Chocolate Babka

This Chocolate Babka is a lighter yeast bread dough swirled with cinnamon and chocolate with a streusel topping. Less calories, full flavor!

Course Breakfast

Cuisine Polish

Prep Time 1

Cook Time 40

Rise Time 2 20

Total Time 4

Servings

Calories 301kcal

Author Meghan

Dissolve the granulated sugar and yeast in warm milk in the bowl of a stand mixer; let stand 5 minutes.
1 package active dry yeast, ¾ cup warm 1% low-fat milk, 1 teaspoon granulated sugar

Stir in the granulated sugar, vanilla extract, salt, and egg yolk.
6 tablespoons granulated sugar, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract, ¼ teaspoon salt, 1 large egg yolk
Add 6 ounces (about 1 ⅓ cups) all purpose flour and the bread flour to milk mixture; beat with dough hook attachment at medium speed until well blended (about 2 minutes).
Add butter, beating until well blended. Scrape dough out onto a floured surface. The dough will be very sticky. Knead until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes); add 1.5 ounces (about ⅓ cup) all purpose flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, to prevent dough from sticking to hands (dough will be very soft). **I used my mixer to knead the dough. I just set it to medium speed and used the dough hook to knead for 10 minutes. I added the 1.5 ounces of flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, to the dough every minute or so, until it was completely incorporated.
5 tablespoons butter
Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat top. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, 1 ½ hours or until doubled in size. Gently press two fingers into dough. If indentation remains, dough has risen enough. Punch dough down; cover and let dough rest 5 minutes. While the dough is rising, prepare the filling.

For the filling, combine the granulated sugar, cocoa, cinnamon, salt, and chocolate in a medium bowl; set aside.
½ cup granulated sugar, 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon salt, 4 ounces semisweet chocolate
Line the bottom of a 9 x 5–inch loaf pan with parchment paper; coat sides of pan with cooking spray.
Place dough on a generously floured surface; roll dough out into a 16-inch square. Sprinkle filling over dough, leaving a ¼-inch border around edges. Roll up dough tightly, jelly-roll fashion; pinch seam and ends to seal. Holding dough by ends, twist dough 4 times as if wringing out a towel. Fit dough into prepared pan.
Cover and let rise 45 minutes or until doubled in size. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350°F and prepare streusel.

For the streusel, combine powdered sugar, all purpose flour, and cold butter, stirring with a fork until mixture is crumbly.
2 tablespoons powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon all purpose flour, 1 tablespoon butter
Sprinkle streusel evenly over dough. Bake for 40 minutes or until loaf is browned on bottom and sounds hollow when tapped.
Cool bread in pan 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool bread completely on wire rack before slicing.

Source: Adapted from Cooking Light

Nutritional information is only an estimate and will vary based on your ingredients and substitutions.

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