This online extra from our November issue comes from Arley Arrington of Whisk.
Photo by Arley Arrington
Babka: fun to say, hard to make.
Or is it?
In fact, this sweet treat — beloved by the Jews of Eastern Europe and their diasporic descendants, for whom it is a staple at break-the-fast celebrations that conclude Yom Kippur — sounds and looks more intimidating than it is.
It’s really just a sweet, dense yeasted bread that’s filled, rolled and braided.
Traditionally, babka is filled with chocolate and cinnamon, though in recent years many bakers have begun to, um, futz with the recipe, filling the dough with Nutella, pistachios and even, yes, pimiento cheese.
This recipe is nothing so heretical as that, and it aims to be contemporary without being comical. We're filling the babka with salted caramel, which I think helps to counteract some of the sweetness. I also have added cinnamon to the dough — in cinnamon babkas, the spice is generally incorporated into a cinnamon-sugar mix that makes up the filling — and toasted pecans, for extra flavor.
You don’t have to be Jewish to love it.
And trust us, this recipe is forgiving enough that even an avowed non-baker can create a showstopping, photo-worthy dessert this fall.
Salted Caramel Pecan Babka
Makes two loaves
INGREDIENTS
Dough
1 1/2 cups warm milk
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
3/4 cup white sugar
3 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
6 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
Filling
1 cup white sugar
6 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup pecans, chopped and toasted
Syrup
1/3 cup water
6 tablespoons white sugar
To make the dough
Combine sugar and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk in warm milk, and let sit for 10 minutes, until the mixture is foamy. Then add eggs and butter to yeast mixture.
Whisk together flour, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Add about 1/3 of the flour mixture to the yeast mixture, folding in with a spatula. Place the bowl in the mixer, with the bread hook. Add the rest of the flour, and mix on the lowest setting until completely combined. Mix on medium speed for about 10 minutes, until the dough starts pulling away from the sides of the bowl and springs back a little when you poke it. (It is a very gooey dough, though, so it won’t be like normal bread.)
Grease a large bowl with cooking spray, plop the dough in there, cover it, and let it rise in a warm place for 90 minutes to two hours, until the dough is doubled. (Your kitchen is fine, but in the winter, I really like to find the warmest room in my house, since draftiness can hurt your yeast.) In the meantime, make the filling.
To make the filling
Melt sugar in a small, heavy-bottomed sauce pan over medium heat, stirring only when necessary with a wooden spoon to ensure even cooking. Watch the sugar closely!
When the sugar has turned a dark amber color, and you can no longer see granules in the smooth caramel, remove the pan from the heat and add the butter. The mixture will probably splatter at this point. Stir in the butter until it is completely incorporated. Move the pan back to medium heat.
Slowly pour in the heavy cream, while constantly stirring the caramel. Everything will bubble up at this point. Let the mixture boil for a minute, constantly stirring. Then remove it from the heat, and immediately whisk in the vanilla and the salt. Let the caramel cool at room temp until ready to use.
Assembly
Photo by Arley Arrington
Once the dough has doubled in size, place it and the caramel in the fridge for 30 minutes to firm up a bit. When that’s done, divide the dough in half, and on a very lightly floured surface, roll the dough into two 10-by-14-inch rectangles. Spread the caramel sauce evenly over each, spreading all the way to the edges on three sides but leaving a 1-inch border on the fourth side (the one to the left). Sprinkle the toasted pecans over the caramel.
Very tightly roll each babka into a log, like a jelly roll. Place them seam side down on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and let rest in the freezer for 15 minutes.
Generously coat two 9-inch loaf pans with cooking spray. Remove one roll from the freezer and cut in half lengthwise, so you have two long, skinny ropes. Pinch them together at the top, and cross them over each other in a two-strand braid, keeping the cut side up as much as possible. Place the twist in the loaf pan, compressing it as necessary. Repeat with the second roll.
Cover the pans with Saran wrap or a damp towel, preheat the oven to 375 degrees and let your babkas rise in a warm place until doubled in size. Then bake the babkas, uncovered, for about 30 to 45 minutes, until a toothpick or skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean, without any dough. The bread should be golden brown on top, springing back when you poke it.
While the bread is baking, make the simple syrup by heating the water and sugar over medium heat. Just cook until the sugar dissolves, then remove from the heat. Once you remove the babkas from the oven, brush the syrup over top. Allow the babkas to cool in the pan for 15 minutes or so, then remove to a rack to cool completely.
