
We import directly from the UK and ship from our own warehouse in Massachusetts, so orders go out on a domestic delivery, not an international one. Flour, syrup, suet and custard powder all keep, so there is no harm in buying for the whole series at once.
Questions we get asked every September
When does The Great British Baking Show 2026 start on Netflix?
Season 17 starts on Netflix in the US on Friday 25 September 2026, three days after its UK premiere on Channel 4. Episodes are released weekly and the series runs to the end of November.
What can I use instead of self-raising flour?
Plain flour with baking powder mixed in. British recipes are written around a specific ratio, so results vary. Buying self-raising flour is more reliable, and it is not expensive.
Is golden syrup the same as corn syrup?
No. Golden syrup is made from cane sugar and has a light caramel flavour. Corn syrup is made from corn starch and tastes of very little. They are not interchangeable in recipes that depend on the flavour, such as treacle tart or flapjacks.
Where can I buy British baking ingredients in the USA?
British Food Supplies imports them directly from the UK and holds stock in Littleton, Massachusetts, and delivers across the United States. The baking range is here.
