Flavored with orange zest and swirled with chocolate, this babka is heaven and so much fun to make. Slicing into the coiled bread feels like magic, and while it is delicious on its own, a pad of butter makes it completely irresistible!
This chocolate babka recipe, in short, combines two recipes: my friend Holly’s Challah and the chocolate filling from the chocolate krantz cake recipe in Yotam Ottolenghi’s Jerusalem . Additionally, I’ve added some orange zest and vanilla to the dough, both of which so nicely complement the chocolate-swirl filling. To finish, in place of the water traditionally used in the sugar syrup that babkas get soaked in, I use freshly squeezed orange juice.
Friends, this babka is heaven! Irresistible freshly baked, heavenly day-old, toasted with a pad of butter. Find step-by-step instructions below 🍞🍞 🍫🍫🍊🍊
How to Make Babka, Step by Step
First, you’ll make the dough, which is the same dough as Holly’s Challah with the addition of orange zest and vanilla:
After you mix the dough, let it rise till it doubles in volume:
Once doubled, divide the dough into two equal portions; then roll each portion out into a 12X15-inch rectangle.
Meanwhile, make the chocolate filling by melting butter with chocolate; then adding cocoa and confectioners’ sugar:
Spread half of the filling over each rectangle half; then…
… roll up into a coil.
When ready to shape, cut each coil in half; then cut off an inch or so of each end.
Coil the two halves into a spiral and transfer to prepared loaf pans ( see video for better guidance at this step.) Let rise at room temperature until the dough fills the pan and feels soft and spring to the touch.
Bake at 375ºF until golden, about 25 minutes.
While the babka bakes, make a glaze with sugar and freshly squeezed orange juice.
Brush the glaze over the freshly baked babka loaves.
Admire your masterpiece…
… then slice and serve.
Day old babka, toasted… heaven!
Mini loaf made with dough ends:
Description
Flavored with orange zest and swirled with chocolate, this babka is heaven and so much fun to make. Slicing into the coiled bread feels like magic, and while it is delicious on its own, a pad of butter makes it completely irresistible!
Notes:
This recipe is a combination of two: Holly’s Challah with the addition of vanilla and orange zest to the dough, and the chocolate filling from the Chocolate Krantz Cakes in Jerusalem .
A few notes:
If you want more guidance making the dough, check out the Holly’s Challah post first.
To create lukewarm water: use ¼ cup boiling water and ¾ cup cold water, which will give you perfect lukewarm water.
To create a warm place for your bread to rise: Heat your oven for 1 minute, then shut it off. It doesn’t matter what temperature you set it to when you heat it; the key is to only allow it to heat for 1 minute. This brief blast of heat will create a cozy, draft-free spot for your bread to rise.
To break up the process a bit, you can stop after you roll the dough into coils or when you place the shaped loaves into the loaf pans, cover the pans with plastic wrap, and place them in the fridge. The following morning, if your dough is in coils, simply proceed with the recipe; if your dough is in the pans, bring it to room temperature — make sure the dough feels soft to the touch and is filling the pan — before proceeding.
4 to 5 cups ( 486 g to 614 g ) bread flour or all-purpose flour
1 package or 2 teaspoons ( 8 g ) instant yeast
1 cup ( 227 g ) lukewarm water, see notes above
1 tablespoon ( 18 g ) kosher salt
¼ cup ( 85 g ) honey or sugar
½ cup ( 112 g ) safflower, canola, grapeseed or other neutral oil
2 eggs
zest of one orange
2 teaspoons ( 4 g ) vanilla extract
Filling:
- ¾ cup ( 130 grams ) dark chocolate chips or chopped dark chocolate
- ½ cup (1 stick | 120 grams ) unsalted butter
- ½ cup ( 50 grams ) powdered sugar
- ⅓ cup ( 30 grams ) cocoa powder
Syrup:
- ⅓ fresh-squeezed orange juice ( 83 g ), or the juice of one orange plus enough water to make ⅓ cup
- 6 tablespoons ( 75 grams ) sugar
- Whisk one cup (128 g) of the flour with the yeast and stir in the lukewarm water until combined. Cover with plastic wrap or a dish towel and let rise about 45 minutes or until puffy and bubbly.
