Today another recipe that I wanted to make for a long time the original babka cake with easy braid and searching for information on the web I discovered and apologize if you are already aware of leavened babka there are 2 types: an Eastern European babka and a Jewish babka.
THE BABKA in Christian version typical of Poland, Ukraine, Albania, and other nations has a dough similar to that of leavened brioches, it generally has no filling but is covered with a vanilla or chocolate glaze and then garnished with almonds or candied fruits.
THE JEWISH BABKA has the shape of a braid with 2 layers of leavened dough intertwined with a dough made with cinnamon or chocolate, cooked in a tall mold and filled with streusel (crumbles), and is associated with Easter.
A dessert similar to babka also of Jewish origin is the kokosh, which also has the variants of cinnamon or chocolate but no braid, no filling with streusel, and is baked in a lower and wider mold than the babka mentioned above.
In Eastern Europe, to complete the information, there is a “savory” babka prepared during Jewish Passover and eaten as bread, cooked with crumbled matzah, eggs, and salt.
I then looked for a tall mold that would hold my babka with mixed berries and with the leftover dough, I made some small mini babkas with chocolate so I captured everyone’s tastes!
Most of the recipes for leavened babka cakes I have seen on the web are chocolate and I used a chocolate and hazelnut cream to fill the small leavened dough roll and twist it like a soft and delicious leavened donut.
After so much writing, I wondered which babka my babka was inspired by, and… the braid is that of the Jewish version, the filling is Annalisa’s, which is me, so…
How to vary the small filling layer of babka? So we can put:
– chocolate cream and pistachio or hazelnut grains,
– soft butter cream and ground cinnamon,
– mixed berry jam,
– mixed berry jam and pistachio grains….
At least this is what I would put to vary the taste of the original babka recipe with easy braid!
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I also leave you the instructions to convert fresh yeast with dry yeast:
1) The fresh yeast cube we buy at the supermarket weighs 25 grams and is equivalent to a packet of dry yeast granules weighing 7.5 grams;
2) To convert the amount of fresh yeast to dry yeast the factor is 3.5 so we have to divide the weight of the fresh yeast indicated in the recipe by 3.5 and the result will be the weight of the dry yeast we need to use for that recipe so for example:
25 grams of fresh yeast: 3.5 = 7 grams of dry yeast
3) Conversely to convert the amount of dry yeast to fresh yeast the conversion factor is always 3.5 but we MUST MULTIPLY the weight indicated in the recipe of dry yeast by 3.5 and so we will get the grams of fresh yeast needed for our recipe, so…
7 grams of dry yeast x 3.5 = 25 grams of fresh yeast
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- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Cheap
- Rest time: 2 Hours
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 8
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Polish
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
FOR THE FILLINGS I PUT MIXED BERRY JAM IN THE LARGE BABKA AND NUTELLA IN THE MINI BABKAS AND I URGE YOU NOT TO BE STINGY!
- 2 1/3 cups Manitoba flour
- 1 egg
- 2 tbsp butter (soft in pieces)
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 oz fresh yeast
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 pinches salt
Tools
#ADV
- Mixers
- Baking Molds
- Food Scales
- Brushes
Steps
1) The preparation of the soft babka braid I used the mixer but as always with more work, we can make the sweet leavened braid with our own hands!
2) Let’s proceed… I warm the milk and dissolve the fresh yeast and in the meantime, in the mixer bowl, I put the flour, sugar, egg, and slowly pour the liquid with the dissolved yeast, turning on the mixer with the hook inserted!
3) When the dough takes shape and detaches from the sides and starts to form a dough ball, I add the butter in pieces, but it is such a small quantity that… it is done in a flash!
4) Once the dough ball is formed (also add the pinch of salt eh eh) which should be smooth and homogeneous, I place it in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let it rise until it doubles.
5) At home, it’s quite cool, and I waited just over an hour to see everything leavened.
6) Now I make a rectangle considering the mold I want to use, and so I set aside a piece of babka dough sweet leavened with easy braid
7) After rolling it out to less than 1 cm, I take the mixed berry jam and spread it over the babka dough without stinginess!
8) I roll the babka and then cut it vertically along the entire length exactly in the center of the roll and wrap the 2 pieces obtained in a braid and then place them in the tray I previously lined with parchment paper.
9) Here is the big babka braid filled with mixed berry jam already placed in the baking tray!
10) I let it rise again for about 45 minutes and in the meantime, I prepared the mini chocolate babkas!
As I said above the most viewed recipe on the web for the leavened similar to a babka brioche….
I made a small rectangle spread with Nutella in my case then rolled it on the long side and cut it in half leaving a couple of centimeters at the top then I braided the two sides leaving the cuts more visible at the top.
Then I make a small donut that I let rise for at least 30 minutes and then bake at 350°F for about 20 minutes or depending on the characteristics of our personal oven.
11) the LARGE BABKA will now be ready to be baked at 350/375°F in static mode and I let it cook for about 25/30 minutes depending on our appliance.
12) While it’s warm, I glaze the babkas with a syrup of water and sugar in a 1:2 ratio and let it boil on the flame for 3/4 minutes.
Enjoy your meal!
Annalisa
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Annalisa says….
I believe leavened goods like the babka cake should be made and eaten on the same day, but in case you can slice thick slices and freeze them.
When tasting, after passing them for a few minutes in the microwave or conventional oven, enjoy them as if freshly baked…
