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My review
Babka I
JJOHN32
"Traditional Polish Easter bread. Serve as a coffee cake for breakfast or with tea. The recipe makes 3 large loaves."
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Ingredients
4 h 55 m servings 487 calsOriginal recipe yields 24 servings (3 loaves)
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Directions
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Prep
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- In a small saucepan, heat milk until just below boiling. Add butter and stir until melted. Remove from heat, and let cool until lukewarm.
- Place cake yeast in a small bowl; pour 1/2 cup lukewarm water over the yeast. Stir with a spoon to break up the yeast slightly; set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, beat 4 eggs and egg yolks with an electric mixer with a paddle attachment. Add 1 cup sugar and salt, and continue to beat until mixture is thick and pale. Stir in vanilla, orange liqueur, zests, and yeast mixture. Beat in 2 cups flour on low speed; when incorporated, add 2 more cups of flour and mix until combined. Add cooled milk mixture alternately with an additional 4 cups flour, beating on medium-low speed.
- If the dough is very sticky, add up to 1 cup of flour. Mix in currants, raisins, golden raisins, and almonds.
- Transfer dough to a well-floured work surface and knead about 8 to 10 minutes, adding reserved flour if needed. Shape dough into a ball. Transfer dough to a large greased bowl, and turn to coat. Cover with greased plastic wrap.
- Place in a warm place and allow it to rise until dough has doubled, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Punch the dough down, re-cover the bowl, and allow to rise again for an additional 1 1/2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter 3 tube pans.
- In a small bowl, combine 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup brown sugar, and cinnamon. Cut in 4 tablespoons butter to form crumb topping. Sprinkle evenly among the 3 pans.
- Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead for 1 minute. Cut dough into thirds. Flatten each piece of dough into a rectangle and roll it up into a log, pinching the seam to seal. Lay each log seam-side up in the prepared pans, pinching ends together to form rings. Cover loosely with plastic wrap. Allow to rise for 30 minutes.
- Beat an egg with 1 tablespoon water to make an egg wash. Before baking, gently brush egg wash over each loaf.
- Bake babkas in preheated oven until until golden brown and hollow sounding when tapped, about 30 to 45 minutes. Immediately turn out onto a cooling rack so bread does not stick to the pan. Cool completely before slicing.
Nutrition Facts
Per Serving: 487 calories; 14.7 g fat; 80.2 g carbohydrates; 10.3 g protein; 99 mg cholesterol; 141 mg sodium. Full nutrition
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Reviews
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2/21/2005
This has become an Easter tradition for me and everytime a guest has some, they beg for a loaf to take home. I usually have to have several in the kitchen ready to give away. This is the best!!!
4/6/2007
Delicious! My husband is polish and I make this every Easter to give to his family! I bake the Babka in 4 9x5 loaf pans instead of using the angel food cake pans, and it works out really well....
7/29/2004
Eleanor, I knew with your anadama bread that you were some kind of bread genius, but this bread is too much--it's wonderful. My dad says it's the best bread I've ever baked (and I've baked quite...
3/22/2008
This recipe is fantastic. You can't buy it this good from a bakery. I made a large bread in the angel cake pan and another two regular shaped breads in bread pans from this one recipe. I made...
4/7/2012
Wow, I have been wanting to make this bread for ages now but it seemed like so much work. As Easter approached, I took the plunge, and wow, why did I wait so long? I cut the recipe down by a th...
4/6/2010
Awesome recipe--wonderful! My grandmother's recipe was so dry, and this was not at all. I added 1/2 tsp. almond extract and 1/4 tsp. nutmeg with the vanilla. I loved the citrus additions. Thank...
4/24/2011
I used butter and rum soaked raisins and it turned out very tasty! I also only did half the recipe and I got two good sized loafs (I used loaf pans)
1/6/2009
Very good! Reminded me of the ones I used to have with my family! I will definitely make this again!
4/20/2006
Really tasty Babka! It was the best when it was still warm ... and with some butter spread on it !! My family enjoyed it. I really like the orange flavour in there!