- Directly into the bowl, add the salt, honey (or sugar), oil, eggs, zest and vanilla. Stir with a spatula or spoon until well mixed, then add the remaining four cups (486 g) of flour. Stir with a spoon until dough forms a sticky mass. Turn dough onto lightly floured work surface and knead for just a few minutes, until dough becomes smooth. Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, cover it with dish towel or plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm spot until doubled in bulk, one to two hours or longer depending on the temperature of your kitchen. (To create a warm place to rise, see notes above.)
- Make the filling: Melt butter and chocolate together until smooth — you can do this in the microwave at 30 second intervals or in a saucepan. Stir in powdered sugar and cocoa until smooth.
- Punch down dough and divide into two equal parts, about 600 g each. Using a rolling pin, roll one half into a rectangle about 10- to 11-inches in width by 14- to 16-inches in length. Spread half of filling over top leaving ½-inch border all the way around. Starting from the short end, roll into a tight coil. To help keep coil bound, I wrap it in parchment paper and transfer it to a rimmed baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough and filling. ( Note: you can make the recipe up until this point and put it in the refrigerator overnight — this works really well ).
- If you are not refrigerating rolled dough overnight, transfer loaves to freezer to chill for 15 minutes — this was a Smitten Kitchen tip, which makes cutting and shaping the rolls easier. Meanwhile, coat two 9-by-4-inch loaf pans and one small vessel — I use a mini loaf pan — with butter.
- Place logs onto a large cutting board and remove parchment paper. Line each loaf pan with the parchment paper, folding as needed to make it fit the pan. Trim last inch (or less) off each log. Cut the logs in half lengthwise and lay them next to each other cut sides up. Lift one half over the other and twist each around the other — see photos for guidance. Transfer the twist as best as you can into the prepared loaf pan. Repeat with remaining two halves. Nestle trimmed ends into small vessel. Cover pans with plastic wrap and let rise 1 to 1½ hours at room temperature or until dough has risen and is filling the pan.
- Heat oven to 375°F. Remove plastic wrap, place loaf pans on a sheetpan and bake on the middle rack of your oven. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Check the mini pan around 20 minutes — it will be done before the others. If the loaves are browning too quickly, cover them with foil.
- While babkas are baking, make syrup: Place orange juice/water and sugar in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and set aside. Remove babkas from oven, brush some of the syrup over the small pan, then pour half of the remaining syrup evenly over each of the loaves. Let loaves cool completely in loaf pan if you are able to refrain, otherwise 15 minutes or so should do it.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: Bread
- Method: Yeast
- Cuisine: Jewish
Flavored with orange zest and swirled with chocolate, this babka is heaven and so much fun to make. Slicing into the coiled bread feels like magic, and while it is delicious on its own, a pad of butter makes it completely irresistible!
This chocolate babka recipe, in short, combines two recipes: my friend Holly’s Challah and the chocolate filling from the chocolate krantz cake recipe in Yotam Ottolenghi’s Jerusalem . Additionally, I’ve added some orange zest and vanilla to the dough, both of which so nicely complement the chocolate-swirl filling. To finish, in place of the water traditionally used in the sugar syrup that babkas get soaked in, I use freshly squeezed orange juice.
Friends, this babka is heaven! Irresistible freshly baked, heavenly day-old, toasted with a pad of butter. Find step-by-step instructions below 🍞🍞 🍫🍫🍊🍊
How to Make Babka, Step by Step
First, you’ll make the dough, which is the same dough as Holly’s Challah with the addition of orange zest and vanilla:
After you mix the dough, let it rise till it doubles in volume:
Once doubled, divide the dough into two equal portions; then roll each portion out into a 12X15-inch rectangle.
Meanwhile, make the chocolate filling by melting butter with chocolate; then adding cocoa and confectioners’ sugar:
Spread half of the filling over each rectangle half; then…
… roll up into a coil.
When ready to shape, cut each coil in half; then cut off an inch or so of each end.
Coil the two halves into a spiral and transfer to prepared loaf pans ( see video for better guidance at this step.) Let rise at room temperature until the dough fills the pan and feels soft and spring to the touch.
Bake at 375ºF until golden, about 25 minutes.
While the babka bakes, make a glaze with sugar and freshly squeezed orange juice.
Brush the glaze over the freshly baked babka loaves.
Admire your masterpiece…
… then slice and serve.
Day old babka, toasted… heaven!
