Babka! Babka! Babka! Recipes and Fun Facts - Hazon

Babka! Babka! Babka! Recipes and Fun Facts
This recipe makes 2 large loaves
Dough:
2 1/4 tsp. (1 envelope) dry yeast (you can use either “active dry” or “instant,” the only
difference is that “instant” will rise faster)
1/3 c. plus 1 tsp. granulated sugar
1/2 c. warm milk
1/4 lb. (1/2 cup or 1 stick) butter, preferably unsalted, softened
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs at room temperature
1/2 c. sour cream
3 to 3 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1. In a small bowl, stir the yeast, milk and 1 tsp. of the sugar. Set aside until foamy, about 10
minutes.
2.Meanwhile, in a large bowl, mix the butter with the rest of the sugar and the salt until
creamy. This can easily be done with your hands, but if you like, you can do this and the next
few steps in a standing mixer. Note: If you mix it with your hands, you’ll have fewer dishes to
do later!
3.Add the eggs one at a time, followed by the sour cream and yeast mixture. The mixture at
this point will look slightly “curdled” and not homogeneous or smooth. That is okay!
4.Add flour by the cup until the dough starts to come together in a ball. The dough should not
be sticky, and should feel silky and smooth but firm, like a baby’s bottom. Turn the dough out
onto the table and knead briefly until dough is smooth but firm.
5.Wash out the bowl, spray it with cooking spray or grease it with butter, and put your dough
back in it. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly over the dough and set in a warm place to
double in bulk, about an hour. Or, refrigerate it overnight. If you do refrigerate it overnight,
let sit at room temperature for an hour to warm up before shaping.
Note: Under a time crunch? You can use a warm oven to move your dough along. When you
are getting your yeast mixture together, set your oven to 200 degrees F. When the oven has preheated,
turn it off. Place your bowl of dough in the warm oven and shut the door. This should
take about 15 minutes off your rise time.
Chocolate Filling:
2 lbs. semi-sweet chocolate (Nestle morsels are just fine, but splurge if you want), chopped
finely (use a food processor if you’ve got it)
2 T. cinnamon (optional)
2/3 c. granulated sugar
1 1/4 sticks butter, softened
1.In a medium bowl, mix together the chocolate, cinnamon and sugar.
2.Using your hands, mix the butter into the chocolate-sugar mixture, until it comes together.
Warning: Your hands may get very chocolatey! If you don’t want them to get messy, you can
use a spoon.

Streusel Topping:
1 2/3 c. powdered sugar
1 1/3 c. all purpose flour
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
In a large bowl, combine sugar, flour, and butter. Using a fork or your hands, mix until fully
combined with clumps ranging in size from crumbs to 1 inch. You probably won’t need this
much topping, but it also freezes well.
Shaping and baking:
1. When the dough has doubled in bulk, punch it down, remove it from the bowl onto a
floured surface, and divide it in half. Cover one of the halves with plastic wrap. Butter your
loaf pans and have them ready to go.
2.Roll the first half out into a large rectangle-like shape (it doesn’t have to be perfect, you’re
going to roll it up), about a quarter-inch thick. If the dough starts to stick to the table or the
rolling pin, just sprinkle some more flour on top of or under the dough.
3.Take half of the chocolate mixture and spread it evenly over the dough, leaving about a 1/4-
inch border all the way around.
4.From the end of the rectangle closest to you, roll the dough up, as tightly as you can (this is
what will give you layers).
5. When you have a log, bring the two ends together and then twist the dough on top of itself
(like when you twist hair). Tuck any ends underneath and fit into the loaf pan.
6.Crack one egg into a small bowl and whisk it quickly with a fork. Brush your egg wash over
the loaf and cover it with streusel topping.
7.Repeat Steps 2-7 with the second half of the dough.
8. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Loosely cover loaves with plastic wrap and let rise until
doubled in bulk again, about a half hour.
9. Before putting the loaves in the oven, make sure that there is an even layer of streusel on
top of the babka, adding more if necessary (who doesn’t like streusel?). Bake loaves for about
45 minutes to an hour or until golden brown. Serve warm, if possible.
Facts about babka:
1. “Babka” means “grandmother” in Polish. It is also the name of a popular Russian and
Polish coffee cake. Apparently it’s called babka because in its original form it was “stout and
round, just like most grandmothers.” I prefer to think it’s called babka now because pretty
much the only person who may know how to make it is your grandma.
2.The Polish coffee cake that inspired Jewish babka was originally made in a tube pan, or a
“Turk’s Head Pan” with scalloped edges, which reminded people of a grandmother’s skirts.
3.Jewish babka came along as late as the 19th century, and was probably invented when
Jewish housewives took extra challah dough, rolled it out, and then rolled it up again with jam
or cinnamon.
4.Though you can make cinnamon or chocolate babka, which are traditionally Jewish, you
can also be adventurous and add dried fruit to the filling. Finely chopped sour cherries or
cranberries are good choices.
5.Another nice alternative is an almond filling: 1 1/4 c. almonds, toasted; 1 stick of butter; 1/2
c. packed light brown sugar; vanilla and almond extract to taste; combine with golden raisins
and/or cherries.