Chocolate Orange Babka Recipes

CHOCOLATE ORANGE BABKA

Steps:

• Heat the milk in a small pan over a low heat until warm, but not hot. Set aside. Put the flour into the bowl of a stand mixer. Add ½ tsp salt to one side of the bowl and the sugar and yeast to the other. Mix each side into the flour with your hands, then using the dough hook attachment until fully combined.
• Pour in the warm milk, then, with the mixer on medium, add the eggs one at a time. Keep mixing the dough for 10 mins until smooth, then gradually add the butter, one or two cubes at a time, until fully incorporated, about 5-8 mins. Scrape down the sides of the bowl - the dough will be very soft.
• Scrape the dough into a large bowl, cover with a clean tea towel and leave to rise for 1 hr 30 mins-2 hrs until doubled in size. Once doubled, chill for 1 hr.
• Line a large baking sheet with baking parchment and set aside. To make the filling, put all the filling ingredients and a large pinch of sea salt flakes in a small saucepan over a low-medium heat, stirring continuously until everything has melted together. Transfer to a bowl, leave to cool completely, then transfer to the fridge and chill for 40 mins, stirring every 20 mins until the mixture has thickened but is still spreadable.
• Remove the dough from the fridge, and roll out on a lightly floured surface to a roughly 70 x 40cm rectangle. Spread the filling evenly over the dough using a spatula or palette knife. With a shorter end closest to you, roll the dough up into a tight sausage. Transfer to a board, seam-side down, and cut in half across the length so you have two long pieces. Lay the two pieces out in front of you, parallel to one another, and cross them over each other along the length in a plait-like pattern. Curl into a circle and join the ends to make a wreath, then carefully transfer to the lined sheet.
• Cover with a tea towel and leave to rise for 1 hr until doubled in size. Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and bake the babka for 35-40 mins until golden.
• For the syrup, simmer the sugar, orange juice and zest over a high heat for 5-10 mins until thickened. Brush the babka with the warm syrup. Strain the candied orange zest and scatter over the babka. Serve warm, or leave to cool completely, then keep wrapped. Will keep wrapped at room temperature for up to three days.

CHOCOLATE BABKA

Steps:

• In a large bowl, mix 2 cups flour, sugar, yeast and salt. Cut in butter until crumbly. In a small saucepan, heat water to 120°-130°; stir into dry ingredients. Stir in eggs and yolk, orange zest and enough remaining flour to form a soft dough (dough will be sticky)., Turn dough onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight., Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface; divide in half. Roll each half into a 12x10-in. rectangle. For filling, in a microwave, melt butter and chocolate chips; stir until smooth. Stir in confectioners' sugar, cocoa and salt. Spread filling to within 1/2 in. of edges. Roll up jelly-roll style, starting with a long side; pinch seam and ends to seal., Using a sharp knife, cut each roll lengthwise in half; carefully turn each half cut side up. Loosely twist strips around each other, keeping cut surfaces facing up; pinch ends together to seal. Place in 2 greased 9x5-in. loaf pans, cut side up. Cover with kitchen towels; let rise in a warm place until almost doubled, about 1 hour. Preheat oven to 375°., Bake until golden brown, 35-45 minutes, tenting with foil halfway through baking. Meanwhile, in a saucepan, combine sugar and water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, 10 minutes. Brush over warm babka. Cool 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.

CHOCOLATE BABKA

Steps:

• Warm the milk and melt 1/4 cup butter in a glass or ceramic bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds, or on the stovetop in a saucepan. Combine the bread flour, 2 cups all-purpose flour, yeast, and 1/4 cup sugar. Add the water, the milk-butter mixture, the egg, and the salt to the dry ingredients and mix well.
• Use the dough hook in a stand mixer on low speed or knead the dough by hand until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 15 minutes. If the dough is too wet, add more bread flour, about 2 tablespoonfuls 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, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
• Make the chocolate filling and the streusel while the dough is rising. For the filling, stir together the finely chopped chocolate, the cinnamon, and 1/4 cup sugar. Cut in 1/4 cup chilled butter with a fork. To make the streusel, combine the confectioners' sugar and 1/4 cup all-purpose flour; cut in 1/4 cup chilled butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
• When the dough has doubled, 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.
• Roll out one portion on a lightly floured surface to form a 15x4-inch rectangle. Sprinkle with half the chocolate filling, roll up to form a long log, and seal the seam. Attach the ends to form a circle and place the ring, seam-side down, on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat with the second piece of dough. 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, about 30 minutes.
• Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Brush the loaves with the egg wash, if desired. Sprinkle streusel on top. Bake the loaves for about 25 minutes, rotating the baking sheets to promote even browning, until the bread is a deep golden brown.

ORANGE CHOCOLATE BABKA

Steps:

• In a small bowl, combine lukewarm milk, yeast and ¼ c of sugar. Set aside to bloom.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine remaining ½ c sugar and eggs. Using the paddle or whisk attachment, on medium speed, whip together. Add in the salt and stir. Next, add in the bloomed yeast mixture and stir. Add in both of the flours. Switch to a dough hook attachment and turn to mixer speed medium to incorporate the flours. Once they are incorporated, turn up the mixer speed to high. Let the dough knead for 8-10 minutes.The dough will be wet and sticky at this point but it should pull away from the edges when mixing.
• Leave the dough in the mixing bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place into the fridge for an hour or until doubled in size. Punch the dough down, remove and place into a larger, well greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and place back into the fridge overnight.
• After the dough has set overnight and is doubled in size, remove from the fridge and let it set on the counter for 10 minutes. While the dough is setting, make the chocolate filling. In a small, microwave safe bowl, heat heavy cream for 1 minute. Pour over chocolate chips and let set for 1 minute. Stir the melted chocolate chips into the heavy cream. I find that using an emulsion blender works really well resulting in a very smooth ganache. Stir in the melted butter then set aside.
• After 10 minutes has passed, turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Prep a 9x5 loaf pan by spraying it with baking spray and set aside. Cut the dough in half and set one half back in the bowl and back into the fridge until you are ready to use it later.
• Roll your dough out to 18" long and 12" wide. This dough should be significantly longer than it is wide because it will help create the pretty folds in the babka. Using a rubber spatula or the back of a spoon, spread half of the chocolate ganache over the entire surface of the dough. Zest one orange over the surface. Roll the dough into a log. At this point, I like to cut a one inch piece from each end to square them up. Using a very sharp knife, cut down the center of the dough longways. I like to gently run the knife down the center, dip my knife in flour and continue to run through the dough. Pushing the knife down through the dough can cause the layers to press into each other. Have patience and reflour your knife as many times as you need to to prevent the dough and filling from sticking to your knife.
• Once your dough is cut into two long pieces it is time to braid it. Pick up one side and place it over top of the second side. Pull the second side under the first overlapping piece and pull it over the first piece. Repeat until you have run out of dough. You should be able to braid it at least 3 times and ideally 5 times. Pinch the ends together so that they don't open up when the dough is rising. Place into the prepared loaf pan and let rise until doubled in size. Repeat steps 6 and 7 with the other half of the dough.
• Preheat the oven to 350 F. Once your dough has doubled in size, place into the preheated oven for 45-60 minutes. Your bake time will vary from oven to oven as well as how much your bread rose before baking. I like to tent a piece of tinfoil over the pan before I begin baking and removing it after it's done baking to let it brown for an additional 3 minutes. Baking it with tinfoil on just helps to keep the top from browning too quickly and drying out. Again, browning time will vary from oven to oven.
• Once your babka is baked, remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes to prevent burns from the hot filling. Serve and enjoy!