Mini loaf made with dough ends:
Description
Flavored with orange zest and swirled with chocolate, this babka is heaven and so much fun to make. Slicing into the coiled bread feels like magic, and while it is delicious on its own, a pad of butter makes it completely irresistible!
Notes:
This recipe is a combination of two: Holly’s Challah with the addition of vanilla and orange zest to the dough, and the chocolate filling from the Chocolate Krantz Cakes in Jerusalem .
A few notes:
If you want more guidance making the dough, check out the Holly’s Challah post first.
To create lukewarm water: use ¼ cup boiling water and ¾ cup cold water, which will give you perfect lukewarm water.
To create a warm place for your bread to rise: Heat your oven for 1 minute, then shut it off. It doesn’t matter what temperature you set it to when you heat it; the key is to only allow it to heat for 1 minute. This brief blast of heat will create a cozy, draft-free spot for your bread to rise.
To break up the process a bit, you can stop after you roll the dough into coils or when you place the shaped loaves into the loaf pans, cover the pans with plastic wrap, and place them in the fridge. The following morning, if your dough is in coils, simply proceed with the recipe; if your dough is in the pans, bring it to room temperature — make sure the dough feels soft to the touch and is filling the pan — before proceeding.
4 to 5 cups ( 486 g to 614 g ) bread flour or all-purpose flour
1 package or 2 teaspoons ( 8 g ) instant yeast
1 cup ( 227 g ) lukewarm water, see notes above
1 tablespoon ( 18 g ) kosher salt
¼ cup ( 85 g ) honey or sugar
½ cup ( 112 g ) safflower, canola, grapeseed or other neutral oil
2 eggs
zest of one orange
2 teaspoons ( 4 g ) vanilla extract
Filling:
- ¾ cup ( 130 grams ) dark chocolate chips or chopped dark chocolate
- ½ cup (1 stick | 120 grams ) unsalted butter
- ½ cup ( 50 grams ) powdered sugar
- ⅓ cup ( 30 grams ) cocoa powder
Syrup:
- ⅓ fresh-squeezed orange juice ( 83 g ), or the juice of one orange plus enough water to make ⅓ cup
- 6 tablespoons ( 75 grams ) sugar
- Whisk one cup (128 g) of the flour with the yeast and stir in the lukewarm water until combined. Cover with plastic wrap or a dish towel and let rise about 45 minutes or until puffy and bubbly.
- Directly into the bowl, add the salt, honey (or sugar), oil, eggs, zest and vanilla. Stir with a spatula or spoon until well mixed, then add the remaining four cups (486 g) of flour. Stir with a spoon until dough forms a sticky mass. Turn dough onto lightly floured work surface and knead for just a few minutes, until dough becomes smooth. Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, cover it with dish towel or plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm spot until doubled in bulk, one to two hours or longer depending on the temperature of your kitchen. (To create a warm place to rise, see notes above.)
- Make the filling: Melt butter and chocolate together until smooth — you can do this in the microwave at 30 second intervals or in a saucepan. Stir in powdered sugar and cocoa until smooth.
- Punch down dough and divide into two equal parts, about 600 g each. Using a rolling pin, roll one half into a rectangle about 10- to 11-inches in width by 14- to 16-inches in length. Spread half of filling over top leaving ½-inch border all the way around. Starting from the short end, roll into a tight coil. To help keep coil bound, I wrap it in parchment paper and transfer it to a rimmed baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough and filling. ( Note: you can make the recipe up until this point and put it in the refrigerator overnight — this works really well ).
- If you are not refrigerating rolled dough overnight, transfer loaves to freezer to chill for 15 minutes — this was a Smitten Kitchen tip, which makes cutting and shaping the rolls easier. Meanwhile, coat two 9-by-4-inch loaf pans and one small vessel — I use a mini loaf pan — with butter.
- Place logs onto a large cutting board and remove parchment paper. Line each loaf pan with the parchment paper, folding as needed to make it fit the pan. Trim last inch (or less) off each log. Cut the logs in half lengthwise and lay them next to each other cut sides up. Lift one half over the other and twist each around the other — see photos for guidance. Transfer the twist as best as you can into the prepared loaf pan. Repeat with remaining two halves. Nestle trimmed ends into small vessel. Cover pans with plastic wrap and let rise 1 to 1½ hours at room temperature or until dough has risen and is filling the pan.
