Chocolaty Brownie Babka
I had some leftover yeast from food-sharing that needed to be used up. After brief inspiration on the Internet, I decided to bake a Brownie Babka! After all, a little chocolate never hurts 😉 This brownie Babka combines a fluffy yeast dough with fudgie brownie, I would say: the best of both worlds!
What is Babka.
Babka is a sweet yeast cake from Central and Eastern Europe. Probably the better-known version is the Jewish version, which is characterized by the filling and the two strands wrapped around each other. In this form, babka is also very popular in the United States. Besides chocolate, poppy seed, or cinnamon filling, there are quite a few variations of the yeast plait. There is something for everyone!
How to bake babka?
Baking a babka is not as complicated as you might think. First, you prepare a yeast dough. While it is resting, prepare the filling. Then roll out the dough, spread the filling on it, and roll it up. Cut the dough roll lengthwise and twist the two strands together. This step can be a bit messy and you end up with a lot of brownie dough on your hands, so it’s best to try to move as quickly as possible here. Then the dough rests in the pan for a while before the brownie babka is baked.
The result is really delicious and I will certainly try Babka in many more variations!
Bake vegan Babka
For the yeast dough, you can replace the egg with about 60g of vegan yogurt and the honey with up to 70g of sugar. For the brownie batter, it’s best to use your favorite vegan brownie recipe or use vegan butter and replace the eggs with 4 tbsp of cornstarch mixed in 4 tbsp of water. Disclaimer Unfortunately, I haven’t gotten around to trying the veganized version myself yet. If you try it or know of a good vegan version, I’d be happy if you let me know in the comments 🙂 .
Brownie Babka
Equipment
- 1 loaf pan
Ingredients
for the yeast dough
- 120 ml milk lukewarm
- 20 g fresh yeast
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 egg
- 35 g honey
- 50 g canola oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 250 g flour wheat
for the brownie
- 85 g butter
- 45 g dark chocolate
- 110 g sugar
- 15 g brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 30 g flour
- 30 g cocoa powder
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
for the yeast dough
- Mix milk, sugar and yeast in a bowl and let rest for about 10 minutes.
- When the yeast is bubbly, add the remaining ingredients and knead to a dough. If the dough is too sticky, add up to another 50g of flour. The dough should be very soft and elastic.
- Place the dough in a greased bowl and let rise, covered, for about 2 hours.
- Alternatively, the dough can rest overnight in the refrigerator.
for the brownie
- Melt the butter and chocolate in a small saucepan over low heat.
- Beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla in a bowl until fluffy.
- Add the chocolate to the egg mixture. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix.
for the babka
- Preheat the oven to 190°C.
- Grease the loaf pan with a little oil.
- Roll out the yeast dough into a rectangle and spread the brownie batter on it.
- Roll up the dough from the short side.
- Cut the roll in half lengthwise and twist both parts together.
- Place the dough in the loaf pan and let it rise in a warm place for about 45 minutes.
- Bake the babka for 30-40 minutes. If the surface gets too dark, cover with a piece of aluminum foil.
Notes
Psst… my favorite yeast pastry, however, remain these cinnamon buns! Have you tried them yet?
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