Laced with swirls of chocolate in a light, tender brioche dough, this easy chocolate babka recipe will not disappoint. I dare you to try it as french toast…
If you’ve visited my savory roasted red pepper pesto babka recipe you’ll have read my quick recap on the history of babka. The method that we use in that recipe is identical here – we are just going to trade out the filling and topping.
This bread requires a little bit of time, but don’t be intimidated by it! Most of the time is just the bread sitting around getting fluffy and delicious. You can also spread out the steps over a couple days if that seems more manageable for you. For example, you can make the pesto the days before, and the dough can have its first rise in the fridge over night.
For more play by play images and steps, head over to my instagram highlights to see the babka in action. Here’s the recap:
1. Make the dough
2. Rise (and make chocolate spread while you wait)
3. Chill the dough
4. Divide into 2 & roll out
5. Fill and form the babka (check out this post to see more steps if you’d like)
7. Rise
8. Bake and enjoy every layer!
How to work with yeast
There are several different kinds of yeasts out there. None are necessarily bad, but they all respond differently so it’s important to know what you’re working with. There are 3 primary kinds of yeasts – active dry, instant, and rapid rise. For this recipe my favorites are either active dry or instant. Active dry needs to be activated prior to using by letting it sit in warm water with sugar (or honey) for 10 minutes until foamy. Instant has already been partially activated and you can let it get foamy first, or just add it to your recipe with a warm liquid and it’ll still continue activating like normal. For more information on this see my tips page on working with yeast.
Whatever yeast you use, two general key principles:
1. It’s best stored in the refrigerator or freezer for longest shelf life. I’ve heard a lot of people say “6 months” for the freezer once it’s been opened, but I’ve used my yeast past that point and it’s still worked great. One If you see your yeast isn’t activating, you could have killed it by using too hot of a liquid, or it could have gone bad if you’ve had it for a while.
2. You can kill your yeast by having your liquid component to hot! On the flip side, it won’t activate well if you put it in water. So what does yeast love? A nice warm bath. It’s true. If you need a specific number, I always recommend 110 degrees F. I recommend taking the temperature especially if you’re new to bread making because it can be the make or break of having successful results.
Important note: This recipe makes TWO loaves. You can half the recipe, but if you’re going through all the steps anyway, you might as well make both! You can freeze the dough and assemble the second one later, or you can do what I love to do – make on savory and one sweet. The chocolate paste and syrup in the recipe below is only enough for ONE loaf (because of the reason I just mentioned). So if you’re wanting both chocolate, plan to double the spread and syrup. If you’d like to turn one loaf into my roasted red pepper pesto babka, click here for the recipe. You’ll be in heaven, I promise!
Chocolate Babka
Ingredients
Dough
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2 1/2 tsp instant yeast
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened
- ~4 cups bread flour *See note
Chocolate Spread
- 6 oz (1 cup) semi sweet chocolate
- 1/2 cup butter (salted or unsalted is fine)
- 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste (or 1 tsp vanilla extract as sub)
- pinch of salt (if using unsalted butter)
Syrup
- 1/3 cup water
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
Instructions
- For the dough: Add warm milk, yeast, and sugar to a stand mixer with a dough hook. A large bowl will also work if making by hand.
- Add about 2 cups of flour, eggs, and salt. Let mix well. Then while mixer is running, slowly add the softened butter. Slowly add remaining 2 ½ cups of flour. Depending on your moisture level, it may be slightly more or less flour. Dough should be soft and smooth, but not too sticky.
- Let mixer knead the dough for 10 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball, put in oiled bowl, and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise for 1 ½ hours or put in the fridge to rest overnight.
- OPTIONAL: After the dough has risen, place it in the freezer for a half hour. It will make it easier to work with in assembly.
- For the filling: While the dough is rising, prepare the filling. Melt the butter, cream, and chocolate together. Then add the remaining filling ingredients and mix until you get a smooth, thick paste. Set aside.
- Assembly: Line two 8.5x4.5 inch loaf pans (9x5 will work too) with parchment paper, allowing excess to hang over the edge. After dough has risen and chilled, punch down the dough and divide into 2 even sections. Start with one section and roll out on floured surface into a rectangle about 16x25 inches. Fill with the chocolate filling, leaving about a half inch on all sides. Using the long end, roll up tightly into a log (think cinnamon roll), but being careful not to squeeze any of the filling out. Cut the long log in half to have 2 logs.
- Place logs on a lined baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 30-60 minutes (or the freezer to expedite it!)
- Once chilled, cut down the center of each long, lengthwise, exposing the middle of the log with those long beautiful strips of chocolate. Create an “X” by crossing the two pieces of dough on top of each other. Then cross the top section, then the bottom section. Repeat with second log.
- Line 2 loaf pans with parchment or spray with nonstick spray. Gently place each loaf in a pan, tucking the ends under as needed. Let the dough rise for about 1-2 hours, until almost doubled in size and dough is soft and pillow like.
- Bake: While babka is rising, preheat oven to 350. Bake for about 40-45 minutes. If your oven browns the tops quickly, you can put a piece of foil on the top about 20 minutes in. It's done when the bottoms are a dark golden brown and layers look fully cooked. When babka is almost done baking, make your syrup by brining the water and sugar to a simmer for about 3-5 minutes. Once the sugar has dissolved and is slightly thickened, take it off the heat. Using a pastry brush, generously lather the tops of the baked babka with the syrup.
- Remove loaves from oven and immediately brush with sugar syrup while hot. Let the loaves rest in the pans for about 10 minutes, then transfer to cooling rack. Let loaves cool completely before slicing for best results. Bread is best kept at room temperature up to 3 days. It also freezes great. Serve plain, toasted, or use as french toast. Enjoy!
This was my first time making Babka and it turned out delicious. My entire family gobbled it up for breakfast and dessert! I’m loving your website and great recipes!
Thank you so much for sharing, Diana! So glad it was a hit. Happy baking!
I noticed that this suggests rolling to a 16″ x 25″ rectangle for on dough but your other two babka suggest a 10 x 12″ rectangle. Is this a mistype? 16 x 25 is very, very thin.
It would also be helpful to add in the recipe that the chocolate spread and syrup is meant for one loaf, not two.
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