- Heat oven to 375°F. Remove plastic wrap, place loaf pans on a sheetpan and bake on the middle rack of your oven. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Check the mini pan around 20 minutes — it will be done before the others. If the loaves are browning too quickly, cover them with foil.
- While babkas are baking, make syrup: Place orange juice/water and sugar in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and set aside. Remove babkas from oven, brush some of the syrup over the small pan, then pour half of the remaining syrup evenly over each of the loaves. Let loaves cool completely in loaf pan if you are able to refrain, otherwise 15 minutes or so should do it.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: Bread
- Method: Yeast
- Cuisine: Jewish
Flavored with orange zest and swirled with chocolate, this babka is heaven and so much fun to make. Slicing into the coiled bread feels like magic, and while it is delicious on its own, a pad of butter makes it completely irresistible!
This chocolate babka recipe, in short, combines two recipes: my friend Holly’s Challah and the chocolate filling from the chocolate krantz cake recipe in Yotam Ottolenghi’s Jerusalem . Additionally, I’ve added some orange zest and vanilla to the dough, both of which so nicely complement the chocolate-swirl filling. To finish, in place of the water traditionally used in the sugar syrup that babkas get soaked in, I use freshly squeezed orange juice.
Friends, this babka is heaven! Irresistible freshly baked, heavenly day-old, toasted with a pad of butter. Find step-by-step instructions below 🍞🍞 🍫🍫🍊🍊
How to Make Babka, Step by Step
First, you’ll make the dough, which is the same dough as Holly’s Challah with the addition of orange zest and vanilla:
After you mix the dough, let it rise till it doubles in volume:
Once doubled, divide the dough into two equal portions; then roll each portion out into a 12X15-inch rectangle.
Meanwhile, make the chocolate filling by melting butter with chocolate; then adding cocoa and confectioners’ sugar:
Spread half of the filling over each rectangle half; then…
… roll up into a coil.
When ready to shape, cut each coil in half; then cut off an inch or so of each end.
Coil the two halves into a spiral and transfer to prepared loaf pans ( see video for better guidance at this step.) Let rise at room temperature until the dough fills the pan and feels soft and spring to the touch.
Bake at 375ºF until golden, about 25 minutes.
While the babka bakes, make a glaze with sugar and freshly squeezed orange juice.
Brush the glaze over the freshly baked babka loaves.
Admire your masterpiece…
… then slice and serve.
Day old babka, toasted… heaven!
Mini loaf made with dough ends:
Description
Flavored with orange zest and swirled with chocolate, this babka is heaven and so much fun to make. Slicing into the coiled bread feels like magic, and while it is delicious on its own, a pad of butter makes it completely irresistible!
Notes:
This recipe is a combination of two: Holly’s Challah with the addition of vanilla and orange zest to the dough, and the chocolate filling from the Chocolate Krantz Cakes in Jerusalem .
A few notes:
If you want more guidance making the dough, check out the Holly’s Challah post first.
To create lukewarm water: use ¼ cup boiling water and ¾ cup cold water, which will give you perfect lukewarm water.
To create a warm place for your bread to rise: Heat your oven for 1 minute, then shut it off. It doesn’t matter what temperature you set it to when you heat it; the key is to only allow it to heat for 1 minute. This brief blast of heat will create a cozy, draft-free spot for your bread to rise.
To break up the process a bit, you can stop after you roll the dough into coils or when you place the shaped loaves into the loaf pans, cover the pans with plastic wrap, and place them in the fridge. The following morning, if your dough is in coils, simply proceed with the recipe; if your dough is in the pans, bring it to room temperature — make sure the dough feels soft to the touch and is filling the pan — before proceeding.
4 to 5 cups ( 486 g to 614 g ) bread flour or all-purpose flour
1 package or 2 teaspoons ( 8 g ) instant yeast
1 cup ( 227 g ) lukewarm water, see notes above
1 tablespoon ( 18 g ) kosher salt
¼ cup ( 85 g ) honey or sugar
½ cup ( 112 g ) safflower, canola, grapeseed or other neutral oil
2 eggs
zest of one orange
2 teaspoons ( 4 g ) vanilla extract
Filling:
- ¾ cup ( 130 grams ) dark chocolate chips or chopped dark chocolate
- ½ cup (1 stick | 120 grams ) unsalted butter
- ½ cup ( 50 grams ) powdered sugar
- ⅓ cup ( 30 grams ) cocoa powder
Syrup:
- ⅓ fresh-squeezed orange juice ( 83 g ), or the juice of one orange plus enough water to make ⅓ cup
- 6 tablespoons ( 75 grams ) sugar
- Whisk one cup (128 g) of the flour with the yeast and stir in the lukewarm water until combined. Cover with plastic wrap or a dish towel and let rise about 45 minutes or until puffy and bubbly.
