Babka.
If you’ve followed my Instagram stories at all of the last few months, you’ll know that this yeasted bread has been giving me all kinds of problems. From dead yeast that didn’t rise at all, to dough that completed the first rise, but refused to rise once the filling was added and the dough had been twisted.
Well friends, I’m here to tell you that this one is a winner. The dough rose exactly how it was supposed to and the chocolate peppermint filling makes this the ideal Christmas bread to be making this holiday season.
I used a chocolate peppermint cookie spread from my friends at Amoretti and you guys, it gives this bread the perfect balance of chocolate and peppermint. Peppermint can be so overwhelming and overused to the point where it feels a little bit like you’re eating toothpaste. Fortunately, with this cookie spread that isn’t the case at all. The balance is perfect.
Naturally, being the chocolate lover that I am, I added more chocolate on top of the spread before I rolled up the dough. You can’t ever have too much chocolate, right? Extra chocolate aside, the chocolate peppermint cookie spread is delicious just by itself. I mean, if I hadn’t been using it to make two loaves of babka, I absolutely would have been eating it out of the jar with a spoon.
No shame.
I have some more goodies from Amoretti and I’m so excited to put them to use in more fun bakes this holiday season!
This recipe makes two loaves and I took one up to the mountain with me this past weekend. A friend of mine was getting married at the lodge so a group of us stayed in a cabin for the weekend. This bread was devoured in no time at all. My favourite part of sharing what I make with people is seeing their faces when they take their first bite. It never gets old and reminds me that what I love most about baking is seeing how happy it makes other people.
Back to the babka.
We’ve got a dough recipe very slightly adapted from King Arthur Flour. It’s fluffy, easy, delicious, and the rise was perfect. I love using instant yeast as opposed to active dry yeast because I don’t have to activate before I start making the dough. I can just throw it in with the rest of the ingredients and it’ll work its magic.
Babka dough is similar to brioche – nice and buttery. The key to this bread is the dry milk powder. It helps give the bread a nice rise and makes sure it stays soft and tender. I also love using vanilla bean paste in place of vanilla extract because I love seeing the flecks of vanilla bean throughout the dough. If you don’t have any, feel free to use regular vanilla extract, but if you can, use the vanilla bean paste. I also feel like it gives a little more flavor than regular vanilla extract.
We’re throwing all of our ingredients into a bowl, mixing it all together, then kneading it until its soft and smooth. Then we’ll let it rise until it doubles in size. Punch it down, then divide in half (we’re making two loaves!).
Roll out one half of the dough into a rectangle, spread on half of the chocolate peppermint cookie spread, and sprinkle with additional chocolate. Roll up into a log, slice lengthways down the middle, twist the strands together and place in a loaf pan. Repeat with the other half of dough and let them rise for about 2 hours. It should get nice and puffy and rise just above the edges of the pan. Then we bake.
After it bakes, we have to exercise our patience. Let it cool in the pans for about 10 minutes, before removing from the pans and allow them to cool further. This bread is good room temperature, warmed up, toasted, and at the cabin, we even discussed how it would make an excellent French toast. The possibilities are endless!
Ingredients
Dough:
- 1 ¼ cups warm water
- 2 eggs
- 6 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup nonfat dry milk
- 2 tbsp. instant yeast
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 ½ tsp. salt
- 10 tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 tbsp. vanilla bean paste
Filling:
- Amoretti chocolate peppermint cookie spread
- ½ cup chopped milk chocolate
Instructions
- Combine the dough ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer until the dough begins to come together. If more water is needed, add 1 tbsp. at a time. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and allow it to rest for 15-20 minutes. Once rested, use the dough hook attachment on the mixer and knead until dough is soft and smooth. Place in a lightly greased bowl, cover loosely with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and allow to rise for 1 1/2 – 2 hours, until the dough has doubled in size and is nice and puffy.
- Once dough is risen, deflate it and divide in half.
- Working with one half of dough at a time, shape into a rectangle approximately 10” x 20”. Spread half of the chocolate peppermint cookie spread over the dough, leaving a ½ -1 inch border. Sprinkle half of the chopped chocolate over the spread.
- Starting with the short side of the dough, roll dough tightly into a log, sealing the seam. Use a knife or bench scraper to slice the dough in half lengthwise, then twist the strands over each other. Repeat with the other half of dough and place each loaf into a greased 9” x 5” pan lined with parchment paper.
- Loosely cover each pan with plastic wrap and let loaves rise for 1 ½ - 2 hours. You want them to be nice and puffy, with the top of each loaf being about ½ - 1 inch above the top of the pan.
- Preheat oven to 300°F.
- Bake the loaves for 35 minutes, then tent with foil and bake for 15-30 more minutes, until the loaves are a nice golden brown on top and fully baked in the middle.
- Remove loaves from oven and allow to cool for 7-10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
