The Jewish Babka or Ashkenazi is a braided yeast cake from the Jewish tradition. The recipe originally included poppy seeds, cinnamon, and fresh fruit, but for years now the most well-known version is the Chocolate Babka. The introduction of this ingredient can be traced back to the arrival of Jews in New York and it remains the most famous version worldwide.
There are multiple versions of Bobka such as the one prepared across much of Eastern Europe, with the most known being the Polish Babcia, which translates to Grandma as it resembles the long pleated skirts of women from the past. The Polish Baba is a yeast cake with glaze and candied fruit typical of the Easter period. I absolutely must try this version too! If you’re curious, write to me in the comments!
What all the variants have in common, however, is that this yeast cake has an ancient history that has reached us through social media, imagine that the hashtag#babka has over 80,000 posts, each offering their own version, including savory ones with ricotta, spinach, and pine nuts. This cake will enchant you, soft and delicious, it stays moist for days. Enveloping fragrance of cinnamon and luscious chocolate, you can choose whether dark or milk. Take your time and prepare this Jewish dessert with me! Easter is approaching and it might be a novelty to serve to your guests and family. You won’t regret it! There are many versions of this recipe, so I can’t assure you that it is the most faithful to the original or that it is right to call it Jewish Babka, what I can tell you is that it is delicious and super soft.
Of course, I don’t presume to tell you this is the original Babka recipe, I have read many and in the end, I tried, combining two actually, doses from one and the procedure from another because it seemed more correct. I have already made other yeast cakes at home, like Danubio and Pan Brioche, so I understand when the times and procedures are right. I didn’t want a cake to follow for two days like Panettone or Pandoro. If you remember, I have the quick Easter Colomba recipe on the blog, because even I got tired of making it. There are instances of Babka that start preparation on Wednesday to be served on Saturday or Sunday, definitely not the recipe for me.
I fell in love with this chocolate braid several years ago but due to lack of time and often even desire, I never prepared it. It is not a difficult recipe, at least not the version of Chocolate Babka that I propose to you, but it certainly has a long preparation time. Just think that only for preparing the base dough, with the help of the stand mixer, I took about 30 minutes (15 of which just to incorporate the butter). So if you think you don’t have time to prepare it, do as I did, wait. Be patient. In the kitchen and for yeast preparations, you must never be in a hurry. Then consider the 2 or 4 hours of the first rise and the following hour for the second rise. My advice is to keep more than half a day free if you really want to prepare the sweet chocolate Babka.
I also prepared soft Braids with Pomegranate in the dough, perfect for breakfast or a snack. This recipe is definitely faster than the Chocolate Babka!
Other yeast cake recipes:
- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Medium
- Rest time: 5 Hours
- Preparation time: 40 Minutes
- Portions: 8 people
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Jewish
- Seasonality: Autumn, Winter
- Energy 637.84 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 71.69 (g) of which sugars 30.44 (g)
- Proteins 16.04 (g)
- Fat 33.59 (g) of which saturated 19.23 (g)of which unsaturated 11.86 (g)
- Fibers 3.27 (g)
- Sodium 177.77 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 125 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 3/4 cups bread flour (with W strength 400)
- 2 1/4 tsp instant dry yeast (or half a cube of fresh yeast)
- 2/3 cups sugar
- 1/2 cups whole milk (at room temperature)
- 3 eggs (medium at room temperature)
- 3/8 cups butter (softened at room temperature)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/4 cups chocolate (milk in my case)
- 1/4 cups butter (cold from refrigerator)
- as needed chocolate chips
- 1 egg
- 2 tbsp milk (at room temperature)
Regarding the yeast: you can reduce to 1 tsp by extending the first rise by two hours and the second rise by one hour. You can use fresh yeast by using half a cube while respecting the 2 1/4 tsp rising times. Otherwise, use about 2 3/4 tsp of fresh yeast following the longer rising indicated previously.
As with any yeast dough, reducing the yeast doses inevitably requires prolonging the rising times. In this case, the two rises necessary for making this chocolate braided cake.
Tools
- 1 Stand Mixer
- 1 Bowl
- 2 Small Bowls
- 1 Knife
- 1 Silicone Rolling Pin
- 1 Pastry Board
- 1 Food Processor
- 1 Spoon
- 1 Fork
- 1 Scale
- 1 Oven
- 1 Tea Towel
- 1 Parchment Paper
- 1 Brush
Steps
Take your time, enjoy every step of this recipe, and then deeply breathe in the chocolate aroma this dessert will release during baking.
We start the preparation of the Babka Braid by taking a stand mixer. Pour into the bowl: sifted flours, both all-purpose flour and bread flour, the sugar dose, and 2 1/4 tsp of instant dry yeast. In another bowl, crack the eggs, add the milk dose and the pinch of salt, and with a fork, beat them well.
