Babka

[laniloa]

I'm resurrecting this thread because I'm going to attempt my first babka this weekend. Actually, I'm going to attempt several. I don't want to bake them all at once and several of the recipes say that the assembled babka freezes well. I've never frozen an unbaked sticky dough before. One recipe specifies to assemble (including streusel topping), wrap in plastic and freeze. That seems like it would be a sticky nightmare to unwrap once defrosted. I would imagine that you could unwrap while frozen and then defrost but I'm worried about condensation. Any suggestions?

[Swisskaese]

For more info and other recipes, look at this thread

[piazzola]

That I know of there are two versions of babkas one is savoury(potato) the other sweet(any fruit but mainly apples or iabloko)

[Swisskaese]

What is iabloko?

I am only familiar with the sweet ones and the ones I am familar with are either made with a walnut or chocolate filling. The savory and apple ones sound interesting. Tell me more.....

Edited October 2, 2005 by Swisskaese (log)

[laniloa]

Reporting back after my first forray into babka. I'm sorry I don't have pictures -- must add digital camera to wish list!

What I decided to do for freezing was to wrap the assembled babka including streusel in the non-stick aluminum foil (I love this stuff) and put that into a plastic bag. It unwrapped without a hitch. This produced wonderfully rich babka. I'd bake it a few minutes less next time as I thought it was a tad overdone.

Thanks for mentioning the other thread Swisskaese. I had looked there and just picked a thread from the search engine to bump up and post my question. I'll be trying your recipe next time as it seems a little more straightforward then the one I tried (a variation on the Martha Stewart recipe that I found online).

[rickster]

I am only familiar with the sweet ones and the ones I am familar with are either made with a walnut or chocolate filling. The savory and apple ones sound interesting. Tell me more.....

Interesting. A little googling shows that there is another type of babka which is not the sweet yeast bread we have in North America. It seems to be a casserole or sort of crumble if made with apples.

[piazzola]

Interesting. A little googling shows that there is another type of babka which is not the sweet yeast bread we have in North America. It seems to be a casserole or sort of crumble if made with apples.

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Of course babkas come from Eastern Europe

[docsconz]

Good article from the NY Times on babka this past week.

“Babka comes from baba, a very tall, delicate yet rich yeast-risen cake eaten in Western Russia and Eastern Poland,” said Darra Goldstein, a professor of Russian at Williams College. “A very elaborate babka was eaten at Easter.”

[Lior]

I enjoyed reading the article very much! Thanks. I recall as I child I would help my granny make not only bubka but bulkalackh. I loved these. They were small babkas- individual little rolls kind of... Always with cinnamon and sugar. Never with chocolate. Best when completely fresh. A day old- sliced and toasted and smeared with butter. Hmmmm!