Chocolate Babka

Helga Glaesel de BlandingMarch 22, 2019

This post is also available in / Esta entrada también está disponible en ESPAÑOL (SPANISH)

This is an eastern European Jewish bread, it is traditionally filled with cinnamon or chocolate. This version from Joshua Weissman is filled with chocolate, and it is a brioche bread base. The result is a crisp crust with a light and fluffy interior. Amazing!

My daughter and I are amateur bakers (at best) when it comes to bread making, but we love doing it, and we love sharing our recipes with our family and friends, and you guys! We are always on the lookout for new cooking channels on Youtube which is part of the things we like to do together, just watch recipe videos… a lot of them, and then try to make the recipes we like best. We stumbled upon Joshua’s channel last year and have become fans ever since. Not only do we think his videos are entertaining, but we love how he carefully explains every step in his recipes. So, if we could make this babka recipe, so can you!

We are leaving the link to the video here, so you can watch it too. The steps to make the recipe are below, but if it gets confusing, the video is easy to follow. We love that these recipes are given in grams and milliliters, using a scale to measure your ingredients is key in successful baking.

This is the first recipe we made in our new kitchen after we moved to our new place. So, it’s kind of special because of it and we had a lot of fun making this bread. It was important for us to start “breaking in” the new place and start to make it feel like home, and what better way to do it than get it filled with the smell of homemade bread?

The only tip we have for you regarding this recipe is that when making the chocolate filling, we had a little trouble spreading it over the dough. We mentioned we are amateur bakers, right? So, it probably took us a little longer to get the dough formed into a square, and the filling got a little stiff. Since it is so quick to make, next time we would probably roll out the dough first and pop it in the fridge while we make the filling. Let it cool down so you don’t melt the butter in the dough, but make sure it is nice and spreadable when you need to use it. That’s it.

The result, well. It doesn’t look as nice as Joshua’s babka, but the flavor was amazing, the two loaves were gone during the weekend, and we will definitely bake them again.

Helga

Chocolate Babka

Recipe from Joshua Weissman
Yields: 2 loaves

Ingredients, for the dough:
3 ⅓ cup (530g) all-purpose flour
½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
3 teaspoons (10g) instant yeast
¾ cup (175g) lukewarm water (90ºF)
3 large eggs
10 tablespoons (150g) unsalted butter, room temp
¾ teaspoon (3g) fine sea salt
neutral tasting oil for greasing

Ingredients, for the chocolate paste:
6.5 oz (180g) dark chocolate (70 percent or higher)
½ cup (120g) unsalted butter
¾ cup (105g) powdered sugar
½ cup plus 1 tbsp (42g) cocoa powder
small pinch of salt

Ingredients, for the syrup:
⅓ cup (80g) water
⅓ cup (72g) sugar

Procedure:

Add the yeast to the lukewarm water, and mix until combined. Let it bloom for about 8 minutes.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the all-purpose flour, sugar, salt. First, mix by hand to make sure everything is incorporated. Add the hook attachment to your stand mixer and turn it on to medium-low speed. Add the eggs and bloomed yeast mixture.
Let the mixer run until it begins to form a dough, you will need to stop the mixer to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula from time to time. If for some reason, you find that the mixture is not forming into a dough, you can add a tablespoon of water and continue to mix. You will get there.
Once it forms a dough, you will add the room temperature butter, a spoonful at a time, keeping the mixer at medium speed until you have incorporated all of it. As necessary, scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Let it continue mixing for about 8-10 minutes until the dough is completely smooth.
Lightly oil the bottom and sides of a large bowl. Then place your brioche dough in it and cover with plastic wrap. Let it sit in the refrigerator overnight. It should be in the fridge for at least 12 hours, and leaving it for 24 hours is ok.
Lightly grease two 9-x-5-inch loaf pans, and dust with flour.
To make the chocolate filling: In a medium pot, add the butter and chopped chocolate. Let it melt, and when completely melted add in the cocoa powder and powdered sugar. Whisk until smooth.
Back to your dough, take it out of the refrigerator and divide into two. Put back one half in the fridge.
Flour your work surface, shape it into a disk and try to roll it out into a square. Spread the chocolate filling on the rolled-out dough leaving a border of 1 inch on the edges.
Brush the edge of the dough with water, so it adheres when you roll it.
Start rolling, from the longer side until you form a tube. Try to shape it out, and push the edges in.
Cut the tube in half, lengthwise with a sharp knife.
Pinch the ends together and fold each side over the other (like a braid) until you reach the other end and pinch those together.
Place the braid into the loaf pan and let it proof for 1 hour while covered with a damp towel. You will keep this at room temperature. Repeat the entire process with the other half of the dough to form your second loaf.
After 1 hour of proofing. Pre-heat oven to 375ºF and bake for 25-30 or until they are golden brown on top, and if you insert a toothpick it comes out clean.
While the loaves bake, make the syrup by mixing sugar and water together in a pot over medium heat, and just bring it to heat until all the sugar is dissolved. Set it aside.
When the loaves come out of the oven and immediately brush them with the syrup. Use up all the glaze.

Have you made this recipe? Please let me know how it turned out for you! Leave a comment below and share a picture with the hashtag #thefoodieskitchen!

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