The Best Chocolate Babka Recipe (Chocolate Brioche Bread)

and so chocolate vodka if you’ve neverheard of that Oh am I about to blow yourmind[Music]what is babka now it’s a littleconfusing if you look at it on Wikipediait vodka can mean many many things thetype of babka that I’m making the Deafboxer that I’m talking about is a supersuper popular and famous EasternEuropean Jewish breadtraditionally stuff with other cinnamonor chocolate obviously my version ischocolate I’m using a rich butteryFrench brioche dough as the bread baseso it’s a brioche bread that haschocolate rolled up inside of it I meancome on now wanted this to be asourdough thing but then I just you knowI decided you know I really don’t wantthis to have any sour components to itif you haven’t seen my sourdough starterguide yet there will be a link below sogo check that out but anyway I got moresourdough stuff coming soon but as ofright now this one’s gonna havecommercial yeast I’m so sorry now let’sgo ahead and make this yeah so we’re notusing a sourdough starter in this onewe’re using evil commercialized yeastI’m joking commercialize East has itsplace here gonna add three teaspoons or10 grams of instant yeast to threequarters of a cup or 175 grams oflukewarm water which is gonna be aroundninety degrees Fahrenheit give it alight little stir and let it bloom forabout eight minutes now in the bowl of astand mixer you’re gonna add three and athird cup or five hundred thirty gramsof all-purpose flour notice how I spillit every single time when I’m using thisit’s a classic French way of developingflavor next you’re gonna add half a cupor a hundred grams of granulated sugar3/4 of a teaspoon or three grams of finesea salt that’s stuck in the bottom of abowl classic French cream technique parttwo I like to give that a quick littlemix by hand just make sure everything’sincorporated with the stand mixer goingat medium-low speed you’re gonna addthree whole eggsthen you’re gonna add your bloomed yeastmixture let your stand mixer run amedium-low speed until it begins to forma dough you don’t want to scrape downthe sides a little bit as this ishappening you may have to stop it andpull it off the bottom just to make sureeverything gets incorporated if for somereason it’s not forming a dough you canjust add one tablespoon of water at atime until it does once it forms a roughdough you’re gonna add 10 tablespoons or150 grams of unsalted butter at roomtemperature so it needs to be completelysoftened and you’re gonna add this aspoonful at a time until all of it isused up keeping your stand mixer atabout medium-low speed the entire wayscraping down the sides of the bowl asnecessaryonce all the butter is added in thedough is cohesive if you’re just gonnalet this mix at medium low speed forabout 8 to 10 minutes or until the doughis completely smooth once your dough isdone lightly oil a large bowl give it agood old swish around then add yourwonderful brioche dough directly to thatbowl then simply cover your bowl withplastic wrap and place in a refrigeratorovernight this is a great thing to doahead of time and if you’re concernedabout the minimum or maximum amount oftime it needs to be in there it needs tobe in for at least 12 hours 24 hours isalso completely fine now fast-forward tothe following day you’re just gonnalightly butter or grease a general sizedloaf pan that’s gonna be nine by five orfour and a half by eight and a half Ialmost forgot to mention you’re actuallygonna be buttering two loaf pans this isa recipe for two loaf pansonce you’ve buttered both of them you’regoing to dust both of them with a lightcoating of all-purpose flour or reallyany white flour that you have now we’regonna make our chocolate fillings sofirst thing you’re gonna wanna startwith is 1/2 a cup or 120 grams ofunsalted butter place that in a potalong with six and a half ounces or ahundred and eighty grams of freshlychopped dark chocolate around 70% cacaothen simply just melt those down oncethey’re completely melted whisk in halfa cup plus one tablespoon or 42 grams ofcocoa powder and three-quarters of a cupor a hundred and five grams of powderedsugar now just whisk that until it’scompletely smooth now optionally you canadd freshly grated nutmeg here if you’dlike to but it’s not a requirement ifyou do add some just add a little bitmaybe like a eighth of a teaspoon youknow justnow to roll our dough so we’re gonnamoderately flower a work surface firstplop out your cold dough onto your worksurface divided in two and place onehalf of the dough wrapped in plasticback in the fridge to hold while you’reworking with the first piece of doughnow let Li shape your dough into a bitof a disc then roll your dough out intoa square that’s about a half inch thickokay so it doesn’t look much like asquare but it’ll get the job done nowsimply spread half of your chocolatemixture over the entire surface of thedough leaving around an inch borderaround the edges of the dough doesn’tneed to be perfect it’s okay if there’sa little bit more in certain spots butideally you want it to be relativelyeven once the chocolate has been spreadwell brush the top of your dough with alittle bit of water so it adheres whenyou roll it up now this next part iseasier than it looks simply roll it upfrom the bottom all the way up to thetop that’s it now once you’ve got thissort of pastry serpent you’re gonna wantto straighten it out and push the edgesin like you’re seeing here create alittle more even a little shorter of aserpent next you’re going to take thatlog and you’re gonna cut it in halflengthwise using a bread knife be verycareful here because the dough willstick and it’ll tear a little bit sojust try and do this slowly no reason torush it if you want to make this parteven easier you can actually even chillthe log down a little bit before you dothis and then I’ll firm it up a littlebit to make the slicing easier up to younow for the next part that is way easierthan it looks so you’re just gonna takeone end of the two rolls that you havepinched them together and then fold themover each other like a braid alternatingback and forth until you reach the edgeof the other ends of each individual logand then pinch those back togetherthat’s it once you’ve done that simplyplace it into one of your prepared loafpans cover it with a damp towel and letit proof for one-and-a-half to two morehours or until it’s doubled in size ohand you’re gonna do that at roomtemperature by the way and damn look atthose thick boys then you’re just gonnaplace them in an oven that’s beenpreheated to 375 degrees Fahrenheit for25 to 30 minutes or until they’re goldenbrown on top and a toothpick insertedcomes out clean if it goes in and itfeels doughy then it’s not done yet bronow all those are baking you’re gonnacombine 1/3 of a cup or 80 grams ofwater and one-third of a cup 72 grams ofsugar place those in a pot and bring itup to heat over medium heat until allthe sugar is dissolved then simply placeto the side now once your loaves aredone baking pull them outand immediately brush them with thesugar syrup that you made earlier youdon’t want to do this the second thatthey come out of the oven while they’rehot because they’ll absorb all thatsugar that keeps them fresh and it makesthe exterior nice and crispy and lightand sweet and do make sure to use all ofthe syrup use all of it if there’s alittle bit left pour it equally on topof these things trust me they will soakit up and now alright guys and that isit this thing is visually stunningflavor-wise I mean it’s it’s ink it’sincredible it’s super rich buttery lightthe exterior is just lightly crispy andthen the inside is light and fluffy andit’s filled with rich chocolate and Imean it’s yeah yeah but anyway if youenjoyed this video and maybe you’lllearn something leave a like subscribeand I will see you next week[Music]