I like to imagine that babka is some ancient Eastern European food, with family recipes hidden in nesting dolls, like secrets waiting to be discovered. But, it is a pretty recent mash up of challah bread and extravagant fillings. That doesn’t make it any less wonderful of an indulgence, with its rich dough the perfect vehicle for getting whatever perfect fillings you can dream up and roll up, into your mouth. The babka I make is a very, very close cousin to a brioche, maybe like a cousin that had all the cool toys first and got MTv before everyone else in the family did but also was the easiest to share secrets with. Fresh baked babka, where the dough has been rolled out and filled just hours before you get to eat it is a revelation.
Unlike Elaine, I don’t think there are any “lesser” babka, the infinite flavor possibilities between the fillings and the streusel toppings makes this rich bread one of the most exciting to bake up and eat. But, I am indebted to Elaine and the Seinfeld gang for planting a seed of curiosity about babka in my mind. Sex and the City gets a lot of credit for exposing the rest of the world to NYC’s amazingness, but if you ask me, Seinfeld really offered a truer picture of life in NYC- the silly things you become passionate about while living there, the quarks of the 8 million people around you while living there and the cut throat nature of NYC bakeries. This chocolate babka definitely would inspire arguments over taking a number in line, would be worth any wait and offers a taste of NYC that goes even beyond what Seinfeld offers. I would even eat if off Elaine’s head of hair. It is that good. And yes, any girl who has lived in NYC has gone on a date with a Kramer want-a-be, and no, he never pays for dinner.
babka base
Ingredients
- 1/2 c whole milk
- 1 pack dry active yeast
- 1/2 c sugar
- 4 1/2 c all purpose flour
- 1.5 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 4 eggs
- 10 tbs butter
Instructions
- warm the milk to 110 degrees (even 30 seconds in the microwave sends it up to 130 for me, so make sure to let it cool a bit and use a thermometer so you don't burn your yeast in the following steps!)
- add yeast and a pinch of sugar and set aside for 5 minutes, it should get foamy
- using a dough hook, mix flour, sugar, salt, vanilla, zest, nutmag. add in the milk-yeast mixture and eggs
- add half the butter and mix for 5 minutes
- add the rest of the butter, mix for 5-7 minutes
- the dough should pull away from the sides of the bowl and be able to hold a ball shape
- slip the ball of dough in a greased bowl and let it rest in a warm place for 2 hours, covered with a towel
- punch dough down and place in fridge for 24 hours
- seperate the dough into 2 halves, roll each out to a 9x17'' rectangle and smear with any filling you choose
- place each filled roll in the freezer for 10 minutes
- take them out, slice them up the middle and wrap each slice around like a braid, when you reach the end fold the loaf in half and slip into a loaf pan that has been lined with a parchment paper hammock.
- coat with streusel topping of your choice
- let the loaves proof (if you don't have a proofing drawer, just slip the loaves in an oven with the light on and a pan of hot water on the rack below and the door closed) for about an hour and half
- bake for 50 minutes at 350, the bottom should shound hollow when you take it out
- immediately pierce with a poking thing and drizzle with simple syrup, pull out of parchment hammock and set on cooling rack
simple syrup
Ingredients
- 1/2 c sugar
- 1/2 c water
Instructions
- simmer equal parts sugar and water on the stove until sugar is completely dissolved.
2 thoughts on “greater babka”
I love it! Wow, that looks amazing! The insider info on NYC was also fun. I remember that Seinfeld episode well!
lol the scary thing is, almost everything can be tied back to seinfeld with like less than 2 degrees of separation. the show of shows.