Chocolate Babka

How to make Chocolate Babka - Rich sweet bread with swirls of dark chocolate

Course Baking

Cuisine Jewish

Keyword Chocolate Babka

Prep Time 1

Cook Time 40

Proofing Time 2

Total Time 1 40

Servings Loaves

Calories 1825kcal

Author Chhavi

Equipment

Oven

Ingredients

3 ½ Cups All Purpose Flour Refined White Flour or Maida(read notes)
2 teaspoon Instant Active Yeast
2 teaspoon Salt Reduce if using Salted Butter
1 tablespoon Sugar
2 tablespoon Butter Unsalted, Cold
2 Eggs
12 oz Milk 1.5 cups; Lukewarm

Filling( for 2 babka loaves )

8 oz Chopped Chocolate* ½ Cup
10 tablespoon Butter

Syrup

2 oz Water ¼ cup
2 oz of Sugar ¼ Cup

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Kneading Using a Stand Mixer(Option 1)

Add the flour, yeast, salt, sugar and cold butter in the bowl of a Stand Mixer / food processor/ Dough maker.
Pulse till the butter disintegrates and mixes with the flour.(but you should see the specks)
Now on low speed, using the dough hook, Add the eggs one by one.
Trickle in the ¾ cup of milk . The dough should start to come together now. Process for 1 minute. If it seems to dry add 1 tablespoon of milk in increments till you get a soft dough.
Take the dough out.

Kneading with Hand(Option 2)

Mix in the flour, yeast,sugar and salt in a large sturdy bowl.Add the cold cubed butter.
Now pinch the butter with your index finger and thumb and mix it with the flour.Rub the butter in the flour till you don't have any big cubes of butter left but small clumps of it.
Add the eggs and ¾ cup milk. Start by mixing and wetting all the ingredients. Once the dough starts to come together , add more milk in 1 tablespoon increments if the dough is dry or if it's too wet add more flour.
Knead the dough well for about 10 minute. Stretch and fold..and Repeat.This is done to develop Gluten.If this step is omitted the bread will be chewy instead of pillowy.

Proofing the Bread

Use a large greased bowl for this step. It should be big enough to fit a triple amount of the dough.
The quick way is to keep the kneaded bread in a bowl, covered with wet kitchen towel for 2-4 hours.
The easier way is to keep the dough in a covered bowl(use cling film) in the fridge for 8-10 hours.

Rolling the Dough and last proof

If in the fridge,Take the dough out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature.
Knead the dough for 2 minutes to make it pliable.Divide it into two halves.
Make a Ball of the one halve and roll it into a rectangle.About ¼ inch thick.
Spread the butter in the rectangle by leaving 1 inch space.Sprinkle the chopped Chocolate.Roll it from the longer side to make a long log.
Optional step : Keep it in the fridge for 10 minutes to make it easier to cut.
Cut the log along it's length and then braid it. Take one over the other alternatively.
Tuck the ends under. Lift this into a prepared loaf pan lined with parchment paper. Cover again with cling film or damp kitchen towel.
Let it rise for another 30 min-1 hour.

Baking

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius or 356 F.
Bake the babka in the oven for about 35-40 minutes.
Bread is done if the skewer inserted comes in clean.Also when you knock on the back of the bread and it feels hollow.

Syrup

Make this ahead of time so that it can be brushed over the bread as soon as it's out of the oven.
Heat the sugar and water in a sauce pan together till the sugar crystals dissolve and the syrup thickens.
Brush it generously over the babka for the beautiful glossy look.

Video

Notes

Ingredients

All Purpose Flour- Don't use whole wheat flour or any other substitution. The texture will not be the same.

Chocolate- Use the best you can afford. I like a mix of Dark and Sweet Chocolate. I also prefer chocolate bar over chocolate chips. The chocolate bar can be chopped up finely , which really helps when it comes to shaping and cutting.

I also like to have some fine, small and relatively larger chunks. They create a great textural contrast.

Proofing Notes

Make sure to cover the bread every-time you rest it. You can use a damp cloth or plastic wrap. Some prefer to use a large zip lock bag too.
The dough will rise faster in a warm place. If you live in a cold place, you can either use the Yogurt option in low on the instant pot or place the covered bowl of dough in a warm water bath.
To slow down the rise, stick the dough in the fridge. You can let it rise there for about 12-15 hours.

Shaping & Cutting

Use a pizza cutter to cut the rolled, filled dough with ease.
The dough plait might not look so pretty at first but it will look nicer once it rises and gets baked. I promise!)

Nutrition