Start the stand mixer with the hook and pour the eggs with milk in a stream. Let the machine work until the mixture hooks to the hook. One of my favorite moments, when the dough detaches by itself from the bowl edges and becomes a single cord. This is the signal that we can proceed with the butter.
In the original recipe of Jewish Babka, the butter is combined with vanilla seeds, I skipped this step and added a vial of vanilla directly into the bowl where I worked the eggs with milk. The butter must be softened at room temperature, so you shouldn’t melt it in a double boiler nor take it out of the fridge just seconds before. Let’s say half an hour outside the fridge is more than enough. Start adding one chunk at a time to the bowl of the stand mixer, letting it completely incorporate into our dough. Don’t be hasty, this step can take 15 – 20 minutes if the butter is too cold and hard. This morning it took me about 16 minutes for all the chunks.
If you don’t have a stand mixer and are preparing the Jewish Babka do this: prepare this recipe using a pastry board, make the classic well with the flours, crack the eggs inside after beating them in a bowl with the milk dose and the pinch of sugar. If you want, add the vial of vanilla as I did. Work until you get a soft and sticky dough. Then incorporate, piece by piece, the butter cut into cubes softened at room temperature. With your hands, you will better feel if the butter is well incorporated.
Now, whether you have used a stand mixer or kneaded by hand, you will proceed in the same way. Take a pastry board and flour the surface, pour the mixture from the stand mixer’s bowl (those who kneaded by hand obviously don’t need to do anything) and create a nice ball. The mixture is sticky and elastic, I lightly floured my hands to work it. Form the ball and place it in a bowl, preferably glass and with high edges. Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel and place it in the oven. Turn on the light and let it rise for 2 hours if you used 2 1/4 tsp of yeast or for 4 hours if you used about 1 tsp. The same goes if you used half a cube of fresh yeast, two hours of rising will be necessary, or longer if you used about 2 3/4 tsp.
After this time, we are ready to prepare the Babka filling. Take a food processor with a chopping blade and place in the bowl the 1 1/4 cups of chocolate, milk in my case, and 1/4 cup of butter that must be cold from the fridge this time. Turn on the mixer and chop everything. It will result in sticky chocolate. Dust the pastry board again with flour and place the risen dough ball in the center. With a rolling pin, silicone in my case, roll out until forming a rectangle of about 18×14 inches. Spread the chopped chocolate with butter over the entire rectangle, leaving a half-inch border around the surface.
In a small bowl, beat the egg with the two tablespoons of milk and with a kitchen brush, wet the border of the rectangle we left free from chocolate. Then set aside the beaten egg for the last step before baking.
Now the most important step of our Chocolate Babka. We need to roll the dough. One of the two ends should be rolled towards the inside, in short, create a roll as if it were a pastry sheet. Seal the two ends with your fingers so that the chocolate remains inside during baking. With a knife, cut the roll in half leaving one end intact. Practically a V so that from that still firm point, you start your braid, which we will now create. Braid the two obtained strands and then seal the opposite end with your fingers. With the knife, I then opened some slits on the braid’s surface to have even more of a three-dimensional effect. In these cuts, I also added chocolate chips, applying slight pressure to make them adhere to the dough.
Place the Babka or Baba back in the oven to rise for the last hour, always with the light on.
After this time has also passed, we are ready to proceed with baking our chocolate yeast cake. Turn on the oven with static mode at 340°F.
Meanwhile, brush the surface of our Ashkenazi with the egg using the brush. Wait for the oven to reach the right temperature and bake the Babka for about 35 minutes. Always perform the skewer test before turning off the oven, and especially after 30 minutes, check that it doesn’t darken too much on the outside. Remove the sweet Babka and let it cool on a wire rack. Our Jewish Babka is ready to be served for breakfast or as a snack. It’s a cake we can make throughout autumn and winter, perfect as a treat at the end of the day.
I can only wish you a good appetite and remind you that I’m waiting for you on the blog for the next recipe!
Cinnamon: I haven’t forgotten the cinnamon, but I don’t like it at all, so it’s not included in my recipe. But if you want to add it to your preparation of the Jewish Babka, no one forbids you; indeed, it will resemble even more the classic and widespread version. You should add it in the mixer when chopping the chocolate with butter. About 1 tbsp should be enough. Or at least, that’s what the dose was indicated in the four recipes I read before preparing my version of the Babka.
Preservation of Jewish Babka:
This chocolate braided yeast cake remains soft for a few days, better if stored in an airtight cake container or covered with plastic wrap. I admit we are greedy, and so it was already gone after two days.
Variations of Babka:
As mentioned earlier, there are many variations. In doses, in rising times, up to the myriad of taste and flavor combinations we can give to Babka. Starting from Baba with poppy seeds, cinnamon, and dried fruit, passing from the Polish Babcia with glaze and candied fruit, ending with chocolate and cinnamon. By extending rising times, you can then reduce the grams of yeast. In short, you will just need to experiment to find your favorite version of Babka. I will obviously continue to try for the pure pleasure and discovery.
