How to Make Babka Bread
A delicacy in Eastern Europe, particularly in Poland, where Babka means “grand-mother.” Babka is often baked during Easter in Poland, Belarus, the Ukraine, and parts of Western Russia. The traditional type of babka has fruit filling, like raisins, and glazed over with a fruit flavored icing.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup of milk
- 5 tbsp of margarine or butter
- ¼ cup of warm water
- 6 tbsp of sugar
- 1 tsp of salt
- 1 pack dry yeast
- 1 ½ cups of chocolate chips
- ¼ cups of unsweetened cocoa
- 5-6 c white flour (unbleached)
- ½ c walnuts (finely chopped)
Instructions:
- Pour milk into a saucepan and heat. Remove from heat until it is about to boil. Add butter or margarine into the milk. Set aside and cool on the fridge for a few minutes.
- Take your baking pan, and grease generously in the inside.
- Put the ¼ cup water into a bowl and sprinkle in the yeast. Add the cooled milk, salt and sugar into the yeast. Add flour a cup at a time, while beating the mixture. Once all the flour is added, place it into a floured working surface. Knead the dough for ten minutes.
- Take the chocolate chips, and grind into a food processor or blender. Transfer into a bowl and add the unsweetened cocoa. Sprinkle 1/3 cup of the chocolate chip-cocoa mixture in the bottom of the greased baking pan. Sprinkle the chopped walnuts too.
- Place the dough on another bowl. Put butter on top. Set aside for around two hours or until the dough rises. Knead it once again into a floured working area for 10 minutes.
- Roll over the dough to form a large oval to around 9 inches wide and 17 inches long. Sprinkle the rest of the chocolate-cocoa mixture evenly over the dough. Leave about half an inch in the edges. Pinch edges to seal your babka.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Bake your babka for 45 minutes. Remove from the pan, and set to cool for 30 minutes.
Serve.