- Directly into the bowl, add the salt, honey (or sugar), oil, eggs, zest and vanilla. Stir with a spatula or spoon until well mixed, then add the remaining four cups (486 g) of flour. Stir with a spoon until dough forms a sticky mass. Turn dough onto lightly floured work surface and knead for just a few minutes, until dough becomes smooth. Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, cover it with dish towel or plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm spot until doubled in bulk, one to two hours or longer depending on the temperature of your kitchen. (To create a warm place to rise, see notes above.)
- Make the filling: Melt butter and chocolate together until smooth — you can do this in the microwave at 30 second intervals or in a saucepan. Stir in powdered sugar and cocoa until smooth.
- Punch down dough and divide into two equal parts, about 600 g each. Using a rolling pin, roll one half into a rectangle about 10- to 11-inches in width by 14- to 16-inches in length. Spread half of filling over top leaving ½-inch border all the way around. Starting from the short end, roll into a tight coil. To help keep coil bound, I wrap it in parchment paper and transfer it to a rimmed baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough and filling. ( Note: you can make the recipe up until this point and put it in the refrigerator overnight — this works really well ).
- If you are not refrigerating rolled dough overnight, transfer loaves to freezer to chill for 15 minutes — this was a Smitten Kitchen tip, which makes cutting and shaping the rolls easier. Meanwhile, coat two 9-by-4-inch loaf pans and one small vessel — I use a mini loaf pan — with butter.
- Place logs onto a large cutting board and remove parchment paper. Line each loaf pan with the parchment paper, folding as needed to make it fit the pan. Trim last inch (or less) off each log. Cut the logs in half lengthwise and lay them next to each other cut sides up. Lift one half over the other and twist each around the other — see photos for guidance. Transfer the twist as best as you can into the prepared loaf pan. Repeat with remaining two halves. Nestle trimmed ends into small vessel. Cover pans with plastic wrap and let rise 1 to 1½ hours at room temperature or until dough has risen and is filling the pan.
- Heat oven to 375°F. Remove plastic wrap, place loaf pans on a sheetpan and bake on the middle rack of your oven. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Check the mini pan around 20 minutes — it will be done before the others. If the loaves are browning too quickly, cover them with foil.
- While babkas are baking, make syrup: Place orange juice/water and sugar in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and set aside. Remove babkas from oven, brush some of the syrup over the small pan, then pour half of the remaining syrup evenly over each of the loaves. Let loaves cool completely in loaf pan if you are able to refrain, otherwise 15 minutes or so should do it.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: Bread
- Method: Yeast
- Cuisine: Jewish
Description
Flavored with orange zest and swirled with chocolate, this babka is heaven and so much fun to make. Slicing into the coiled bread feels like magic, and while it is delicious on its own, a pad of butter makes it completely irresistible!
Notes:
This recipe is a combination of two: Holly’s Challah with the addition of vanilla and orange zest to the dough, and the chocolate filling from the Chocolate Krantz Cakes in Jerusalem .
A few notes:
If you want more guidance making the dough, check out the Holly’s Challah post first.
To create lukewarm water: use ¼ cup boiling water and ¾ cup cold water, which will give you perfect lukewarm water.
To create a warm place for your bread to rise: Heat your oven for 1 minute, then shut it off. It doesn’t matter what temperature you set it to when you heat it; the key is to only allow it to heat for 1 minute. This brief blast of heat will create a cozy, draft-free spot for your bread to rise.
To break up the process a bit, you can stop after you roll the dough into coils or when you place the shaped loaves into the loaf pans, cover the pans with plastic wrap, and place them in the fridge. The following morning, if your dough is in coils, simply proceed with the recipe; if your dough is in the pans, bring it to room temperature — make sure the dough feels soft to the touch and is filling the pan — before proceeding.
