Is it odd to try to make something that you've never actually eaten before? I know I find myself doing that sometimes, as in the case of this babka.
I'd say I barely knew what a babka was (my husband is the Seinfeld fan in the family so I didn't even have that reference) until a year or so ago when it seemed to pop up everywhere. Serious Eats called it a "babka renaissance" and rightly so because you started seeing these loaves of twisted bread, often swirled generously with chocolate, seemingly everywhere.
That was all well and good but I can't say I was much drawn to making or eating babka until very recently when I saw a recipe for a marzipan & chocolate babka from Sweet Paul. Right away, I thought about my almond buns - a spin off of another recipe from Sweet Paul where I add grated almond paste and chocolate as a filling to the small-batch cinnamon roll dough I use (it's delicious!). So my brain immediately went to a babka filled with grated almond paste and chocolate. I prefer swapping almond paste for the sweeter marzipan. There is just something about a recipe using almond paste that gets me running into the kitchen! Even in July, approaching a busy holiday weekend...
So I experimented and thought I'd give this babka idea a try. I started by learning a bit more about what a babka was and how it was supposed to taste and be. Babka translates into "little grandmother" and is an Eastern European yeast bread-cake that's similar to brioche. The bread is somewhat dense, itself slightly dry, that's often paired with a moist chocolate spread filling (though there are ones with other fillings like cinnamon, nuts, and fruit...plus now we have almond paste!). The mix of sweet eggy bread with a chocolate filling is its very appeal.
My imprecise/untraditional loaf is a blend and adaptation of two recipes: Yotam Ottolenghi's recipe for making babka dough via Smitten Kitchen and the filling inspiration from Sweet Paul. The Sweet Paul recipe was almost too simple and I felt I needed to follow more precise instructions. What resulted was a sweet bread that was dense yet light, slightly dry yet moist. The almond paste adds extra chew and a great almond flavor and fragrance, which I love; my only regret was maybe not using a bit more of it!
I think 3 oz. of dark chocolate is a fairly modest amount for the filling, and you could use more if you want to be more indulgent. You often see far more intense chocolate swirls in a babka loaf. They are also often brushed with a sugar syrup or topped with streusel. I like that, at home, I can practice some relative restraint, and this was flavorful and moist enough for us. When it comes to the chocolate, using a deep, flavorful one you enjoy (Scharffen Berger 62% in my case) will give you more mileage.
It was fun making this babka! Aside from needing to plan ahead and set time aside for an overnight rest, the yeast dough was surprisingly easy to handle and the steps were not difficult to tackle at all. My family and I enjoyed having "babka for breakfast" and I still have a few slices tucked away in the freezer to enjoy another day. All in all, it was a very rewarding baking experience.
I think 3 oz. of dark chocolate is a fairly modest amount for the filling, and you could use more if you want to be more indulgent. You often see far more intense chocolate swirls in a babka loaf. They are also often brushed with a sugar syrup or topped with streusel. I like that, at home, I can practice some relative restraint, and this was flavorful and moist enough for us. When it comes to the chocolate, using a deep, flavorful one you enjoy (Scharffen Berger 62% in my case) will give you more mileage.
