Babka

March 10, 2015

Almond paste isn’t my favourite, but mixed with muscovado and cinnamon—-I can be persuaded. The sweetness of this babka rings my bell and shows why I love to bake. It hits the bullseye with me. I ate it while I took the photo. I served it to my overnight guests, and I brought what was left to a friend’s for dinner, where they melted for more. We made the funniest puns: I’ll be right “babka.” “You’re my “Babka” baby! Oh gosh. We had fun.

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Instructions

DOUGH STARTER

I don’t like the smell of dried milk. I won’t truly articulate what it smells like for me. The only think I can say is that my mother bottle fed me, and if I know anything about myself I probably disliked that milk too. Just saying.

The dough starter was alive, alive, alive. Overnight in the fridge, it almost BURIED flour, and beautifully fermented.

BABKA DOUGH

The dough came together well. It wasn’t super tender like brioche, but it had a nice texture and was easy to handle.

The dough shaped in a ball and ready for the refrigerator.

Spreading the almond filling on the rolled dough.

Rolling the dough and the almond filling.

BAKING THE BABKA

I didn’t have the Bundt pan that Rose spec’d so I used what I had. It would have been fine except that I didn’t seal the seam well enough. So the babka burst, but it didn’t matter.

WHAT ARE THE ALPHA BAKERS? :

Here’s how it works: once a week, for the next two years, 25 Alpha Bakers commit to baking their way through every recipe of Rose Levy Beranbaum’s newly published The Baking Bible.. Each week we post our experiences on our blog sites: our successes, our failures, our like and dislikes . The recipes are scheduled in advance so that everyone will be baking the same recipe at the same time. Unfortunately, no recipes can be shared in my Alpha Bakers posts due to publishing restrictions, but if you love to bake, The Baking Bible. is a must-have book. You can see other tutorials for the same recipe at the following link The Baking Bible Alpha Bakers at http://rosesalphabakers.blogspot.ca/.