Babka

To make the dough: place milk in a saucepan and gently warm while adding in the butter blocks. As they start to melt turn off heat and swirl in the rest until all the butter has melted. Set aside to cool slightly. You don’t want to pour this in too hot.

In a stand mixer ( or big bowl if you are kneading by hand) whisk 2 cups of the flour with the sugar, salt and yeast.

When the milk/butter mixture is just warm to the touch ( you should be able to keep your finger in the milk for at least 5 seconds) pour it into the beating dry ingredients. Add your egg as the whisk continues for 1 minute. Then add your remaining 1 1/4 cup flour. At this point it is a good idea to switch to the dough attachment and continue mixing for 5 minutes. The mixture should form a ball of soft, slightly sticky dough. When it leaves the sides of the bowl with the rotations, switch off the machine and place your ball of dough in a bowl that it can prove in. Place a damp towel on top and put the bowl in a warm place or in a low 50 degree oven for 1 hour to double in size.

When the dough has doubled after an hour, place it on a clean, generously floured surface and roll out in a large rectangle until the dough is evenly about 4 mm thick all around. It doesn’t matter if your edges aren’t straight- they will  be rolled up. Let the dough rest and make the chocolate filling.

To make the chocolate filling: place a steel bowl over a saucepan of boiling water. Melt the chocolate and the butter together constantly stirring to get rid of lumps. When it is all melted add 2 tablespoons of sifted icing sugar and stir. It’s okay if the mixture is slightly grainy but you do not want it dry. If this happens slowly heat it up and add tiny additions of milk and butter  until it smooths out. A dry chocolate spread will not stick the layers of dough together. You can always use a store bought chocolate spread if you don’t fancy making your own.

Roughly chop the pistachios but chop the apricots more finely. When apricots are baked they become very tart- so you only want pops of tartness in the sweet babka and not whole sour bits.

Spread the chocolate paste onto the entire surface of the dough leaving a 5 mm gap to the edges. Sprinkle the nuts evenly and the apricot on top of that. Roll up the dough like a roulade from one side to the other as tightly as possible.

To shape your stuffed dough sausage, cut right down the middle of it with a very sharp serrated knife to expose the layers of deliciousness. Simply twist the two cut pieces twice or three times over themselves then tuck the ends under the whole loaf. Pick up the whole babka and place it in an ovenproof Le Creuset dish.

Place the babka in a 180 degree ( or 160 degree fan forced) oven and bake for 40 minutes.

When you take it out of the oven, allow it to cool and soak up any melted b utter that remains in the dish.

Recipe and image by Baek Zine.