Today it’s getting chocolaty: With this recipe, you can create a sourdough babka. The dough is made entirely without yeast and is only leavened with sourdough. The sourdough brioche is super fluffy thanks to a tangzhong and is marbled with a creamy, chocolaty filling with a light cinnamon flavour. If you’re not as big of a chocolate fan as I am, you can also fill your babka with sugar and cinnamon or with homemade jam.
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What is Babka?
The word “babka” is Polish and actually means grandmother. However, it also refers to a yeast cake that is traditionally eaten at Easter. The yeast cake is often baked in a bundt tin. One theory explains the name by saying that the shape looks like a grandmother’s pleated skirt. This version of a babka is more like a yeast braided sweet bread. It consists of a brioche-like dough filled with a butter and chocolate mixture.
How is the sourdough babka shaped?
The first steps are similar to cinnamon buns: The sourdough is rolled out into a large rectangle and spread with a mixture of (vegan) butter and chocolate coating. The edges of the dough are left uncovered. The rectangle is then rolled up and the dough roll is cut in half lengthways – unlike with cinnamon buns. The two halves of the dough rolls are twisted together a few times and baked in a greased loaf tin. This can be a pretty sticky business, but don’t worry! Perfectionism is not necessary at all. It doesn’t matter if the filling oozes out a little or the dough strands are not evenly intertwined. The main thing is that the dough and filling somehow end up in the loaf tin. In the end, even an uneven layer will turn into a wonderful babka.
Tip: Because the pastry is fresh from the fridge, the filling may set quickly on the surface of the pastry. But that’s no problem! It will become soft and creamy again when baked.
Poppy seeds, nuts or jam: Use your favourite filling
The recipe contains the ingredients for a chocolate and cinnamon filling. However, you can fill your babka with anything you would fill a brioche with. How about a poppy seed or nut filling? Or would you prefer a sugar and cinnamon mixture and a pinch of cardamom in the dough? If you want to bake a summery, fruity babka, you can use all kinds of jam as a filling. Very liquid jams can be boiled down a little before you fill the babka, which makes shaping easier.
What you need for the chocolate babka
- Tangzhong: The technique originally comes from Asian cuisine. To make tangzhong, one part flour is cooked with five parts water to form a thick paste. The additional water makes the finished rolls extra soft and, together with the sourdough, ensures that they remain tasty and fresh for days.
- Wheat flour: The best flour for this recipe is bread flour or wheat flour 550. The higher the type number of the flour, the more husks are still contained in the flour. If you want to use wholemeal flour, you may need to increase the proportion of water in the recipe by 5 to 10 per cent.
- Sugar for sweetness.
- Sourdough starter: The sourdough doesn’t have to be freshly fed, but it shouldn’t have been more than a week since it was last refreshed. If you have discard left over, I have the right recipes for you here. I feed my sourdough with equal parts water and flour. For the flour, I use a mixture of wheat flour and wholegrain rye flour. If you feed your sourdough with a different water-to-flour ratio, you will need to adjust the amount of water in the recipe accordingly.
- Butter or a vegan butter.
- Water – cold in summer, lukewarm in winter.
- Salt for the flavour.
- Dark chocolate
- Cocoa powder – unsweetened.
- Cinnamon optional
- Milk or a vegan milk alternative.
In three steps: How to make sourdough babka with chocolate filling
Mix the dough
To make the tangzhong, mix 20 g flour with 100 g water and bring to the boil briefly while stirring. Cover the tangzhong and leave to cool completely.
Mix* all the ingredients into a homogeneous batter. Cover the dough and leave to rest at room temperature for four to six hours. Stretch and fold once after 30 minutes. Then place the dough in the fridge overnight.
Filling and shaping the sourdough babka
For the filling, melt the (vegan) butter and chocolate and mix with the cinnamon and cocoa powder. Place the filling in the fridge until it has a spreadable consistency. You should make sure that the filling does not become too firm.
Roll out* the dough into a large rectangle and spread with the filling. The edges of the dough remain blank. Then roll up the rectangle and cut the dough roll in half lengthways. Twist the two halves of the dough rolls together a few times and place in a greased loaf tin*.
Brush the surface with (oat) milk and leave to rest at room temperature for two to three hours.
Bake the chocolate babka
Preheat the oven to 200°C using a steam tray consisting of a stainless steel oven dish* and lava stones* and bake the babka for about 20 minutes with steam and 20 minutes without steam until golden brown.
For the glaze, mix the sugar with hot water. Immediately after baking, brush the warm glaze generously onto the hot babka with a pastry brush. Leave the babka to cool in the tin for about 30 minutes.
Helpful tools – My recommendations
✨ The links with an star* are affiliate links. If you click on one of these links and buy something, I get a small commission and you support my work (thanks for that 🧡). This does not change the price for you. You can find more information on privacy policy here.✨
- A Danish Whisk* – especially if you don’t use a kitchen machine. This allows you to mix your ingredients without the whole dough sticking to the spoon.
- A kitchen scale*.
- You can use a stainless steel dough knife* to cut your dough pieces or shape your loaves.
- A stainless steel loaf tin*.
- A wooden rolling pin*.
- A steam tray consisting of a stainless steel oven mould* and lava stones*. The tray is filled with the stones and placed on the bottom of the oven during preheating. When you put your bread in the oven, pour hot water onto the stones. This creates steam, which ensures that your bread rises well.
- A cooling rack* for bread, rolls and waffles.
- A sharp bread knife*.
- A stainless steel toaster* for slices of bread, toast and rolls.
You can find more product recommendations here.
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Recipe: How to Make the Best Sourdough Babka with Chocolate Filling
Ingredients
Ingredients for Tangzhong
- 20 g cake flour
- 100 ml water or (oat) milk
Ingredients for the dough
- Tangzhong
- 500 g wheat flour
- 50 g sugar
- 50 g sourdough starter
- 60 g butter or a vegan alternative
- 220 g water
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Filling
- 200 g Chocolate dark
- 100 g butter or a vegan alternative
- 5 tsp. cocoa powder unsweetened
- ½ tsp. cinnamon optional
Glaze
- 3 tbsp. (oat) milk for brushing
- 50 g sugar
- 50 g hot water
Instructions
Day 1
- To make the tangzhong, mix 20 g flour with 100 g water and bring to the boil briefly while stirring.
- Cover the tangzhong and leave to cool completely.
- Mix* all the ingredients into a homogeneous batter. Cover the dough and leave to rest at room temperature for four to six hours.
- Then place the dough in the fridge overnight.
Day 2
- For the filling, melt the (vegan) butter and chocolate and mix with the cinnamon and cocoa powder. Place the filling in the fridge until it has a spreadable consistency. Make sure that the filling does not become too firm.
- Roll out* the dough into a large rectangle.
- Spread the chocolate filling onto the dough. Leave the edges of the dough uncovered.
- Then roll up the rectangle and cut the dough roll in half lengthways.
- Twist the two halves of the dough rolls together a few times and place in a greased loaf tin*.
- Brush the surface with (oat) milk and leave to rest at room temperature for two to three hours.
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees using a steam tray consisting of a stainless steel oven dish* and lava stones* and bake the babka for about 20 minutes with steam and 20 minutes without steam until golden brown.
- For the glaze, mix the sugar with hot water.
- Immediately after baking, brush the warm glaze generously onto the hot babka with a pastry brush.
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