White Chocolate Cranberry Babka - Sweet ReciPEAs (2024)

FAQs

What is the difference between babka and brioche dough? ›

Although I am sure there are many professional bakers that could create a phenomenal list of the differences.... When you get down to the nitty gritty of things, babka is simply filled and twisted brioche. Brioche is the dough itself that resembles a buttery and fluffy bread flavor that is beyond fluffy in texture.

Israeli style babka (עוגת שמרים) is made with a laminated dough, enriched with butter, which is then folded and rolled multiple times to create many distinct layers, similar to that used for Israeli style rugelach, and also croissant dough. Israeli style babka is available with a wider array of fillings and shapes.

It can be served room temperature, warm with a scoop of ice cream on top, or even cold right out of the fridge the following day for breakfast. Coffee and tea make for perfect accompaniments.

Too much flour can create a very DRY yeast bread. Now if you really need a bit of flour go for it, but use as little as possible. The dough is so silky that it rolls out beautifully and I don't get need any flour at all!

One theory says Babka is indigenous to the Ukraine, part of an ancient fertility symbol. The story of chocolate and the Jewish community is a bit different in the Mediterranean. There, Jews and chocolate went together like bagels and cream cheese. Don't miss what matters.

Babka is another braided white bread that is usually served with a cinnamon filling and syrup. But unlike challah, which includes eggs and oil, babka dough contains eggs, butter and milk, making it more airy, shiny and smooth.

Babka Recipe Variations

Cinnamon, poppy seeds, almond paste and cheese are all traditional companions for the cake with the challah-like crumb. But it doesn't get more popular than chocolate babka nowadays, which adds an element of decadence to the dense loaf.

borrowed from Yiddish & Polish; Yiddish babke (in sense a), borrowed from Polish babka (in sense b), literally, "old woman, grandmother," diminutive of baba "grandmother, midwife, old woman"

Trader Joe's describes this as "a sweet rich pastry layered with chocolate." An 18-ounce babka costs $4.99. In our Trader Joe's, I've seen this come and go. It's always right by the first register and nowhere else in the store that I have seen. Keep your eyes peeled.

Store your babka at room temperature in the provided packaging using the reseal tab on the back if opened; do not refrigerate. Our babkas are baked daily and, if you can resist eating them, will stay delicious for up to 5 days after purchase.

Is babka served warm or cold? ›

Chocolate babka tastes like a sweet, tender brioche bread loaf with swirls of chocolatey goodness inside. A cinnamon babka kind of tastes like a cinnamon roll, but a little less dense. It can be served warm or at room temperature. Either is delicious!

The word 'babka' means grandmother, referring to the grandmothers on Shabbat who made this out of the leftover challah. Chocolate wasn't added to babka until Jews arrived in New York. Chocolate became more affordable and accessible, so Jews started embellishing their babkas with rich chocolate instead of cinnamon.

To be extra sure that your babka loaf has finished baking, you can use an instant-read thermometer to check if the internal temperature has reached 190°F. This method is also great if you don't have a long enough toothpick to get to the middle of the loaf. Don't skip the sugar syrup at the end.

Brush the warm, just-baked babka with simple syrup. This will help keep it moist. You want to get the sugar on the outer crust and let it drain through the cake, but take care not to drench it. "You should have a good idea of when the babka is absorbing the syrup, and when to stop.

Babka will always be best the same day, but they'll hold well at room temperature up to three days after baking. Store the cooled babkas in a sealed container or wrapped in plastic.

Babka is a braided yeast bread or cake that originated in the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe. It is prepared with an enriched bread dough, like challah or brioche, that is filled with a sweet or savory filling, rolled up, twisted, and baked.

Challah bread is very similar to brioche, since it is made with eggs. It has a slightly sweet flavor and a soft, pillowy interior. Another substitute for brioche are croissants. Although these are not bread, but pastry, brioche is said to be more similar in texture to croissants than bread.

Brioche is considered a Viennoiserie because it is made in the same basic way as bread but has the richer aspect of a pastry because of the addition of eggs, butter, liquid (milk, water, cream, and, sometimes, brandy) and occasionally sugar.

Like challah, babka is always twisted or braided, but those braids can be freeform, or in a loaf, a ring, a wreath, or a star, the elaborate variations showing off the layers of bread and filling within.