4 to 5 cups ( 486 g to 614 g ) bread flour or all-purpose flour
1 package or 2 teaspoons ( 8 g ) instant yeast
1 cup ( 227 g ) lukewarm water, see notes above
1 tablespoon ( 18 g ) kosher salt
¼ cup ( 85 g ) honey or sugar
½ cup ( 112 g ) safflower, canola, grapeseed or other neutral oil
2 eggs
zest of one orange
2 teaspoons ( 4 g ) vanilla extract
Filling:
- ¾ cup ( 130 grams ) dark chocolate chips or chopped dark chocolate
- ½ cup (1 stick | 120 grams ) unsalted butter
- ½ cup ( 50 grams ) powdered sugar
- ⅓ cup ( 30 grams ) cocoa powder
Syrup:
- ⅓ fresh-squeezed orange juice ( 83 g ), or the juice of one orange plus enough water to make ⅓ cup
- 6 tablespoons ( 75 grams ) sugar
- Whisk one cup (128 g) of the flour with the yeast and stir in the lukewarm water until combined. Cover with plastic wrap or a dish towel and let rise about 45 minutes or until puffy and bubbly.
- Directly into the bowl, add the salt, honey (or sugar), oil, eggs, zest and vanilla. Stir with a spatula or spoon until well mixed, then add the remaining four cups (486 g) of flour. Stir with a spoon until dough forms a sticky mass. Turn dough onto lightly floured work surface and knead for just a few minutes, until dough becomes smooth. Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, cover it with dish towel or plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm spot until doubled in bulk, one to two hours or longer depending on the temperature of your kitchen. (To create a warm place to rise, see notes above.)
- Make the filling: Melt butter and chocolate together until smooth — you can do this in the microwave at 30 second intervals or in a saucepan. Stir in powdered sugar and cocoa until smooth.
- Punch down dough and divide into two equal parts, about 600 g each. Using a rolling pin, roll one half into a rectangle about 10- to 11-inches in width by 14- to 16-inches in length. Spread half of filling over top leaving ½-inch border all the way around. Starting from the short end, roll into a tight coil. To help keep coil bound, I wrap it in parchment paper and transfer it to a rimmed baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough and filling. ( Note: you can make the recipe up until this point and put it in the refrigerator overnight — this works really well ).
- If you are not refrigerating rolled dough overnight, transfer loaves to freezer to chill for 15 minutes — this was a Smitten Kitchen tip, which makes cutting and shaping the rolls easier. Meanwhile, coat two 9-by-4-inch loaf pans and one small vessel — I use a mini loaf pan — with butter.
- Place logs onto a large cutting board and remove parchment paper. Line each loaf pan with the parchment paper, folding as needed to make it fit the pan. Trim last inch (or less) off each log. Cut the logs in half lengthwise and lay them next to each other cut sides up. Lift one half over the other and twist each around the other — see photos for guidance. Transfer the twist as best as you can into the prepared loaf pan. Repeat with remaining two halves. Nestle trimmed ends into small vessel. Cover pans with plastic wrap and let rise 1 to 1½ hours at room temperature or until dough has risen and is filling the pan.
- Heat oven to 375°F. Remove plastic wrap, place loaf pans on a sheetpan and bake on the middle rack of your oven. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Check the mini pan around 20 minutes — it will be done before the others. If the loaves are browning too quickly, cover them with foil.
- While babkas are baking, make syrup: Place orange juice/water and sugar in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and set aside. Remove babkas from oven, brush some of the syrup over the small pan, then pour half of the remaining syrup evenly over each of the loaves. Let loaves cool completely in loaf pan if you are able to refrain, otherwise 15 minutes or so should do it.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: Bread
- Method: Yeast
- Cuisine: Jewish
Find it online : https://alexandracooks.com/2015/03/06/hollys-babka/
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Last Friday, for the first time in months, Ben and I braved a dinner out with the children, an exercise that most often leaves us asking ourselves, “WHY?!” and swearing off future dining excursions with the children for life.
Much to our surprise, the dinner at Ali Baba in Troy, which began with a wood-fired, manta ray-sized, puffed, blistered and seed-speckled lavash , transfixed the children, keeping them mostly content throughout dinner, allowing us to shovel down our kebabs, smoky eggplant salads and pickled onions at a relatively civilized pace.
Inspired by our Ali Baba success, we joined friends Sunday evening at Ala Shanghai , where we ordered nearly everything on the menu — cold spicy cabbage, cucumber salad, fish soup, pork and leek dumplings, to name a few — and two dishes — scallion pancakes and fried rice — that again, along with the lazy Susan in the center of table, kept the children seated, happy and (mostly) quiet.
