chocolate babka recipe

[ellencho]

I'm a big fan of Green's babka, especially the chocolate kind, all swirled up and melt in your mouth delicious. It looks similar to this (sorry, I was unable to find pics of Green's babka):

http://www.challahconnection.com/store/ima...%20breakmed.jpg

Does anyone have a recipe out there that makes a babka that anything like what I posted? They DO sell Green's chocolate babka around here but the prices are outrageous. Thanks in advance.

Edited March 23, 2005 by ellencho (log)

[Transparent]

Oh, oh! I've looking for this bread for a while. I didn't know it was called babka.

My mother's coworker has relatives that are somehow employed in a jewish bakery/retail establishment (we're Chinese - how does that work?). Each week they get a lot of bread for free, and that makes its way to us (they know I'm a carb fiend). One of the small loaves that comes to us looks a smaller version of the babka you posted. It's also shaped in a way that you can pull off a third at a time. A recipe would be really nice.

This is actually a mishappen loaf. It's usually a lot darker and glossy. What kind of glaze would do that? It's usually better swirled too.

By the way, this is the other loaf I get:

It's filled with a pearl-white, tangy, and definately lemony filling. Can anyone identify it?

[bloviatrix]

That looks like a cheese danish.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Unless I miss my guess here, this recipe looks like it would yield something akin to the Green's Chocolate Babka which you described and which I myself frequently buy for dessert:

click here for the Epicurean recipe for the babka

[Rehovot]

Martha Stewart's site has a recipe here. I think I added raisins to the chocolate filling, but that made it difficult to roll and slice (later). Mine looked more like a badly-made speed bump than a babka.

[SushiCat]

Unless I miss my guess here, this recipe looks like it would yield something akin to the Green's Chocolate Babka which you described and which I myself frequently buy for dessert:

click here for the Epicurean recipe for the babka

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Has anyone tried this yet? Please advise. I can buy babka close by, but it is not as good as some I have had in NY and I would like to make one from time to time ... not sure on this recipe though so if anyone has made it let us know.

S

[McDuff]

Maggie Glezer's new book on Jewish Celebration Breads has a recipe for chocolate babka which I made using the Lithuainian (sp?) challah recipe. I wasn't happy with the bread itself, but that was probably my fault, as the dough was very cold and literally took all day to rise. But the filling and unique shaping were fine.

[Swisskaese]

I have a great Babka recipe. I will post it when I get home.

[Swisskaese]

Chocolate or Cinnamon Babka

DOUGH

1 1/2 cups water

2 tablespoons yeast

pinch sugar

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 drops almond extract

1 teaspoon lemon juice

3/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup milk powder

1 cup unsalted butter or margarine - softened in small pieces

6 cups (approx.) unbleached all-purpose flour or half bread flour/half all-purpose

BABKA FILLINGS:

Chocolate and Cinnamon (see below)

EGG WASH

l beaten egg

Sugar for sprinkling

In a large bowl, mix together water, yeast, and pinch of sugar. Rest for five minutes to allow yeast to swell. Add eggs, egg yolks, vanilla, almond extract, lemon juice, sugar, salt and milk powder. Then add the softened butter and flour by folding it into the batter. Knead with a dough hook or by hand for about 8 to 10 minutes, until smooth and elastic.

Place dough in a well greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap or cover the entire bowl with a plastic bag to ensure that it is thoroughly sealed. Allow to rise about 45-90 minutes. (Can also be refrigerated overnight, but allow the dough to come to almost room temperature before continuing).

Divide dough in two equal parts. Cover with a towel and rest for 10 minutes. Cover a large baking sheet with parchment paper or butter two 9 -inch springform cake pans. If making one large babka, butter a 10-inch bundt pan.

Roll dough into a 16 by 16 inch square on a lightly floured board. Spread the filling (see recipes below) over the entire surface. Roll lengthwise into a large roll; cut in half. Place both halves in prepared pan, beside each other, it doesn't matter if they are squished. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with some sugar. Place loaf pan in a plastic bag and let rise until babka is flush or has risen over the top of the pan.

