Chocolate Babka

Description

Of all of the breads I’ve baked, my friends love this one the most. It’s soft and moist, and the chocolate just melts in your mouth when you bite into a slice. I hope you’ll like it as much as we do!

Ingredients

  • ¾ cup milk
  • ¼ cup butter
  • 2 cups bread flour
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
  • ¼ cup white sugar
  • ¼ cup water (Optional)
  • 1 egg
  • ¾ teaspoon salt
  • 5 (1 ounce) squares semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
  • 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • ⅓ cup white sugar
  • ¼ cup butter, chilled
  • ¼ cup confectioners’ sugar
  • ¼ cup all-purpose flour
  • ¼ cup butter, chilled
  • 1 egg beaten with
  • 1 tablespoon water for glaze (Optional)

Instructions

  1. Prepare the dough: Warm milk and melt butter in a glass or ceramic bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds
  2. or in a saucepan on the stovetop. Combine bread flour
  3. all-purpose flour
  4. yeast
  5. and sugar. Add water
  6. milk-butter mixture
  7. egg
  8. and salt to the dry ingredients and mix well.
  9. Use the dough hook in a stand mixer on low speed or knead the dough by hand until the dough is smooth and elastic
  10. about 15 minutes. If the dough is too wet
  11. add more bread flour
  12. about 2 tablespoons at a time (up to 8 tablespoons) to make a workable dough; too much flour can make the dough dry. Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let rise until double in size
  13. about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
  14. Make chocolate filling and streusel while the dough is rising.
  15. For the filling: Stir together finely chopped chocolate
  16. cinnamon
  17. and sugar. Cut in chilled butter with a fork.
  18. Make the streusel: Combine confectioners’ sugar and all-purpose flour; cut in chilled butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
  19. When the dough has doubled
  20. punch the dough down and cut it into two equal pieces. Loosely shape each piece into a ball. Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let it rest for 10 minutes.
  21. Roll out one portion of dough on a lightly floured surface to form a 15×4-inch rectangle. Sprinkle with 1/2 of the chocolate filling
  22. roll up to form a long log
  23. and seal the seam. Attach the ends to form a circle and place the ring
  24. seam-side down
  25. on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
  26. Repeat with the second piece of dough.
  27. Use a serrated knife or kitchen shears to cut slits at 1-inch intervals around the rings. Cover the rings with damp kitchen towels and let rise until doubled in size
  28. about 30 minutes.
  29. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
  30. Make the egg wash: Combine egg and water in a small dish and whisk to combine.
  31. Brush the loaves with egg wash. Sprinkle streusel on top. Bake the loaves
  32. rotating the baking sheets to promote even browning
  33. until the bread is a deep golden brown
  34. about 25 minutes.

Prep Time: 2 hrs 35 mins

Cook Time: 25 mins

Total Time: 3 hrs

Servings: 10

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