Yeah call me sheltered if you want but, being born and raised in an Indian family I had no idea what Babka was. The first time I ever heard about Babka was when i was watching this old sitcom called "Perfect Strangers" a few months ago. Balki, a character who moved to USA from his country 'Mepos', was making Meposian "bibby babka's" for his cousin and their friends. I was browsing the world wide web one day looking up some random recipes when I saw a post about Babka. I instantly thought of Balki, and when I clicked the link, I was totally in awe (yes i know, cheesy, but hey i love food okay?). Any way, the recipe I had stumbled upon was a chocolate Babka. Mmmmmmm! If any of you have watch "perfect strangers" you'll understand how excited this had got me. I just had to try it out. Of course it didn't look anything like what Balki had conjured during the episode, but my oh my, this babka is one heck of a thing. this recipe changed my life.
Really.
I mean it.
It was this bread like dough, but it sort of reminds you of a cake when you bite into it. when you bit into the chocolate bits that are swirled around it's heaven. and when you pair this up with some tea (or coffee)....you got a winner. And just think of the possible fillings! Nutella and fresh strawberries, jam and granola, custard, and so many others!!
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| Above: Dark Chocolate filling. |
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| Above: White Chocolate filling. |
Her original recipe made 3 loaves, but that was quite a bit, so i halved it thinking i could maybe get away with one really big loaf. However I was wrong. Even after halving the recipe I still got 2 fairly sized loaves. But it's so delicious, you cant really mind it ;)
Chocolate Babka
3/4 cups Warm Milk
1 package active yeast
pinch of sugar
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1/4 cups + 2 tablespoons sugar
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
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3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cups unsalted butter, room temperature
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2-4 cups of dark chocolate, finely chopped**
1/2 -3/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 tablespoon heavy cream or whole milk
1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
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1 cup good quality white chocolate, finely chopped***
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon whole milk
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
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Streusel topping:
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
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Egg Wash:
1 egg
1-2 tablespoons water
Directions:
1) Pour warm milk into a small bowl. Sprinkle yeast and a pinch of sugar in the bowl. let stand for about 5 minutes until foamy.
2) In another bowl, mix 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons of sugar, 2 eggs, and 1 egg yolk with a whisk. Then, add your egg mixture into the yeast mixture and mix together.
3) In a bowl of an electric mixture fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the flour and salt. Next, add egg mixture and beat on low until most of the flour is incorporated. Now, change to the dough hook.
4) Add 1/2 cup of butter and beat until the butter is completely combined. it should be a smooth, soft dough that is slightly sticky when you squeeze it. (mix for about 10 minutes)
5) On a lightly floured surface, turn out the dough and knead a few times until completely smooth. In a large buttered bowl, place the dough and cover tightly with a plastic warp. Set aside in a warm place to rise for an hour, or until doubled in size.****
6) Place dark chocolate, 1/2-3/4 cups of sugar, heavy cream, cinnamon in a bowl and stir together. using a pastry cutter, cut in remaining 1/2 cup of sugar until combined. Set aside.
7) Repeat step 5 with the white chocolate. Set aside.
8) Streusel: Combine all the ingredients together until you get a mixture of different sizes of lumps. Set aside.
9) Generously butter 2 loaf pans and line with parchment paper. Make you egg wash: whisk the egg and water together. Set aside.
10) punch the raised dough down and move on to a clean surface. let rest a few minutes and cut inot 2 equal parts. Keep one half on the working surface and put the other half back in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap.
11) on a floured surface, start to roll the dough into a rectangle that should be 1/8 inch thick. Brush the edges with egg wash and crumble 1/2 the dark chocolate and white chocolate filling evenly over the dough. be sure to leave 1/4 inch border. if the egg wash has dried, brush some back on.
12) Roll dough up (like a cinnamon roll) and pinch the sides to close. Twist 2 or 3 turns and fold the ends under dough to seal. place the dough into the prepared pan. Repeat with the loaf. At this time if you feel you don't want to bake both loafs, you can freeze the pans for up to a month.
13) Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. and brush each loaf with egg wash and crumble the streusel topping over each loaf. loosely cover the pans with plastic wraps and let stand for 20-30 minutes.
14) bake the loaves for about 55 minutes, rotating half way through. until golden. now lower the oven temperature to 325 degrees and bake until the loaves are a deep gold, about 15-20 minutes.
15) After removing from oven, transfer to wire rack and cool completely. Slice, serve, and enjoy.
** Smitten Kitchen said you could use a food processor to get finely chopped chocolate. I just chopped them with a sharp knife. Remember the more chocolatey you want it, the more chocolate you'll use.
*** If you look on the Smitten Kitchen website, you'll see she doesn't use white chocolate. I just decided to use it because I had some on hand. You don't have to use it.
**** I like to turn my oven on for 10 minutes and then let the oven cool down enough that you know the loaves won't cook. I set my bowl in the oven to rise with the oven door slightly open.
Adapted from: SmittenKitchen
I really hope you try this recipe. Smitten kitchen created a fabulous recipe. It looks daunting, but honestly, if you organize your self you won't have any trouble at all.
(Since the post is already quite lengthy, I wont post all of the pictures. If you would like to see how some of the components look, let me know and I'll post them separately.)
If you do try it, leave a comment down below and let me know how it goes and what other fillings you used. The possibilities are endless!
Allons-y!
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