musingsfromthecook posted: " Babka: Where bread meets cake. But, like, in a different way than banana bread. A filled, braided loaf, where the filling is exposed to make a beautiful (and delicious) pattern. Now, there are a wide variety of babka flavors—even some savory ones—"
Babka: Where bread meets cake. But, like, in a different way than banana bread. A filled, braided loaf, where the filling is exposed to make a beautiful (and delicious) pattern.
Now, there are a wide variety of babka flavors—even some savory ones—but I'd only ever had chocolate, so when I wanted to punch the recipe up, I started there. It's pretty well established that a little espresso powder will enhance chocolate flavor without adding coffee flavor, but I wanted to make something new, and also my wife loves coffee, so I added enough to make it coffee-y. You could, if you wanted, omit the espresso powder, and you'd still have a great chocolate filling.
Likewise, while one of the recipes I adapted from called for hazelnuts, I had walnuts, so I used walnuts. Plus, it seemed to work in the walnut-coffee cake sort of way. You could really used whatever nuts you wanted, or just have no nuts, like the other recipe I worked from.
Ultimately, this is a great great recipe, but it's also a great template for a sweet dough to be filled and shaped however you see fit. No matter how you use this recipe, enjoy!
Mocha Walnut Babka - (Makes one loaf; five hours plus overnight rise)
Ingredients
For the dough:
275g all-purpose flour (1 1/2 cups)
5g instant yeast (just over 1 1/2 teaspoons)
25g sugar (2 tablespoons)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
50ml milk (3 tablespoons and 1 teaspoon)
80g softened butter, cut into cubes (5 1/2 tablespoons)
For the filling:
65g walnuts (1/2 cup)
100g butter (7 tablespoons)
150g sugar (3/4 cup)
80g dark chocolate (1/2 cup)
40g cocoa powder (1/2 cup)
6g espresso powder (1 tablespoon)
For the glaze:
100g sugar (1/2 cup)
100ml water (1/2 cup)
Directions
Make the dough: Add the flour to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add the yeast on one side of the flour, and the sugar and salt on the other side. Add the eggs and milk, and mix on slow for 2-3 minutes, until firm.
Increase speed to medium and add the butter one cube at a time, letting the butter incorporate before adding more. Once all the butter is added, continue kneading on medium through the sticky stage, until the dough is shiny and smooth.
Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled large bowl. Cover and let rise 1-2 hours, until the dough is puffy and bounces back when prodded lightly. Then press the dough down, re-cover the bowl, and refrigerate overnight. (You could do as little as 4 hours, but your flavor won't develop as much.)
A little before you take out your dough, make the filling: Heat a large skillet on medium heat, then add the nuts in an even layer (no need for oil). For 3-5 minutes, alternate between letting them sit for about 10 seconds and stirring them around, until they're done.
Toasted walnuts smell toasty... and walnutty.
Peter, winner of the Great British Bake-Off
Remove the nuts from the pan and set aside to cool. Meanwhile, place the butter, sugar, and chocolate into a medium saucepan and place on low heat, stirring frequently until smooth and combined. Remove from heat, stir in the cocoa powder and espresso powder (don't place a hot pan on a plastic kitchen scale!), and leave to cool and thicken slightly. Chop up your nuts.
Grease a loaf pan (2 pound, probably just your standard loaf pan), then line it with parchment paper, allowing some of the parchment paper to overhang for easier removal.
Take the dough out of the fridge and tip it out onto a lightly floured work surface. Roll it into a rectangle about 40cm by 30cm (16 inches by 12 inches), with a long edge facing you. Spread the chocolate mixture onto the dough, leaving a small (~1cm) border around the edge. Sprinkle all the chopped nuts evenly over the chocolate.
Starting from the long edge close to you, tightly roll the dough into a log, with the seam underneath. Using a sharp knife, trim off 1-2 centimeters off each end to neaten the log, then cut it in half lengthwise (so you end up with two long halves that have the filling exposed).
Turn the cut sides upward and press the halves together at one end. Lift the left half over the right one, keeping the cut side up, then repeat that, twisting the halves together until you get to the end, then gently press the halves together at the other end to seal. Lift into the prepared loaf pan, cover with a clean towel, and let rise about 2 hours.
Fifteen minutes before the end of rising time, heat oven to 350F/180C.
Bake the babka for 45-50 minutes. A tester inserted into the babka should come out fairly clean; if you have an instant-read thermometer, it should read between 185 and 210 degrees.
While the babka bakes, make the syrup: Add the sugar and water to a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Reduce heat and simmer without stirring until syrupy, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and leave to cool.
When the babka is ready, remove it from the oven and, leaving it in the pan, transfer to a wire rack. Brush the cooled syrup over the hot babka, then leave until cool enough to handle.
Remove from the pan, and enjoy warm or at room temperature.
Adapted from recipes by Paul Hollywood at GBBOand Melissa Clark at NYT Cooking
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