Chocolate Babka Recipe
A classic babka recipe appeared in Craig Claiborne’s 1966 New York Times Menu Cookbook, yielding two medium loaves. Bakers often choose between a Polish Easter cake and an Eastern European yeast loaf.
Ingredients
Dough
- 500 g cake flour or bread flour
- 7 g instant yeast
- 60 g sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 180 ml warm milk
- 2 large eggs
- 100 g unsalted butter softened
Chocolate filling
- 120 g dark chocolate finely chopped
- 80 g unsalted butter
- 50 g icing sugar
- 25 g cocoa powder
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
Syrup
- 60 g sugar
- 60 ml water
Instructions
- Make the dough: Mix flour, yeast, sugar and salt. Add warm milk and eggs and knead until a dough forms.
- Add the softened butter gradually, kneading until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 8–10 minutes.
- Cover and let rise for 1½–2 hours, or until roughly doubled.
- Make the filling: Melt the chocolate and butter together. Stir in icing sugar, cocoa, vanilla and salt. Cool until spreadable.
- Roll the dough into a rectangle, approximately 40 × 30 cm. Spread the chocolate filling evenly over it.
- Roll it tightly from the long side into a log. Cut the log lengthwise down the middle to expose the layers.
- Twist the two halves together, keeping the cut sides facing upward. Chocolate Babka Recipe
- Place in a greased 23 × 13 cm loaf tin. Cover and let rise for another 45–60 minutes.Chocolate Babka Recipe
- Bake at 180°C for about 35–45 minutes, until deeply golden and cooked through.
- Make the syrup: Simmer sugar and water for 1–2 minutes. Brush generously over the hot babka.
- Cool for at least 20–30 minutes before slicing.