Today another recipe I wanted to make for a long time: the dessert original babka recipe with easy braid. While searching online I discovered — and I apologize if you already know this — that there are two types of leavened babka: an Eastern European babka and a Jewish babka.
The BABKA in the Christian version, typical of Poland, Ukraine, Albania and other nations, has a dough similar to enriched brioche. It generally has no filling but is covered with a vanilla or chocolate glaze and then garnished with almonds or candied fruit.
The Jewish BABKA has the shape of a braid with 2 layers of leavened dough intertwined, with a filling made with cinnamon or chocolate. It is baked in a tall pan and filled with streusel (crumbs of shortcrust) and is associated with Easter.
A dessert similar to the babka, also of Jewish origin, is the kokosh which also has cinnamon or chocolate variants but has no braid, no streusel filling (see streusel) and is baked in a shallower, wider pan than the babka mentioned above.
In Eastern Europe, just to complete the info, there is a “savory” babka prepared during Jewish Passover and eaten like bread, made with crumbled matzo, eggs and salt.
I then looked for a tall pan that would hold my berry babka and with the leftover dough I made some mini chocolate babkas so I could catch everyone’s tastes!
Most of the sweet leavened babka recipes I saw online are chocolate and I used a chocolate-hazelnut spread to fill the small leavened roll and braid it like a soft, indulgent ring.
After so much writing I asked myself which babka my babka was inspired by… the braid is from the Jewish version, the filling is mine — that is, Annalisa’s, so…
How to vary the thin layer of babka filling? We can put:
– chocolate spread with crushed pistachios or hazelnuts,
– softened butter cream with ground cinnamon,
– berry jam,
– berry jam with crushed pistachios….
At least that’s what I would put to vary the taste of this original babka recipe with easy braid!
VI also leave you the conversion guidance for fresh yeast to dry yeast:
1) the fresh yeast block we buy at the supermarket weighs 25 grams and corresponds to a sachet of granular active dry yeast that weighs 7.5 grams;
2) to convert the quantity of fresh yeast to dry the factor is 3.5, so you should divide the weight of fresh yeast indicated in the recipe by 3.5 and the result will be the weight of active dry yeast to use for that recipe, for example:
25 grams fresh yeast : 3.5 = 7 grams active dry yeast
3) Conversely, to convert active dry yeast to fresh yeast multiply the weight of dry yeast by 3.5 to obtain the grams of fresh yeast needed for the recipe, so…
7 grams active dry yeast x 3.5 = 25 grams fresh yeast
I opened a recipes channel open to everyone and free on WhatsApp — no notifications and no sound — which you can join by clicking this link https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaHbGIn9cDDig7Cw2x0F and every day you can read one sweet and one savory recipe!
I leave you other sweet leavened recipes that are truly delicious….
- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Low cost
- Rest time: 2 Hours
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Cooking time: 30 Minutes
- Portions: 8
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Polish
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
FOR THE FILLINGS I USED BERRY JAM IN THE LARGE BABKA AND NUTELLA IN THE MINI BABKAS AND PLEASE DON’T BE SPARING!
- 2 1/2 cups Manitoba flour
- 1 egg
- 2 tbsp butter (soft, in small pieces)
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 1/8 tsp (active dry yeast equivalent) fresh yeast
- 1/2 cup milk (about 120 ml)
- 2 pinches salt
Tools
#AD
- Stand Mixers
- Baking Molds
- Kitchen Scales
- Brushes
Steps
1) For the preparation of the soft, fluffy babka braid I used a stand mixer, but as always with more effort you can make this sweet leavened braided bread by hand!
2) Let’s proceed… warm the milk and dissolve the fresh yeast. Meanwhile, place the flour, sugar and egg in the mixer bowl and gradually add the liquid with the dissolved yeast while running the mixer with the dough hook inserted.
3) When the dough takes shape, pulls away from the sides and starts forming a ball, add the butter in small pieces. It’s such a small amount that it incorporates in no time!
4) Once the dough ball is formed (add the pinch of salt too, ha ha), it should be smooth and homogeneous. Put it in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it rise until doubled.
5) It’s rather cool at home so I waited just over an hour to see it risen.
6) Now shape a rectangle considering the pan you want to use and set aside the leavened babka dough piece for the easy braided babka.
7) After rolling it out to just under 1 cm (about 3/8 inch), take the berry jam and spread it over the babka dough generously!
8) Roll the babka, then cut it lengthwise down the center of the roll and twist the two resulting pieces like a braid. Place them in the pan lined with parchment paper.
9) Here is the big braided babka filled with berry jam already placed in the baking pan!
10) Let it rise again for about 45 minutes while I prepared the mini chocolate babkas!
MINI CHOCOLATE BABKA
As I told you above, the most widespread babka version online is the chocolate one, similar to a braided brioche, soft and super indulgent.
To make the mini babkas, I rolled a small rectangle of dough, filled it with Nutella (or chocolate spread) and rolled it from the longer side.
I then cut the small roll lengthwise in half, leaving a couple of centimeters attached at the top (about 3/4 inch), and braided the two sides keeping the cuts clearly visible.
I formed a small ring, let it rise for at least 30 minutes, and then baked it in the oven at 356°F for about 20 minutes, adjusting according to my oven….11) The LARGE BABKA is now ready to be baked at 356/374°F in conventional (static) mode and should be baked for about 25–30 minutes, depending on your oven.
12) When still warm, glaze the babka with a syrup of water and sugar (ratio 1:2) by boiling for 3–4 minutes.
Enjoy your meal!
Annalisa
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Annalisa says….
Leavened goods like babka in my opinion should be made and eaten the same day, but you can slice them thickly and freeze the slices.
When tasting, after having passed them for a few minutes in the microwave or conventional oven, enjoy them as if freshly baked…
