Milk Bread Chocolate Babka
Chocolate babka made with the japanese tangzhong method to yield the softest, most tender bread swirled with a deep dark chocolate filling.
Servings 2 loaves
Equipment
- stand mixer
- small pot
- loaf pans x 2
Ingredients
Tangzhong roux
- 240g or 1 cup whole milk or half milk half water
- 40g or ⅓ cup high protein all purpose flour or bread flour
Dough
- 7g or 1 packet instant yeast or use 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 60g or ¼ cup warm water
- 100g or ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 55g or ¼ cup canola oil or melted butter (oil will give a softer dough, butter will give better flavor)
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 520g or 4 cups bread flour or high protein all purpose flour
Filling
- 75g or ⅓ cup butter unsalted
- 100g or ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chopped
- 35g or ⅓ cup dutch process cocoa
- 40g or ⅓ cup powdered sugar
- 1 TB heavy cream if needed
Instructions
- Make the roux: In a pot, whisk together the flour and milk. Continue whisking as it heats up and thickens. Once you have the consistency of a soft paste, remove from heat and allow to cool.
- Make the dough: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, combine the yeast and warm water. Sprinkle a bit of the sugar on top and whisk gently to combine. Give it a few minutes to proof.
- Once the yeast mixture is foamy, add the rest of the ingredients as well as the roux. Turn the dough hook on and let it knead the dough until it comes together in a sticky mass, about 5 minutes.
- Set the dough in a well-oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. For a room temperature rise, the dough will double in around 2 hours (longer if the kitchen is cold). You can also let it rise for an hour at room temperature then set it in the fridge for an extended overnight rise.
- The next morning, remove the dough from the fridge. If it has not doubled in size, let it stand at room temperature to get there. This is to complete the first rise.
- Make the filling: in a pot, melt the butter and chocolate together. Sift in the powdered sugar and cocoa. Whisk to combine. If the mixture is too thick, add a tablespoon of heavy cream - it should be spreadable.
- Once the dough has doubled, punch it down and divide into two halves. Generously flour the countertop.
- Roll one of the halves into a 10x 6 rectangle and spread half the filling over the dough, leaving a 1” border.
- Roll the dough up into a log from the short side and slice the log lengthwise with a sharp knife.
- Twist the two halves around each other, filling side up. Place the twist in an oiled loaf pan prepped with a parchment paper sling. Set in a warm place for a second rise, for about 45-60 minutes.
- Repeat steps with second loaf.
- Preheat oven to 375. Brush the loaves with egg wash and sprinkle over the sugar (if desired). Bake the loaves for about 25 minutes then check - if they are overbrowning, loosely tent them with foil.
- Bake until golden and until an instant read thermometer inserted into the center registers 190 F.
Video
Notes
If you've made this recipe before you might notice some recent updates (as of 9/10/24): I reduced the liquid used to bloom the yeast from 120g (or half a cup) to a quarter of a cup and I've asked you to use a high protein all purpose or a bread flour. This is to help those who are struggling with the sticky dough. If you had no problems before, stick to the original =)