This salted caramel apple babka is the only autumn babka you need. It’s filled with a homemade salted caramel and lots of apples. Add in some cinnamon and a little extra vanilla bean paste and you’ve got yourself the perfect babka. 
I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to put salted caramel and apples together in a babka. It’s one of my favourite combinations and before this, all of my babka involved chocolate. Now, there is absolutely nothing wrong with chocolate, but babka lends itself to so many different fillings. Why was I just restricting myself to chocolate?
I see lots more babka in my future. Chocolate and otherwise. I’ve actually already got a couple more recipes lined up. The holiday season over here is about to be delicious.
Salted Caramel Apple Babka
The salted caramel is such an important part of this babka. I make my own and have some in the fridge at all time so I used that for this babka. It’s the salted caramel from these macarons! You can make your own or buy it, but if you’re going to buy it make sure it’s a good quality one. No crappy caramel for us!
We cook the apples down slightly because no one wants really hard, crunchy apples in their babka. We’re cooking them with cinnamon, sugar, butter, vanilla bean paste, and a pinch of salt for an extra flavour punch. If you don’t have vanilla bean paste, just use vanilla extract. By now you all know my love for vanilla bean paste has no end. Its even in the babka dough!
Ok so this babka, for all of its various components, is actually super easy. It’s the same dough I use for all of my babkas because its soft, easy to work with, and honestly just the perfect dough.
So we’ve got the perfect dough, salted caramel, and perfectly autumnal apples. This salted caramel apple babka is truly the dreamiest autumn babka of all time.
Salted Caramel Apple Babka
Ingredients
- Bread:
- 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:
- 1 cup salted caramel
- 2lbs. apple - peeled, cored & chopped
- 2 tbsp. sugar
- 2 tsp. cinnamon
- 4 tbsp. butter
- 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)
- Pinch salt
Directions
- Step 1 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.
- Step 2 While the dough is rising, make the filling. Combine the apples, sugar, cinnamon, butter, vanilla bean paste, and salt in a small pan. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has dissolved and the apples have softened slightly, about 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.
- Step 3 Once dough is risen, deflate it and divide in half.
- Step 4 Working with one half of dough at a time, shape into a rectangle approximately 10” x 20”. Spread half of the salted caramel over the dough, leaving a ½ -1 inch border. Sprinkle half of the apple mixture over the salted caramel.
- Step 5 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.
- Step 6 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.
- Step 7 Preheat oven to 300°F.
- Step 8 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.
- Step 9 Remove loaves from oven and brush with extra salted caramel. Allow to cool for 7-10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