Repeat with other half of dough.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Bake 35-45 minutes (50-70 minutes for one large babka) until medium brown. Cool for fifteen minutes in the pan before putting it on a rack.

Chocolate Filling:

1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips or chocoalate bar of your choice

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 cup cocoa

1/2 cup sugar

3 tablespoons unsalted butter or margarine

Place chocolate chips, cinnamon, cocoa, sugar, and butter in a food processor and grind into a loose paste.

Cinnamon Filling:

1/4 cup unsalted butter or margarine

1 cup dark brown sugar

2 tablespoons corn syrup or maple syrup

2-4 teaspoons cinnamon

3/4 cup chopped walnuts - optional

Place the butter, sugar, corn syrup, cinnamon and walnuts in a food processor and grind into a loose paste.

Edited March 29, 2005 by Swisskaese (log)

[Comfort Me]

I am a huge fan of Maggie Glezer's babka recipe. The bread is superb and the filling sublime. I filled mine with the cocoa mixture and, as she suggested, all three of her optional fillings -- golden raisins, chocolate chips, and walnuts.

I have made a lot of babka recipes, but this is by far the best. I made it because I wanted to try her unique shaping, which is much easier than it looks and really beautiful. I also liked that the loaf can be shaped on Thursday night, refrigerated, then proofed and baked off next day. Makes preparing for Shabbat so much easier. I made another batch, filled and shaped, then froze immediately as an experiment to see if they would defrost, proof, and bake off decently.

I am thinking about making another batch and filling one with a little meringue and some of my broiled apricot preserves.

[Comfort Me]

Today I experimented with the batch of Glezer's chocolate babka that I froze. I took the loaves out of the freezer at 8:30 this morning. It took 7 1/2 hours to defrost and proof, but proof they did -- beautifully. Once glazed and sprinkled with sanding sugar, they baked as beautifully as those not frozen.

I'm definitely going to keep a couple of these in the freezer at all times. They'll certainly come in handy for shiva calls, etc.

[jaynesb]

I've been on a chocolate babka search recently and have tried a few different recipes but have also been aiming for something like Green's.

I think that Peggy Cullen's version is pretty much what I'm looking for. It's definitely not pareve (dairy free) though. I'm not even sure I could make a non-dairy version since it is based on danish dough.

Here are the links to the recipes needed.

Peggy Cullen's Danish dough (makes 2 pounds)

Peggy Cullen's chocolate babka (uses 1 pound of the danish dough)

jayne

[jaynesb]

Wow, it's been 3 year's that I've been thinking of trying to make this! In the meantime, we've found a place that sells the Green's Babka since one of my daughters has been very happy about that kind of loaf.

Last week, I tried to make it again. This time, I used 1 pound of challah dough. It was Joan Nathan's recipe using 5 cups bread flour, 3 1/2 cups regular AP flour. I used Peggy Cullen's Chocolate filling in the link I posted earlier.

When I rolled out the dough, I sprinkled all of the chocolate and all the streusel because I figured some would end up on the top because I was attempting a different shaping method ( How to shape a Kranz cake )

Some of my filling fell out so after I put the dough in the loaf pan, I sprinkled this on top. The loaf baked for about 40 minutes. Next time, I'll add 5-10 more minutes.

It pretty much came out like Green's Chocolate Babka, probably due in some part to the bread flour in the dough. My filling was dairy but I believe that only minor changes would make for a pareve loaf.

jayne

I've been on a chocolate babka search recently and have tried a few different recipes but have also been aiming for something like Green's.

I think that Peggy Cullen's version is pretty much what I'm looking for. It's definitely not pareve (dairy free) though. I'm not even sure I could make a non-dairy version since it is based on danish dough. 

Here are the links to the recipes needed.

Peggy Cullen's Danish dough   (makes 2 pounds)

Peggy Cullen's chocolate babka (uses 1 pound of the danish dough)

jayne

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