Brioche Babka

I loved the idea of making babka. It is just that every single time I looked up recipes and researched, I seemed to get exhausted from the sheer number of steps involved. Lots of work to prepare the bread dough, then multiple fillings, then sometimes a streusel layer (delicious but soul-crushing to make after you have made the rest of any recipe) on top. It was so daunting. And I make sourdough regularly that takes three days. So I just didn’t make it. Then one night, on a random weeknight, I had the easiest brioche dough sitting in the fridge waiting to be turned into something and my mind flashed to babka. So I looked up a few recipes again and yes, they were enriched doughs. In fact, almost brioche with a few differing amounts. Why couldn’t I use the brioche I love and fill with things all the time to make a babka?

I could! So next to the filling. I am a sucker for chocolate cinnamon, so I knew my babka would have both. But several babka recipes had orange zest in the dough and since my dough didn’t have orange zest because it didn’t know it was going to be a babka when it came together, I decided I would add orange to the filling too. It was amazing. I know chocolate and orange is a thing people like, but I was never that big of a fan really. Until then. I was hooked hard.

The last addition to the babka is syrup you pour over the top. I wasn’t sure this was necessary (and it isn’t really), but it is awfully lovely. And it really only takes about two minutes to stir together so I think it is an easy add. And way, way easier than streusel. This filling and syrup is largerly adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi’s famed Chocolate Babka from his cookbook Jerusalem.

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Brioche Babka

Chocolate, orange and cinnamon all come together in a showy breakfast, dessert, or tea time loaf that is makes a show-stopping gift to anyone, even yourself.

Servings 2 Loaves

Ingredients

Brioche Dough

  • 3/4 cup water warm but not hot to the touch. Under 110 degrees F if using your instant-read thermometer.
  • 1 3/4 teaspoons yeast
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt I use Morton salt–and it tends to be saltier than diamond
  • 4 eggs
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 3/4 cup or 1.5 sticks butter melted and cooled to room temp or slightly warmer
  • 3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

Filling

  • 6 ounces chopped or chunked dark chocolate
  • 1/2 cup or 1 stick of butter
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 1/3 cup cocoa
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • Zest of 1/2 orange

Syrup

  • 1/3 cup water
  • 6 Tablespoons sugar
  • zest of 1/2 orange (other half of the one above)

Instructions

Make the brioche dough

  1. Mix everything but the flour together in a larger bowl until the eggs and honey are well incorporated. Dump in the flour and stir together. It will look kind of lumpy and a lovely dark yellow color from the eggs and the honey. Make sure the flour is fully incorporated and the bread is fully together, albeit very sticky. Cover with plastic wrap and let it sit at room temp for two hours. After two hours, put the covered dough in the fridge. So easy right?

  2. As soon as the dough is chilled, it is usable, but you can leave this dough in the fridge for up to 3-5 days.

Make the filling

  1. Melt the chocolate and butter together in the microwave in short spurts of no more than 20 seconds at a go, stirring between. Chocolate can burn quickly and will hold its shape often even when melted, so stirring between 20-second bursts is a must. Add in powdered sugar, cocoa and zest and stir until it is a thicker filling, but easily spreadable.

Assemble the bread

  1. Generously butter two loaf pans and set aside.

  2. Divide the dough in half, and roll out one of the halves on a generously floured board into an 8×16 inch rectangle. The dough is sticky, so it is best to leave the other half of the dough in the fridge while working and to work quickly.

  3. Spread 1/2 of the chocolate filling over the dough, leaving about a 1/2 inch space on the long sides (this will be the ends of the loaves) Roll the dough up, starting at the small end so you have a log about 8 inches long. Place in the refrigerator and repeat the steps with the other half of the dough and refrigerate your second log while you take the first one out to assemble and place in your pans.

  4. Using a sharp, long and serrated knife, cut as cleanly as you can lengthwise down the dough. I have tried cutting it horizontal to the table and also cutting perpendicular down toward the board. Both have advantages and disadvantages. Just do what you can to cut cleanly and quickly. You want to try to avoid the rolls fanning open if you can help it, but even if they do it will be fine. This is always a challenge. The dough often looks smooshed and messy. Don't fret–they will still look great and taste amazing.

  5. Then take the two half logs that are cut and place next to each other and gently wrap the two around each other, lifting one over the other ins a simple twist with the cut side always facing up. Gently place in the buttered pan and repeat with the other log.

  6. Let rise for about 1.5 hours at room temp.

Bake the bread

  1. Preheat oven to 350 and bake the risen babka for about 40-45 minutes until they feel light and are gorgeously browned. You can tap the bottom of the bread (out of the pan) and if it sounds/feels hollow, it is a good indication the bread is done. You will want to pop the bread back in after so you can apply the syrup without making a huge mess on the counter.

Prepare the syrup and baste the breads

  1. While the bread is baking, mix the sugar and water together and heat slightly (on the stove or very briefly in the microwave). Stir in the zest from the rest of the orange and allow to sit.

  2. As soon as the bread comes out of the oven, brush the syrup over the entire tops of the bread. You can then evenly pour any remaining syrup on the babka and let cool in the pans until you can easily handle and turn out the babkas. The cooler the bread is before slicing, the cleaner the cuts will be, but the bread is so fantastic when it is still a bit warm, no one will blame you for diving in before it is completely cool.