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Milk Bread Babka

Milk Bread Babka
Made with a soft milk bread dough, this babka has swirls of chocolate and almond cream making it simply irresistible. Watch shaping video below.
Yield 2 loaves
2

Reviews

Ingredients

  • 1 Milk Bread Honey Buns dough (risen and cooled in refrigerator)
  • 1 can (12oz) Love’n Bake "Schmear™" Chocolate Filling (for a homemade version, see below)

Almond Cream

  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup almond flour
  • 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • 1 teaspoon almond extract
  • Generous pinch salt
  • 1 drop green gel food coloring (optional)

Homemade Chocolate Filling

  • 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 2 tablespoons Dutched cocoa powder
  • 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
  • Pinch of table salt

Instructions

  • Use parchment to line two 8 ½ x 5-inch loaf pans so that the paper drapes over the sides of the pan (this makes it easier to lift the loaf out of the pan). Set aside.
  • Make the almond cream: Add butter and sugar to mixer bowl. Mix together until creamy and smooth. Add remaining ingredients – except the food coloring. Mix until thoroughly blended. Stir in food coloring to achieve desired color. Set aside.
  • Chocolate filling: Roll the filling between two pieces of parchment into a rectangle that measures just under 13×18-inches. Set aside.
  • Assemble the babka: Remove the dough from the refrigerator. Roll it out to a 13×18-inch rectangle. Center the chocolate filling onto the dough and gently press to adhere. Remove parchment paper. Then spread the almond cream in an even layer over the chocolate schmear. If the almond cream is very loose, freeze the topped dough for 5-10 minutes to firm the cream before continuing to shape.
  • Starting from the long side, roll the dough up tightly, as if making a jelly roll, then turn the roll seam-side down on the sheet pan. Cover with parchment and refrigerate for 20 minutes. This makes the dough easier to handle.
  • When the roll has chilled, first cut it in half crosswise, so you have two equal rolls. Then cut each roll lengthwise down the center, exposing the layers of filling. For each roll, twist the two halves around each other, keeping the cut sides facing up as much as possible. Tuck the loaves into the prepared pans, cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size, 45 minutes to an hour.
  • About 15 minutes before baking, preheat oven to 350°F and set a rack to the middle position. Bake until nicely browned and cooked through, 45 to 50 minutes. Transfer the pans to a wire rack to cool, then remove the loaves by lifting the parchment paper. Serve at room temperature. Loaves (wrapped well in plastic wrap) can be frozen for up to a month.

Homemade Chocolate Filling

  • In a heatproof bowl, combine all ingredients and place over simmering water, stirring occasionally, until melted. Allow to cool for about 10 – 15 minutes, until the mixture is lukewarm (not hot) but still spreadable. Use a small offset spatula to spread the chocolate over the cooled dough (as per the schmear).

Notes

Recipe by Gesine Prado.

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Milk Bread Babka
Milk Bread Honey Buns

– BLOG –

Get the step-by-step recipe and video tutorial

Review & Comments

Lu Caro | Reply

Can I make the Babka as freeform instead of in a loaf pan.. thank you

Red Star Yeast | Reply

Hi Lu,

Yes you can definitely do that! Depending on what you shape it like the bake time may be impacted. Just keep an eye on it.

Happy Baking!

lisa b | Reply

Hi! I’d like to bake them in mini loaf pans (6 ½” x 3 ¼” x 2″). Do you know how many I would be able to make from one batch? And how to adjust the bake time? Thank you!

Red Star Yeast | Reply

Hi Lisa – We have not tested this recipe using the small loaf pans, so we don’t have recommendations. Please let us know if you try it and what worked for you.
Happy baking!

Barbara | Reply

Where can I find the love`n bake schmear?

Red Star Yeast | Reply

Hi Barbara – It is available at Amazon and other online sources.
Happy baking!

Kathleen | Reply

Can you simply double the recipe if you want to make more than one of the finished products Gesine shows? (Also is she using one full recipe for the 12 cinnamon rolls?)

Red Star Yeast | Reply

Hi Kathleen,
You can double the recipe if your mixer can handle that much dough. Yes, 1 batch of dough makes 12 cinnamon rolls. Starting at around 26:25, Gesine discusses dividing the dough into cinnamon rolls.
Happy baking!
Carol

Anna Tomaszewski | Reply

5 stars
This was fabulous!!! Definitely make again and again. You can get almond flour on amazon. This is a keeper

Genene | Reply

5 stars
We made this wonderful recipe with cinnamon and almond rather than chocolate. It was absolutely amazing. We had promised ourselves we would reserve enough for french toast and must let it go stale. We were so good. We reserved just enough for french toast and after 6 days it was stale enough to use in french toast. This was THE most amazing french toast we have ever had. Beyond wonderful!!

Lorrie Chopp | Reply

Is it possible to sub the almond flour out for all purpose flour? Not willing to go out and find the almond flour at this time but have everything else. Thank you!

Red Star Yeast | Reply

Hi Lorrie,
That should work fine.
Happy baking!
Carol

Red Star Yeast | Reply

Hi Kathryn – thanks for the heads up! You are correct, recipe is now corrected to ‘Makes 2 loaves’.
Happy baking!
Carol

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