Sensational enriched dough, with rich chocolate and tahini filling. Babka looks difficult to make, but trust me it's an absolute joy to make. I actually accidentally picked up the orange flavoured Green and Blacks chocolate, but this was definitely a happy accident. Please, do not use chocolate that is under 60% cocoa, or Terry's chocolate orange (god help me) its not designed to be cooked with. The dark chocolate with the brown sugar gives the babka a real depth in flavour. The tahini gives the filling roundness in flavour, making the Babka not too sweet and sickly. Please feel free to adapt the recipe to your taste, use peanut butter instead of tahini, add in chopped nuts, if you have a nut allergy then scrap the nuts and make it with just chocolate, still divine! I found the babka turns stale and crispy after a day, but just slice yourself off a thicc slice and pop it in the microwave for 30 seconds or so. Heaven.
Ingredients:
Dough:
275g plain flour
5g fast-action dried yeast
25g caster sugar
½ tsp fine salt
2 eggs, beaten
50ml milk
80g unsalted butter, cubed and softened
For the filling:
100g unsalted butter
150g brown sugar
80g orange flavoured dark chocolate , chopped (optional orange flavour)
40g cocoa powder
1 Tbsp tahini
Glaze:
2 tbsp caster sugar
2 tbsp water
chopped pistachios to decorate
Step 1
Place the butter, sugar and chocolate in a pan and melt very slowly over a low heat, stirring until smooth and combined. Remove from the heat and stir in the cocoa powder. Pour into a bowl and leave to cool and thicken slightly. You need to make sure the mixture is cool before you spread it on the dough later. I learnt this the hard way!
Step 2
Meanwhile, make the dough. Tip the flour into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, add the yeast to one side of the bowl and the sugar and salt to the other side.
Step 3
Make a well in the centre and pour in the eggs and milk, then mix on slow speed for 2–3 minutes, until firm.
Step 4
Increase the speed to medium and add the butter, a little at a time. Mix well between each addition, to make sure all of the butter is incorporated.
Step 5
Once you have added all the butter, continue kneading with the dough hook on medium speed through the sticky stage, until you have a ball of smooth, silky, shiny dough.
The dough should stretch without tearing easily.
Step 6 Lightly flour a work surface and roll out the dough to a 40 x 30cm rectangle, with a long edge closest to you.
Step 7 Spread the cooled chocolate mixture over the dough, leaving a 1cm border all around.
Step 8
Starting from the long edge closest to you, roll up the dough into a tight spiral, with the seam underneath. This is messy, but just go with it.
Step 9
Using a large, sharp knife or a pizza cutter, slice lengthways, down through the middle of the dough, cutting it into 2 long pieces.
Step 10 With the cut-sides facing upwards, gently press the top end of each half together to seal, then lift the right half over the left half, followed by the left half over the right half. Repeat, twisting the dough to make a two-stranded plait, then gently press the bottom ends together to seal. If your log is too long to fit in the tin, just join the two end of the log together to make one large loaf.
Step 11 Carefully lift the loaf into the lined tin and cover with a clean tea towel (or place in a proving bag, if you have one). Leave at room temperature for about 2 hours (or in a proving drawer for 1 hour), until doubled in size.
Step 12 Fifteen minutes before the end of the proving time, heat the oven to 19
0°C/170°C fan/Gas 5.
Step 13 When the babka has proved, bake it for 15 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 170°C/150°C fan/Gas 3 and cook for a further 25–30 minutes.
Step 14 While the babka is baking, make the syrup. Tip the sugar and 100ml water into a small pan, bring to the boil over a medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Reduce the heat and simmer, without stirring, for 5 minutes, until syrupy.
Step 15 When the babka is ready, transfer it in the tin to a wire rack. Brush the syrup over the hot babka, then leave in the tin until warm enough to handle. Turn out onto the wire rack and serve warm or at room temperature. Make a cuppa and, if you're greedy like me, munch your way through the whole loaf in 2 days...
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