Chocolate Babka (Chocolate Brioche)

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Babka is a traditional sweet bread that’s been around for hundreds of years. It’s traditionally served on Easter Sunday in Poland as well as other Central and Eastern European countries.

babka before baking

babka after baking

Babka originated in Jewish communities of Eastern Europe during the 19th century. It is thought to have derived from a popular Polish easter cake called “Baba”, which means grandmother. It is named this way because it refers to the method of baking the bread in a bundt mold, so when it’s served, it looks like a grandmother’s wide, fluted skirt.

Babka is traditionally made with a myriad of sweet fillings – fruits, raisins, cinnamon, rum for flavoring, vanilla, lemon, glazed with a fruit-based icing, and more recently, chocolate.

It is classically served as an afternoon snack or a dessert and is usually paired with a perfect cup of hot coffee!

The babkas I tried throughout my babka experience have always been on the dry side, and there wasn’t much chocolate filling to satisfy my babka-craving soul. So I created this babka recipe using a brioche dough, which is full of butter that makes the bread fluffy, buttery, and scrumptious. The chocolate filling layers each and every bit of the bread, and is made from high-quality semi-sweet chocolate to give you the perfect sweetness ratio of babka once the syrup is brushed onto it after baking.

You can absolutely fill babka with any filling of your choice, whether it’s savory or sweet, and if you don’t have chocolate in hand to create the chocolate ganache filling, you can absolutely use Nutella instead!

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Chocolate Babka

Yield: 2 loaves

Author: Yasmeen's Kitchen Diary

Cook time: 40 MinInactive time: 24 HourTotal time: 24 H & 40 M

This scrumptious brioche babka is soft and filled with layers of delicious chocolate ganache.

Ingredients

Brioche dough:

• 530 g AP flour
• 4 eggs
• 120 ml whole milk
• 7 g yeast
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 150 g butter
• A pinch of salt

Chocolate filling:

• 180 g semi-sweet dark chocolate
• 100 ml cream
• 100 g butter
• 100 g powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon of nutmeg
• A pinch of salt

Simple syrup:

• 130 g sugar
• ¼ cup (60 ml) water

Instructions

To prepare the dough

1. In a stand mixer with a dough hook attached, mix together flour, eggs, milk, yeast, vanilla, and salt until the dough starts to form, about 2 minutes.
2. Slowly add in the butter, a tablespoon at a time, until fully incorporated into the dough. Wait for the butter to incorporate into the dough before adding more!
3. After all the butter has been added, continue kneading the dough for 5-10 minutes until a smooth dough forms. The dough will be sticky, so be sure to scrape the sides and continue mixing.
4. Place the dough in a buttered bowl and leave to proof for 2 hours, covered. It will not necessarily double in size.
5. Punch the dough down and form into a ball again and place in the fridge overnight. The flavor develops best when left overnight, but if you're in a pinch you may leave it for about 4 hours.

Prepare the filling:

1. Chop the dark chocolate.
2. In a bowl, heat sugar, cream, and nutmeg.
3. Add the cream into the chocolate or vice versa and stir until the chocolate is fully melted.
4. Add the butter and stir until fully melted in.
5. Leave to cool to room temperature.

Prepare the simple syrup:

1. In a small saucepan, combine sugar and water and bring to a boil over medium heat.
2. Turn the heat and set aside to cool once the sugar fully dissolves.

Preparing the babka:

1. Butter and line two 9-inch loaf pans with parchment paper. Leave a bit of the parchment paper hanging on both sides to be able to easily remove the babka after baking.
2. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and divide in half.
3. Flour your surface and roll the dough into a thin rectangle the same width as your loaf pan.
4. Spread half of the filling, leave an inch of the dough empty for the dough to stick once rolled.
5. Roll the dough into a tight coil. Wrap in plastic or parchment paper and place in the freezer for 10 minutes for the dough to firm up. Repeat the same process with the other half of the dough.
6. Slice the dough in half lengthwise with a sharp knife or a bread knife gently. Twist and braid the two halves and stick the edges together.
7. Place the babka into the prepared pan and cover it with plastic and leave to proof for 1½ -2 hours. The dough will not necessarily double in size.
8. Preheat the oven to 350 (177ºC) and bake for 40 minutes. The babkas are done once a toothpick or a tester goes into the cake without rubbery resistance and comes out clean. They will sound hollow when you unmold them and tap at the bottom. To absolutely make sure they're done, a thermometer will read 185ºF (85ºC).
9. Once the babka is out of the oven, brush it generously with the syrup. Make sure to use equal amounts on each babka.
10. Transfer the babka to a wire rack to completely cool before serving.

Nutrition Facts

Calories

3183.07

Fat (grams)

167.8 g

Sat. Fat (grams)

100.27 g

Carbs (grams)

371.25 g

Fiber (grams)

15.51 g

Net carbs

355.75 g

Sugar (grams)

152.89 g

Protein (grams)

49.96 g

Sodium (milligrams)

1024.12 mg

Cholesterol (grams)

665.78 mg

A loaf is about 1591 calories. 1 loaf gives you about 8 slices, so each individual slice would be 198 calories.

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babka, winter, holidays

dessert, baking

Eastern European

Bon appétit!