Chocolate Babka

When I had made two batches of hot cross buns at Easter, it was enough to last us some time and I sought more Easter baking challenges.  The supermarket magazine had a recipe for a chocolate babka.  It is something I have always wanted to bake.  This seemed a good time to try it.  It was not smooth sailing as I prepared it but it I took great satisfaction in how good it tasted.  I have shared my challenges in the photos and the text so if you want to try this recipe, I hope these reflections will help.

This was a long process but I was on holidays and had time.  I started at 12pm and finished about 10 hours later.  The great thing about bread is that once you have gathered a dough together, if you hate waste as much as I do, you just keep going until there is a baked loaf, even if it doesn't go as expected.  And there is a lot of waiting around.

And this dough was not at all what I expected.  I had thought it was gong to be one of those soft brioche doughs because it was full of eggs and butter.  Not so!

This dough was incredibly tough and firm.  I had thought once I kneaded in the butter it might soften but it was still pretty firm.  In fact I was pretty worried I had the dough wrong because it was so firm.  It took about an hour from starting to having finished kneading the dough and there was a lot of kneading involved.  I cannot say that I (or my wrists) enjoyed all the kneading.  I am used to dough that gives way under the heel of my hand but this one resisted all the way.  It never became "smooth and elastic", as the recipe directed.  The only sign of hope was after the dough rested and rose in the fridge for 6-7 hours, was when I cut it in half and could see the air pockets.

Next was the challenge of rolling it out thinly and spreading chocolate filling on it.  You can se my ruler that I used to try and roll it out enough.  I followed the recipe for the filling but it hardened quickly.

The hard chocolate mixture made a mockery of the idea of splitting open the rolled up dough and twisting it.  In the magazine it looked like it held together with the soft chocolate spread clinging to the dough but mine fell open into layers with the hardened spread and was difficult to hold together.

I took step by step photos.   While I was doing the rolling out and twisting, I had to call Sylvia at her dad's for a question.  She was fascinated by what I was doing and watched on facetime.  My difficulties amused her greatly.  It would have been good to have a second pair of hands to help but she might have been laughing too much to be useful!

I really wanted a slice of warm babka but waited until Sylvia had come home the next day.  One of my reasons for making this was that I was resisting baking choc chip hot cross buns.  I much prefer them with dried fruit.  Sylvia prefers choc chips.  So I thought the babka might appease her.  Unfortunately not.  She was not a fan.  I shared some slices with my neighbour, who had a lot more appreciation.  It was fantastic warmed with a cuppa tea.  The only way to eat the soft chocolately, sticky bread without getting messy fingers was to use a spoon or fork.  But pulling the chocolate-lined strips apart with my fingers was very satisfying.

A lot of my babka went into the freezer to be reheated in the microwave and eaten from time to time.  It was far nicer than I would have guessed from the recalcitrant dough.  A little soft - but not fluffy - with swirly melting chocolate filling.  I would love to try more babka recipes to compare but this is something I can't imagine making very often!  It is a good feeling to have made babka and I hope to make it again one day!

More chocolate yeast/soughdough recipes on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
Chocolate and blackberry pizza (v)
Chocolate, cranberry and apricot sourdough bread (v)
Doughnuts - baked and topped with chocolate and coconut bacon (v)
Doughnuts - baked, chocolate overnight sourdough (v)  
Malted sourdough loaf with chocolate, figs and brazil nuts (v) 

Chocolate Babka
From taste.com.au (originally in Coles Magazine, April 2020)
Makes 2 loaves

1 tbsp (2 sachets/14g) dried yeast
1/3 cup (80ml) lukewarm milk (I used soy)
1/3 cup (80ml) lukewarm water
1/2 cup (110g) caster sugar
4 cups (600g) plain flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
150g butter, softened and chopped

Chocolate filling:

100g butter, softened
1/2 cup (110g) brown sugar
200g dark chocolate, melted and cooled
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Sugar syrup:

1/2 cup water
1/2 cup (110g) caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence

Scatter yeast and 1 tsp of the sugar over combined lukewarm water and milk in a small bowl.  Set aide 5 minutes to get bubbly/frothy or just wrinkled with growth.

Mix flour, cinnamon, salt and the remaining sugar in a large bowl.  Make a well and add the eggs, egg yolks and yeast mixture.  Gradually stir into the flour. to make a dough  This took me quite a while to make into a dough.  I had to knead it in the bowl to incorporate all the flour and then it was a very dry dough.  Once I was ready to knead it on my kitchen table, I used a few drops of oil rather than flour to make it smooth.

Knead the butter into the dough gradually. I found I had to spread it over the dough and knead it in on a lightly floured surface because it got quite greasy.  This takes a while but the dough gets slightly easier by the end.

Place dough in a lightly oil bowl, turn dough to be covered by oil and then cover with clingfilm, shower cap or other wraps.  Rest to slowly rise in the fridge for 6 hours.  (I think I left mine for 7 hours because I was busy.)  It should double in size.

When you are just about ready to take the dough out of the fridge, make the chocolate filling.  Use electric beater to cream butter and sugar.  Beat in the chocolate, cocoa and cinnamon until smooth.  If needed, chill for 5 minutes in the fridge to set enough to spread.  When I left mine in the fridge 5 minutes it got too thick to spread and I had to warm in the microwave a little.

Grease and line 2 loaf tins with baking paper.  Halve dough in two pieces.  On a lightly floured surface, roll out one piece into a 30 x 40cm rectangle.  It feels like it will not be soft enough to roll out that wide but keep going and it can be rolled thin enough.  Spread with half the chocolate spread.  Roll up from the long end.  Chill in fridge for 5 minutes to firm.  Use a knife to slice along the top of the roll so it opens to show the lines of chocolate filling.  (The recipe said to cut completely but I found it easier to cut almost all the way through but have a small section still keeping the two halves together so it didn't fall apart completely.)  Now twist this line of chocolate striped dough and place in one of the prepared tins.  This was easier said than done so do it gently and carefully.

Cover loaves and sit in a warm corner of the room for 30 minutes.  At the start of this period, preheat oven to 180 C.  The dough should rise slightly.  Bake for 35-40 minutes or until it is golden brown on top and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.  (However, I think mine could have been baked another 5-10 minutes and am not sure the skewer test worked well for me.)

Once the babka is out of the oven leave in tin and prepare sugar syrup.  Mix all ingredients over low heat and cook for about 2 minutes until the sugar has melted, stirring frequently.  Increase heat to high and boil (I think I just stirred every now and again) for about 2-3 minutes until the syrup thickens slightly.  Pour or brush over the loaves and leave them to cool in the tin.

I cooled mine overnight and then put some of it in the freezer in slices with baking paper between each slice.

On the stereo:
Wonderland: original music by Michael Nyman