Chocolate-Swirled Babkas
Ready In: 3 hrs 20 mins
Yields: 2 loaves
Ingredients
- 2 packages active dry yeast
- 1⁄2 cup warm water
- 1⁄3 cup sugar
- 2⁄3 cup warm milk
- 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
- 1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla
- 3 tablespoons butter, softened,plus
- 3 tablespoons butter, melted
- 4 1⁄2-5 cups flour
- 3 eggs
- oil, for greasing
- 1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
Cocoa Filling
- 1⁄3 cup unsweetened cocoa
- 2⁄3 cup sugar
Streusel Topping
- 2 tablespoons butter, softened
- 1⁄4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1⁄3 cup confectioners' sugar
- 1⁄4 cup flour
Directions
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, sprinkle yeast over the water; add 1 teaspoon sugar, let stand until yeast is soft, about 5 minutes.
- Mix in remaining sugar, milk, salt, vanilla and softened butter.
- Add 2 1/2 cups flour, mix to blend then beat, at medium speed, until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.
- Separate one of the eggs; reserve white for glaze; beat in egg yolk and remaining whole eggs, one at a time; stir in about 1 1/2 cups more flour to make a soft dough.
- Turn dough onto a board coated with some of the remaining 1/2 to 1 cup flour; knead until dough is smooth and satiny and small bubbles form just under the surface, 10-12 minutes, adding just enough flour to prevent dough from being too sticky.
- Turn dough into a greased bowl; cover with plastic wrap and a towel; let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
- Place dough on a floured surface and punch down; cover with inverted bowl and let rest for 10 minutes.
- Divide dough in half; roll each half on a floured surface to a 10 x 20-inch rectangle; brush 1 1/2 tablespoons of the melted butter over each rectangle, leaving about a 1/2-inch margin on all edges.
- Sprinkle half of the Cocoa Filling* over buttered surface of each rectangle, then sprinkle each rectangle with 1/2 cup walnuts.
- Starting with a 20-inch side, roll each rectangle of dough tightly, jelly-roll style; pinch edge to seal.
- Zigzag each roll back and forth to fit into a well greased 5x9-inch loaf pan.
- Let rise until almost doubled in bulk, 35-45 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Beat reserved egg white with 1 teaspoon water; brush egg white mixture over loaves; sprinkle each loaf with half of the Streusel Topping**.
- Bake until babkas are well-browned, 30-35 minutes then carefully remove loaves from pans and let cool on wire racks.
- *CocoaFilling: in a small bowl mix cocoa and sugar until well combined and no lumps remain.
- **StreuselTopping: In a medium bowl beat butter with cinnamon until fluffy; gradually beat in sugar, then mix in flour until crumbly and uniformly combined.
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