Hi everyone! Lately, Babka became very popular. It is a type of braided Brioche filled with a delicious chocolate spread, some chocolate chips and roasted hazelnuts ?? The most talked about Babka is the one from Jeffrey Cagnes, a famous French pastry Chef, so this is the one I’ve tried to recreate. To garnish mine, I’ve decided to realize a homemade chocolate spread, using the recipe of another famous French pastry Chef, Christophe Michalak. The combination of these two recipes is just perfect, soooo delicious ?
For a 25cm long Babka:
Dough:
- 300g of flour
- 3,6g of salt
- 60g of granulated sugar
- 14,4g of fresh yeast (or 5,3g of active dry yeast)
- 180g of whole milk
- 60g of butter
- 36g of dark chocolate
- 50g of hazelnuts
- 150g of chocolate spread (today we’ll make it, but you can also buy one from the supermarket)
Chocolate spread: (gives 220g)
- 100g of hazelnuts
- 45g of granulated sugar
- 55g of icing sugar
- 55g of milk chocolate
- 10g of milk powder
- 4g of unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3,7g of neutral oil
- 1,1g of salt
Syrup :
- 30g of sugar
- 30g of water
We’ll start with the dough:
1. If you use active dry yeast (or fresh yeast that you’ve frozen), warm the milk until it’s lukewarm (not more than 40°C) and pour it over the yeast. Add the sugar, stir and let it sit for 10min. If you use regular fresh yeast, start directly with step 2.
2. In a bowl, mix together the flour and the salt. If you did the first step, add the milk-yeast-sugar mixture. Otherwise, just crumble the fresh yeast over the flour and add in the milk and the sugar.
3. With the dough hook attachment, beat the dough for ~2min until everything is perfectly incorporated. You can also use a food-processor or a wooden spoon.
4. Add the softened butter cut into pieces and beat the dough for 10 more minutes at speed 3. After these 10min, the butter should be completely incorporated and the dough must be smooth and elastic. The dough may still be a little bit sticky.
5. Form the dough into a ball and place it in a clean bowl. Cover with cling film and let it rise in a warm place (in your turned-off oven for example) for 1h30-2h. The dough should rise.
6. Press the dough down with your hands, wrap it with cling film and refrigerate overnight.
For the filling:
1. Roast the hazelnuts 5-10min at 180°C. Let them cool down.
2. Place the granulated sugar into a pan and cook over low heat until all the sugar caramelizes. You can stir the spots where the sugar already caramelized.
3. Add the salt and pour the caramel over a silicone sheet (or a greased baking tray). Let it cool down.
4. In a food-processor, add the pieces of cold caramel, with 45g of roasted hazelnuts and the icing sugar. Mix until you get a smooth praline. Keep aside.
5. Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie (or microwave) and place it in the food-processor. Add the rest of the hazelnuts (55g) and mix until you have a smooth paste.
6. Add to this mixture, the praline, the cocoa powder, the oil and the milk powder. Mix a few seconds, you’ll have a liquid and smooth spread.
7. Keep in a jar at room-temperature. When it cools down, it’ll harden, but don’t worry, we’ll heat it just before use.
Let’s assemble!
1. Take the dough out of the fridge and press it down with your hands.
2. On a floured surface, roll it out into a rectangle of the length of your mold (so ~25cm) and 3 times wider (than the mold).
3. Heat the chocolate spread in a bain-marie (or microwave) until it becomes liquid again. Spread it over the dough. Sprinkle with the chocolate chips and the roasted hazelnuts.
4. Start with the long side (the one that has the same length as the mold) and roll into a tight coil.
5. Cut the coil in half lengthwise, and twist the halves together to create a nice braid.
6. Check that the length is good (you can cut the edges if it’s too long). Place the dough inside your greased mold. Mine is 25cm long and 13cm wide. Cover with a towel and let it rise ~1h at room-temperature
7. Preheat the oven to 180°C and cook for 25-30min. Unmold when it is a bit cooler.
For the syrup:
1. Bring to boil the water and sugar and let it boil for a couple of seconds.
2. Brush the top of the babka to give a nice shine.
Your delicious Babka is ready! Enjoy while it’s still warm!
Don’t forget to write an email to partage@justonemorecake.com to share your pictures of the recipe and your opinions! I will add them at the bottom of this article.
