A couple of weeks ago I saw a Chocolate Babka on Instagram. I was quite intrigued because I had never seen a babka before and I wanted to make it. I was not even sure if I would find a recipe for it.
A babka is a sweet yeast cake that is popular in Eastern Europe and in areas where there are large Jewish communities. Babka means “grandmother” in Polish. I found many different versions with varying difficulty. I opted for this version from Broma Bakery that was pretty straight forward. I always go for the recipes that are easy and the ingredients are affordable.
It looks complicated but if you have made bread before you can make this no problem. The twisted look is easy to do, you spread the chocolate on the dough and roll the dough. Cut the roll into two and twist the split roll. It is that easy.
This bread is so fluffy and chocolatey but not too sweet. It would be great for the holidays or any other function where you want to impress.
Chocolate Babka
Prep Time 16 hours
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 16 hours 30 minutes
Servings 1 loaf
Ingredients
- 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour plus extra for dusting
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 package 2½ teaspoons fast active yeast
- Grated zest of ¼ of an orange
- 2 large eggs
- ¼ cup water cold is fine and up to 1 to 2 tablespoons extra, if needed
- ¾ teaspoon fine sea or table salt
- ⅓ cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- Sunflower or other neutral oil for greasing
- 2¼ ounces dark chocolate or approximately 6 tablespoons chocolate chips
- ¼ cup unsalted butter cold is fine
- Scant ¼ cup powdered sugar
- ⅓ cup cocoa powder
- 3 tablespoons water
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
Instructions
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Make the dough: Combine the flour, sugar, yeast and zest in the bottom of the bowl of a stand mixer. Add eggs and ¼ cup water, mixing with the dough hook until it comes together; this may take a couple minutes. It’s okay if it’s on the dry side, but if it doesn’t come together at all, add extra water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough forms a mass. With the mixer on low, add the salt, then the butter, a spoonful at a time, mixing until it’s incorporated into the dough. Then, mix on medium speed for 10 minutes until dough is completely smooth; you’ll need to scrape the bowl down a few times. I usually found that after 10 minutes, the dough began to pull away from the sides of the bowl. If it doesn’t, you can add 1 tablespoon extra flour to help this along.
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Coat a large bowl with oil (or scrape the dough out onto a counter and oil this one) and place dough inside, cover with plastic and refrigerate. Leave in fridge for at least half a day, preferably overnight. [Dough will not fully double, so don't fret if it doesn't look like it grew by more than half.]
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Make filling: Melt butter and chocolate together until smooth. Stir in powdered sugar and cocoa; mixture should form a spreadable paste.
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Assemble loaves: Coat a 9-by-4-inch (2¼ or 1kg) loaf pan with oil or butter, and line the bottom with a rectangle of parchment paper. Take the dough from fridge. Roll out on a well-floured counter to about a 10-inch width (the side closest to you) and as long in length (away from you) as you can when rolling it thin, likely 10 to 12 inches.
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Spread the chocolate mixture evenly over the dough, leaving a ½-inch border all around. Brush the end farthest away from you with water. Roll the dough up with the filling into a long, tight cigar. Seal the dampened end onto the log. I found that transferring the log to a lightly floured baking tray in the freezer for 10 to 15 minutes made it much, much easier to cut cleanly in half.
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Trim last ½-inch off each end of log. Gently cut the log in half lenghtwise and lay them next to each other on the counter, cut sides up. Pinch the top ends gently together. Lift one side over the next, forming a twist and trying to keep the cut sides facing out (because they’re pretty). Don’t worry if this step makes a mess, just transfer the twist as best as you can into the prepared loaf pan. In one batch, mine was long enough to “S” inside the pan and I nested the trimmed ends of the log in the openings. Even if you don’t (and choose to bake them separately in a little pan, as I did in other batches), the dough will fill in any gaps by the time it’s done rising and baking, so don’t worry.
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Cover with a damp tea towel and leave to rise another 1 to 1½ hours at room temperature.
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Bake and finish the loaf. Heat oven to 375°F (190°C). Remove towel, place loaf on the middle rack of your oven. Bake for 30 minutes, but there’s no harm in checking for doneness at 25 minutes. A skewer inserted into an underbaked babka will feel stretchy/rubbery inside and may come back with dough on it. When fully baked, you’ll feel almost no resistance. If you babka needs more time, put it back, 5 minutes at a time then re-test. If it browns too quickly, you can cover it with foil.
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While babka is baking, make syrup: Bring sugar and water to a simmer until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and set aside to cool somewhat. As soon as the babka leaves the oven, brush the syrup all over it. It will seem like too much, but will taste just right — glossy and moist. Let cool about halfway in pan, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool the rest of the way before eating (an adorable suggestion from Ottolenghi — don’t worry, we know you’re going to eat it warm).
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Do ahead: Babka will keep for a few days at room temperature. Longer, I’d freeze it. They freeze and defrost really well.