Chocolate Swirl Babka
It’s Cake. It’s Bread. It’s Chocolate Swirl Babka. A dense, sweet, flakey yeasted dough, braided and baked in a loaf pan. This one boasts a thick swirl of dark chocolate and it flavored with hints of cinnamon and brown sugar.
My advice here…do not skimp on the chocolate factor. Go with the good stuff. I use Ghirardelli Intense Dark 72%. The dough is very sweet and rich so you need that punch of amazing dark chocolate to get the perfect balance.
Start out be getting the yeast activated. Whisk the warm the dry yeast into the warm milk and let it sit for 5-10 minutes. You’ll know it’s active when you see a little foam. (Check the date on your yeast! Yes, it does expire!)
Ingredients
the dough
the filling
the topping
While you wait, beat the butter and brown sugar together in your stand mixer until it’s creamy. Then beat in the vanilla and egg yolks, one at a a time, until completely incorporated. Give the yeast-milk mixture a quick stir, then add it to the yolk-butter-sugar mixture. It should be pretty gooey.
Next, switch to the dough hook attachment for your mixer. Add the salt and flour and continue mixing until a soft dough forms. Remove the dough from the bowl and knead it on a floured surface a few times. The dough ball should be flakey but not dry.
Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap, and let the dough rise for 1 hour (you can also let the dough rise in the refrigerator overnight if you want to make it up ahead of baking. Just let it come up to room temp before you work with it).
While the dough is rising, make the chocolate filling. The easiest way to do this is to pulse the chocolate, cinnamon, and butter in a food processor to a chucky texture. Keep it in the refrigerate until you’re ready for it.
Make the streusel topping by combining the brown sugar, flour, and butter in a bowl and using your hands to rub it together until to a crumbly texture.
Back the dough. Roll it out on a floured surface to about a 14-inch x 18-inch rectangle. Sprinkle the chocolate filling all over the surface of the dough, all the way out to the edges. Starting at the long side, roll it up tightly so you have an 18-inch tube. Roll the log back and forth a couple times to even things out, it should be about 20 inches long.
Take a 9×5 loaf pan, spray with cooking sprat and line, overhanging the sides, with parchment paper. Don’t skip this, it will make lifting the loaf out of the pan without a mess much easier!
Twist the dough into a figure-eight and pinch the ends together, tucking them under the twist. Tuck it into the prepped loaf pan, cover with plastic wrap or a tea towel and let it rise for 1 hour. It should fill the pan completely when risen. While the dough rises, whisk together the reserved egg white with 2 tablespoons milk and set aside for the topping.
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Use a fork or the pointy end of a skewer to poke holes all over the top of the dough (this ensures no air bubbles form causing a chocolate blow out during baking). Brush the top of the dough with the egg wash, and gently press the prepared streusel all over , pile it on. Sprinkle a few light pinches of the flaky sea salt over the top of the streusel.
Bake the loaf for 25 minutes, turn the loaf 180 degrees, and bake for another 25 minutes. The babka should be golden brown, and should sound hollow when tapped. Let it cool in its pan for at least 10 minutes, then carefully lift it out with that parchment you left over the sides of the pan. Peel it back and let the loaf cool on a rack for 10 more minutes to let the chocolate set up before you slice.
