Summer has been officially over for a few weeks. As a final farewell to the sunny weather and long days, I figured I’d share a fun babka recipe based on a campfire favorite treat: s’mores!
Well, okay, to be honest I’m not the biggest fan of summer. I am super sensitive to humidity, it’s always too hot and bugs scare me. It’s kind of miserable. I am really enjoying the cooler weather that’s coming in.
This is a simple, standard babka. Brioche dough, chocolate filling and coated in sweet syrup. But I added in the traditional s’mores flavors. So, the dough gets some wheat flour and cinnamon to emulate graham crackers and marshmallows are added to the filling.
First, we make the brioche. Mix the yeast into the warm milk and allow to bloom. Then stir in 2 tablespoon of sugar with ¼ cup of all purpose flour to make a paste. Let this rise until its doubled in size. This will take around 30 minutes. The paste adds an extra rise and gives a more tender texture to the babka.
After the initial rise is done, stir in the egg and yolks first to turn the dough back into a paste, then add in the wheat flour, the rest of the sugar, cinnamon, salt, and vanilla. A sticky dough will form at this point, so add in more all purpose flour until it becomes a rather stiff dough, for me it is usually ½ cup more. Once the dough has completely come together, knead in the butter a tablespoon at a time. This will take some time, but it should come together to form a luscious dough. Cover the brioche and let it rise until its just starting to puff up, then put it in the refrigerator at least overnight, but it will last for up to 3 days.
Remove the dough and roll it out thin. Then make the filling. Just cream together the butter with the cocoa powder, brown and powdered sugar, salt and vanilla. Spread the chocolate all over the rolled out brioche, then sprinkle the chocolate chips and marshmallows over top the filling. Roll the dough toward you to make a log then cut it lengthwise to create two long strands. Twist the dough halves over each other like a braid, and scrunch the babka to fit in a standard sized loaf pan. Cover it up and let it rest again. It won’t rise too much at this stage, it will look a bit more puffy and the dough will spread to attach itself to the sides of the pan.
As it rises, preheat your oven to 350 F, and when it’s ready, bake for 45 minutes. That’s the shortest amount of time I have ever fully cooked a babka, but usually it takes closer to an hour. However, this is around the time the top will begin to overly brown. If that bothers you, just throw some aluminum foil over the babka for the last few minutes of baking, if not, just let it brown. That’s what I did for this one and I don’t think it looks too bad. It’s certainly fine inside and that’s what matters most.
Once the babka has finished baking, make a quick simple syrup. That’s just equal amounts of water and sugar heated until the sugar fully dissolves and the syrup thickens. You can do this on the stove in a saucepan, but I usually just microwave the mixture in 30 seconds and that seems to work just fine. While the babka and the syrup are still hot, spoon the syrup over the babka until everything is coated and shiny. Let the babka sit to cool and absorb all the syrup before enjoying.
S’mores Babka
Ingredients
- Dough:
- ¼ Cup Milk, warm
- 1 Teaspoon Yeast
- ¼ Cup Sugar, divided
- ¾ Cup All Purpose Flour, divided
- 1 Egg
- 2 Egg Yolks
- ½ Cup Wheat Flour
- 1 Tablespoon Cinnamon
- ½ Teaspoon Salt
- ½ Teaspoon Vanilla
- 10 Tablespoons Butter
- Filling:
- 4 Tablespoons Butter, room temp.
- 2 Tablespoons Cocoa Powder
- ¼ Cup Brown Sugar
- 2 Tablespoons Powdered Sugar
- ¼ Teaspoon Vanilla
- Pinch of Salt
- ⅓ Cup Chocolate Chips
- ½ Cup Marshmallows, regular or mini
- Sugar Syrup:
- ¼ Cup Water
- ¼ Cup Sugar
Instructions
- Bloom the yeast in the warm milk until it starts to foam.
- Mix in 2 tablespoons of sugar and ¼ cup of the ap flour into the milk to form a paste. Allow this mixture to rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
- Once risen, add in the egg and egg yolks and stir until the dough has become a paste again. Stir in the rest of the sugar, cinnamon, salt, vanilla, and wheat flour. As the dough starts to come together, add in ap flour until the dough becomes rather stiff.
- Begin to incorporate butter a tablespoon at a time. Once all the butter has been mixed in, cover the dough and put it back into its warm place to rise again for another 45-60 minutes.
- After the dough has begun to rise again, allow it the rest in the refrigerator overnight (or up to 3 days).
- After the resting period, remove the dough and roll it thin.
- Mix together the filling: cream together the butter with the sugars, cocoa powder, vanilla and salt. Spread the chocolate filling onto the dough and sprinkle the chocolate chips and marshmallows.
- Roll up the dough into a log, then cut lengthwise and wrap the two pieces together like a braid. Fit the dough into a standard sized loaf pan and rest again until slightly puffy.
- Preheat the oven to 350F and bake for 45 minutes to start, then check and see if it’s done. Mine usually take an hour, but it varies.
- Once the babka is cooked all the way through, pull it out of the oven and prepare the sugar syrup. You can either boil it on the stove until all the sugar is dissolved or microwave the sugar water in 30 second bursts until it becomes a thick syrup.
- Pour the syrup over the babka and let it rest until it has cooled and absorbed all the syrup. Then cut up, serve and enjoy.