We are delighted to share this delicious recipe for sourdough chocolate babka. This recipe has been given to us by Cherie Hausler, one of our Sourdough School Students, from her beautiful new book A Plant-Based Farmhouse.
“When we lived in Melbourne I used to love going to the bakeries in St Kilda that had beautiful babkas lined up like fancy handbags in their windows. I was always in awe of the time and effort that obviously went into each loaf and so I automatically filed it in the ‘professional bakers only’ archive in my mind. Until I started baking sourdough. That was the first domino to fall from the ‘tricky baking’ basket and when my husband requested a ‘birthday babka’ instead of a cake, I took on the challenge thinking I’d surely need to make it a couple of times before I got it right. Nope. It actually looks far more difficult than it is, and how much do we love recipes like that?!
I will not claim this to be a traditional babka in any shape or form; firstly because it’s sourdough, secondly because it’s plantbased, and finally, because in my mind it’s not complicated enough to be deemed an authentic babka. The truth is, this is my sourdough hot cross bun recipe, that I turned into my sourdough plaited bun recipe, that is also happy to dress itself up in chocolate and black tahini.
This can be toasted in a sandwich press the next day, but it is so much better straight from the oven, on the day of baking. I love making this when we have friends come to stay, because I can split the process over 2 days, and we all wake up to freshly baked babka on Sunday morning.
You will need to start this recipe by feeding your starter on a Friday night, with 100g flour and 100g water, if you’d like to bake the babka first thing Sunday morning.”
This recipe makes 1 20cm x 8cm x 6cm babka.
Ingredients
Bun Dough:
- 180g water
- 60g extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for the bowl
- 50g Rapadura sugar
- 150g sourdough starter (100% hydration – 100g flour + 100g water)
- 450g flour, plus extra for kneading
- 1 tsp salt
Chocolate Tahini Mix:
- 80g black tahini
- 100g dark chocolate drops, dairy free
- 50g Rapadura sugar
To make the dough:
Add the water, oil, sugar and sourdough starter to a large bowl. I used my Kitchen Aid mixer for the dough making, but it can be done by hand too.
Add the flour and salt to the wet mix. If you’re using your mixer, with a dough hook, you will only need to mix this for 3-4 minutes, or if by hand, knead for 8-10 minutes, until smooth and elastic.
Cover the bowl with cling film or a silicon cover and leave at room temperature for approximately 6-8 hours or until the dough has doubled in volume.
Once the dough has doubled in size, roll it out into a square, roughly 40cm x 40cm and approximately 5mm thick. Don’t panic too much about the shape being a perfect square, it will figure itself out in the baking.
Spread the black tahini mixture across the square of rolled dough, leaving a 1-2cm clear border around the edges. Sprinkle the chocolate drops across the surface and gently press them into the tahini just to make sure they don’t fall about when you roll the babka.
Shaping the babka:
To roll the babka, start with the edge closest to you and roll the dough away from you, using both hands to keep it as tightly rolled as you can. If some of the tahini chocolate mix pushes towards the far edge don’t worry too much but you may need to wash your hands in between the process if things get too messy!
Next step is to cut right through the length of the rolled dough log with a very sharp knife. I turn the dough roll so it is running end to end towards me. I find it easier to gauge the middle of the roll as I cut through it. You will end up with two half moon lengths of tahini chocolate filled dough, hopefully with the open layers facing up. If the two lengths are not facing up to contain the filling, turn them so they are. You’ll need them to both have their dough ‘bottoms’ on the bench for the next step.
With the two dough lengths running right next to each other, take one length and gently place it over the other, continuing to braid the dough lengths until they are completely wrapped around each other. Keep the open layers facing up at all times.
Place the dough into a baking paper lined loaf tin, by gently compacting it to fit, and cover before putting into the fridge to slowly prove overnight.
Next morning, remove the loaf tin from the fridge and bring up to room temperature while your oven is heating to 220C. I put my babka tin on top of my stove while the oven is heating up to help warm up the dough.
Place the babka in the oven and immediately reduce the temperature to 200C. Bake the babka for 40 -50 minutes until beautifully burnished. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a cake rack before slicing
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