All of this is to say that it was nice to take a little break from cooking, to use the time to flip through some of my favorite cookbooks, to spend another few days with Prune before the library demands it back. I mentioned last week I had been loving Gabrielle Hamilton’s braised cabbage with anchovies and garlic , and this week, it’s another Prune recipe I can’t get enough of: whole roasted cauliflower with fried capers and brown butter breadcrumbs.
In the past few years, cauliflower, roasted whole or in steaks, has become a popular vegetarian entrée, and recipes abound online, some calling for poaching the head of cauliflower in a flavorful brine first , others for coconut-milk marinades , all of which sound and look so appealing.
What drew me to Hamilton’s recipe, however, is its simplicity: it roasts for just under an hour with olive oil and salt, then gets dressed with butter-fried capers and breadcrumbs. The biggest sell, however, was Hamilton herself, who notes that she can eat — “no sweat” — a whole one of these by herself. Minimal ingredients, minimal hands on time, a strong endorsement — it sounded like a winner.
And it is. This cauliflower emerges from the oven knife tender but not mushy and not oil laden as sometimes cauliflower can get when roasted in florets. Here, the head’s edges crisp and caramelize both from the heat of the oven and the oil pooling in the bottom of the pan, and the nutty crumbs and burst capers that nestle in the web of stems and spill all around the serving platter couldn’t be more irresistible.
This is a great dish to share with two or three (or more) people, a centerpiece to admire briefly, then attack with forks and knives, utensils necessary for both trimming off florets and fending off neighbors who, after one bite, will begin fighting for those buttery crumbs. Warning: There will be fights.
Day old peasant bread , pulsed in food processor:
Homemade dried breadcrumbs: Crumbs pictured above toasted on rimmed baking sheet at 200ºF for 40 minutes:
Have a nice weekend.
Description
Breadcrumbs: Hamilton specifies homemade breadcrumbs vs. panko. This is how I make my homemade dried breadcrumbs: Pulse day-old bread (crusts and all) in food processor until fine. Toast in an even layer on a rimmed baking sheet at 200ºF for 40 minutes. Let cool completely before using. The crumbs should take on very little color. Once cool, store in an airtight container until ready to use.
Making the fried capers and brown butter breadcrumbs: Although this part of the recipe is simple, the timing is still a little tricky. The first time I made it, I added the capers to the butter too soon, and they charred a little too much as I waited for the butter to brown. My breadcrumbs, too, didn’t have enough time to toast because I needed to get the butter and capers out of the pan. I’ve got my timing down now, but just know that it might take a bit of trial and error to get your timing right. I like to toast the breadcrumbs first in a dry skillet, remove them from the pan, add the butter until it begins to turn color, then the capers until they burst, and finally the crumbs just until they’re nicely coated.
It’s simple once you get the hang of it.
- 1 medium cauliflower, whole but cored
- 1 tablespoon capers in brine
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons homemade dried breadcrumbs (see notes above)
- kosher salt
- 1/2 cup (or less) extra-virgin olive oil or grapeseed oil, divided
- sea salt for finishing
- lemon for serving (optional)
- Preheat oven to 375ºF. Put whole head in sauté pan just big enough to hold it. Drizzle with 1/4 cup of oil. Season with salt rained down evenly. Roast for 25 minutes. Remove pan. Flip cauliflower and add another 2 tablespoons of oil (or the full 1/4 cup if you think it’s necessary — I find 2 T to be plenty) and a sprinkling of salt. Return to oven for 25 minutes. To test for doneness, insert sharp knife or skewer, which should meet little resistance. If it feels too firm around the core, return to oven for another 10 minutes.
- On stovetop in a small sauté pan over medium heat, toast breadcrumbs briefly, just until they turn slightly golden. (Note: If your dried breadcrumbs are already browned a bit, you can skip this step — my dried breadcrumbs are the color of panko, which is why I like to brown them briefly here.) Transfer to a plate. Immediately add butter to pan and cook until it just begins to darken a bit, then add the capers and fry until the butter browns and capers burst open. Quickly add breadcrumbs and toast until golden brown.
- Place cauliflower on serving platter. Spoon buttered caper breadcrumbs all over. Serve with lemon wedges if desired. Pass sea salt if necessary.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
