Chocolate Babka

Made using high-quality Mastercook Maida, Chocolate Babka is traditional Jewish bread enriched with eggs and butter, swirling in a delicious chocolate paste!

Servings - 8 slices

Difficulty Level - Medium

Preparation Time - 15 Hours

Cook Time - 30 Mins

Ingredients

For the dough

175 gm / 1&3/8th cups Mastercook Maida
1 gm / pinch of Salt
60 gm / ½ cup Sugar
1 egg
50 ml / 3 tbsp water
3 gm / 1 tsp yeast
50 gm / ¼ cup Butter, softened

For the Chocolate Paste

40 gm / 4 tbsp Chocolate
40 gm / 2 tbsp Butter
30 gm / 4 tbsp Powdered Sugar
15 gm / 1 tbsp Cocoa Powder
1 gm / Pinch of Salt
4 gm / 1 tsp Espresso Powder
2 gm / ¼ tsp Cinnamon Powder

Procedure

In a small bowl, combine together the yeast and water, set aside to bloom.
In a large bowl, add the Mastercook Maida, salt and sugar. Mix well and make a well in the center
Add the egg and the yeast mixture.
Mix well till all the flour is hydrated and there are no dry flour clumps.
Start adding the butter, about a tablespoon at a time, and knead well into the dough.
Knead the dough for 4-5 minutes till all the butter is well incorporated and the dough is soft and smooth. The dough will be sticky but will be smooth.
Place into a greased bowl and cover tightly. Refrigerate for a minimum of 12 hours.
In the meanwhile, prepare the chocolate paste
In a pot, add the butter and chocolate, allow to melt slowly over a low flame. Once melted, take off the flame, and add the sugar, cocoa powder, salt, espresso powder and cinnamon powder. Mix well till evenly combined. Set aside to cool down.
After 12 hours, remove from the fridge and immediately transfer the dough to a well floured surface.
Roll out the dough into roughly a 10*12 rectangle and spread the chocolate paste evenly over the top, leaving a 1 inch gap on all sides.
Beginning from the edge away from you, roll the dough tightly.
Keep the rolled log in the freezer for 15 minutes for the dough to firm up.
Once the dough is firm, use a bread knife to slice the log lengthways into 2.
Pinch the ends of the pieces together at one end and then braid both the pieces by overlapping each other till you reach the end. Pinch this end sealed as well
Place into a greased 7 inch loaf pan, cover and proof for 1 hour.
Prepare a simple sugar syrup with equal parts of sugar and water.
After 40 minutes have passed, begin preheating your oven to 190C / 375 F / Gas Mark 5.
Place your bread in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown on top and the bread springs back when lightly pressed.
After taking the bread out of the oven, immediately brush it generously with sugar syrup and set on a cooling rack to cool.

Tips for Cooking

The dough must be refrigerated to improve the flavour of the bread and also to enable ease of handling, as the freshly prepared dough is sticky and difficult to roll out.
If your chocolate paste gets hard, microwave it for 10 second bursts till paste like again. Ensure that it comes to room temperature before spreading on the dough.
Use only baking chocolate for the paste. Regular chocolate that we consume in bar form will not work for this recipe.