Chocolate Almond Babka

On Food Sunday Chocolate Almond Babka

 

Happy Sunday Bread Heads!
There are about as many recipes for Babka as there are stars in the sky, but this one is mine! Babka are almost always twisted or spiraled in their form, allowing the fillings to be layered without actually layering them. This one is an Chocolate Almond Babka with raisins and walnuts. I also bake in cake pans that allows for the unique spiral affect.
There are a lot of steps in this break but it really only takes about 4 hours (including rising and baking time) and none of the steps are particularly hard. So if you want a really special and fairly easy treat for a brunch or tea this is your bread.
Now, let’s bake!

Chocolate Almond Babka:
Ingredients:
For the Sponge:
2 cups all purpose flour
2 packages (4 ½ teaspoons) yeast
½ cup milk
1 ¼ cups hot (120 – 130 degrees) water

For the Dough:
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
½ cardamom
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
3 cups all purpose flour
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter at room temperature.

For Filling:
16 oz almond paste
8 oz bitter sweet chocolate, melted
1 cup raisins, plumped in brandy or water
1 cup roughly chopped walnuts


Baking Pans – 2 8” cake pans greased. If you do not have cake pans this can be baked on sheet pans, but you won’t get as tall a rise.

Method:
To make the sponge, in your large mixing bowl or the work bowl of your stand mixer combine the flour and yeast. Add the hot water and milk and stir vigorously for 2 minutes. Cover the bowl and allow it to foam and double in volume for 2 hours.
Uncover the bowl and stir down the sponge. Add the sugar, salt, cardamom and vanilla. Stir for one minute to make sure all the ingredients are worked into the sponge. Add the eggs and the yolks, one at a time, mixing it in completely before adding the next.
Add 1 ½ cups of flour to the batter. Using the flat paddle attachment or a wooden spoon stir until the flour is all worked into the batter. The batter will get pretty thick at this point, don’t worry.
Cut the butter into 4 pieces. Add them one at time, stirring the dough until all the butter has been worked in (you can not do this is the butter is ice cold!). This method of adding some flour then the butter then more flour gives this bread its nice velvety texture, both when you are kneading it and eating it.
Add the rest of the flour, ¼ at a time. You will now have a soft dough that can be lifted from the bowl. If you are kneading this by hand, turn the dough out onto a well floured work surface and knead gently for 5 minutes. If the dough is sticky, sprinkle it with flour.
If you are kneading this dough with your stand mixer, attach the dough hook and knead it at low for five minutes. If the dough seems sticky (be sure to stop the mixer and check) add some sprinkles of flour.
Place the dough in a greased bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Allow it to rise until it has doubled in volume, about 45 minutes. Now it is time to plump the raisins. In a small sauce pan, combine the raisins and 1 cup of water or brandy. Over low heat bring to a simmer then remove from the heat and allow to stand until the dough has risen. Drain the pan and then turn the raisins out onto a plate covered with a couple of paper towels. You don’t want them to be wet as they will add unwanted moisture to the bread.
Punch the dough down and turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface. Using a sharp knife divide the dough into two halves. Set them aside to rest while you melt the chocolate.
In a microwave safe bowl heat the chocolate for 1 minute at full power. Stir and return the chocolate to the microwave for 20 second increments, stirring each time until all the chocolate is melted. If you don’t have a microwave, place the chocolate in a heat safe bowl and put it over 2” of simmering water in a pot. The bottom of the bowl should not touch the water. Stir until the chocolate is completely melted.
Now it is time to roll out the dough. Take one of the dough balls and roll it out to a 8” by 14” rectangle. It should be about ¼” thick. Spread half of the melted spread half of the melted chocolate evenly over the dough, leaving a 1” boarder all the way around.
It would be ideal to spread the almond paste the same way, but I have never figured out how to do it without making a huge mess. So, instead, take half of the almond paste and pinch off ¼” pieces and spread them evenly over the dough. Sprinkle on half of your raisins and half of your walnuts.
Now you are going to get your hands messy. Press down, gently, on top of the raisins and walnuts. Yes, your hands are going to get some chocolate on them. But trust me you get a much better product out of doing this than not.
Go wash your hands. Dry them very thoroughly. Now starting from one of the long edges tightly roll the dough up. Very tightly pinch the seams and place the dough seam side down on the work surface.
With your rolling pin, very gently roll across the whole length of the cylinder 3 times, to flatten it. Don’t press down on the pin, just let the weight of it to the work.
Let the dough rest for 2 minutes. Then starting at one end twist about 1/5 of the dough three times. Let it rest for a minute. Then go to the next 1/5 and twist it three times. Let it rest and repeat until you have worked your way all the way down the dough. If some of the chocolate breaks through to the surface, don’t panic that is just fine.
When you have a twisted dough, place it in your prepared cake pans or on the sheet pan in a loose spiral. This dough is going to rise a lot, so don’t worry about having it touching in the spiral, leave some space for it to grow.
Repeat with the other dough. Cover both dough’s with wax paper or parchment paper and let rise for 30 minutes.
20 minutes before you bake, set a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat it to 350 degrees.
When the dough is risen slip the pans into the hot oven and bake for 45 minutes. The bread will be dark brown on top when it is done. Remove the pans from the oven and gently turn out the bread. Be careful! These loaves are rather fragile when warm!
Allow to cool completely before cutting. When you do cut into them, you’ll find layers of almond goodness and chocolate, with the raisins and walnuts adding texture to the experience!

 

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