Not sure if you noticed, but I took a bit of a hiatus. Things got a little crazy during the hazy days of summer. Things got crazy because, oh yeah, there was a wedding, my wedding to be exact. You might be thinking, wait, I thought you were already married? Yes, yes, I already got married, almost a year ago, but that wasn’t enough, no, we needed a wedding with a reception and most importantly a band. Anywho, it was in Maine, and it was perfect, no I don’t have pictures yet, and yes I am ready to go back to normal life. Honestly, I wasn’t going to mention the wedding at all but I had to in order to explain how this amazing babka came into my life!
My family friend, Mary Beth, offered to throw a little post-wedding brunch the day after the wedding. A little background on her, she is an amazing cook/baker and loves sweets almost as much as I do. Needless to say, I knew this brunch was going to be full of delicious baked goods. I also knew this meant that she would probably bake a lot of it herself so that meant I could get in on the action.
What is babka?? Babka is arguably the most delicious bread ever, oh and also, it is a perfectly acceptable breakfast item – THIS IS WHY BREAKFAST IS THE BEST MEAL OF THE DAY! If you aren’t drooling yet, just wait. It starts with a slightly sweet yeasted dough, then it is slathered with amazing fillings like chocolate (my fave), cinnamon, or even nutella, and then rolled and twisted to make a beautiful braided masterpiece.
In my opinion, a good babka has the consistency of a good challah, dense, but not too dense, super moist, and perfect for pulling apart. I don’t like a crumbly babka or one with a hard crust, it needs to melt in your mouth, and this my friends will melt in your freaking mouth.
Ok, before you read the recipe below, don’t get freaked out. There are a LOT of instructions but I promise this recipe is not as complicated as it looks. I tried to include as many details about the process as possible to hopefully make what could be a daunting recipe something very doable! I also included step by step pics below of the construction.
One more thing before you start, once you have baked up these delicious babkas, everyone you know will be SOOOO impressed and tell you how amazing you are. So. Totally. Worth. It.
MB’s Bangin Babka
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with Dough Hook or Bread Maker (or you can do this by hand if needed)
- 2 – 9"x4" Loaf Pans
- Baking Sheet
Ingredients
Dough
- 4¼ cup All-Purpose Flour
- ½ cup Granulated Sugar
- 2 tsp Instant Yeast (rapid rise is my favorite)
- 3 large Eggs
- ½ cup Water
- ¾ tsp Fine Sea Salt or Table Salt
- ⅔ cup Unsalted Butter
- Oil for Greasing (non-stick spray or butter both work)
Filling
- ¾ cup Quality Dark Chocolate
- ½ cup Unsalted Butter
- ½ cup Powdered Sugar sifted
- ⅓ cup Cocoa Powder sifted
Simple Syrup
- ⅓ cup Water
- ⅓ cup Granulated Sugar
Instructions
Dough
- Get your stand mixer and your trusty dough hook.
- Add flour, sugar, and yeast to the bowl of your stand mixer (or bread maker) and start mixing (low).
- Add eggs and water to the bowl, mixing until it comes together. Be patient, it may take a few minutes and once it does come together the dough might be on the dry side, this is totally fine, but if the dough is not coming together at all, I am talking straight up sand in the bowl, add a little more water, 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough forms a mass.
- Next, with the mixer on low, add salt, and butter – add butter one slice at a time and mix until the butter is totally incorporated.
- At this point the dough might be really sticky, bump the speed up to medium for about 10 minutes or until the dough is completely smooth and pulls away from the bowl; make sure to scrape the bowl a few times throughout to ensure everything is getting incorporated. At this point, you might possibly get nervous that either the dough will never come together or that it is way too sticky. I promise if you just let the mixer do its job, after 10 minutes the dough will come together and begin to pull away. If after 10 minutes, for some crazy reason, it doesn’t pull away and is still super sticky, give it an extra minute or 2, then the last resort would be to add 1 tablespoon of flour to help move everything along, but be careful, adding too much extra flour makes a super dense babka. Or, if it is still super dry, add a tablespoon of water,
- Next, coat a large bowl with oil and place dough inside, cover with plastic and refrigerate overnight. The dough will rise a bit but it won't double in size, so don't fret!
Filling
- Begin this step after the dough has chilled overnight and right before you are ready to take the dough out of the fridge.
- Melt butter and chocolate together, stirring occasionally, until smooth; be careful not to let it come to a boil or burn.
- Stir in powdered sugar and cocoa until smooth, and remove from heat. The mixture should be pretty thick, you want it to be a spreadable paste. If it is a little too liquidy just let it sit for a little before you start the next step, it will firm up on its own.
Assembly
- Coat two loaf pans with baking spray or butter (approx. 9" x 4" each), then line the bottom of each pan with a rectangle of parchment paper or aluminum foil.
- Set up a large area for rolling out the dough and generously flour the surface – the dough can get sticky.
- Remove half of the dough from the fridge but leave the other half in there.
- Start rolling out the dough, halfway through rolling flip the dough over to make sure both sides get floured and the dough doesn't stick. You want to aim for a length of about 13"-15" (this is the side going away from you) and a width of about 10"-12", rolling it pretty thin.
- Once the dough is all rolled out, spread half of the chocolate mixture evenly over the dough, make sure to leave a small border all around, about 1/2" – this will keep the chocolate from oozing out when begin rolling.
- Brush the border farthest away from you with a little water.
- Now it's time to roll! Begin at the side closest to you, rolling the dough in the direction away from you in a tight cigar. Seal the dampened end onto the log.
- Lightly flour a baking tray and transfer the log of dough to the tray and freezer for about 5 minutes, this will help make the next step in the assembly process MUCH easier.
- Repeat each of the above steps with the second dough.
- When you place the second log in the freezer to chill, remove the first log.
- Trim about 1/2" off each end of the log and then gently cut the log in half lengthwise, starting about 1/2" from the end, this keeps the log together at one end so you don't have to pinch the top ends together later. Once cut, adjust the two sides so that the cut sides are facing up. Lift one side over the other, forming a twist and trying to keep the cut sides facing up the entire time. This step can get messy, especially if you don't chill the dough long enough, but don't worry, just transfer the twist as best as you can into the prepared loaf pan. Take those pesky little ends that you cut off earlier and nestle them into openings in the pan, the dough will completely fill the pan once it is baked so don't worry about these little guys looking funky, you won't even notice them.
- Cover the prepped babka with a damp tea towel and leave to rise for 1 – 2 hours at room temperature.
- Repeat the process with the second loaf.
Baking
- Heat oven to 375°F.
- Remove towels from babkas*, place each loaf on the middle rack of your oven, make sure they aren't touching so the hot oven air can completely circulate around them.
- Bake for 25 – 30 minutes, check doneness (at around 25 min) by inserting a skewer or toothpick, and underbaked babka will still feel stretchy inside and the inserted item may come out with dough on it. If it isn't fully baked just pop it back in for 5 minutes and check again. If you are noticing that it is browning too quickly just cover with some aluminum foil. When the babka is done, you’ll feel almost no resistance when you press down.
While They Are Baking
- Time to make the simple syrup! Bring sugar and water to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Once sugar dissolves, remove from heat and set aside to cool.
- As soon as the babkas leave the oven, brush the syrup all over each of them. It might seem like too much, but I promise it is the exact right amount. Also, if you are planning on freezing the babkas definitely definitely use ALL of the syrup, this will help lock in the moisture so the babkas are still moist and delicious when defrosted.
- Let them hang out for a bit in the pan and then, once cool enough to handle, transfer to a cooling rack to cool the rest of the way before eating.
