Sourdough Easter Babka (Babka Wielkanocna na Zakwasie)

Well, I did pose the question the other day about converting a Polish babka to sourdough (http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/45314/converting-babka-recipe-sourdough)

Anyways, I took the plunge, tweaked the original yeasted recipe (upping the salt from a pinch to 2%) and here goes...

Ingredients:

Levain:

30g 100% hydration wholegrain rye starter

50g strong white bread flour

125ml whole milk

Dough:

All of the levain

200g strong white bread flour

2.5g salt

75g caster or granulated sugar

1 egg yolk plus 1 whole egg (or 3 egg yolks)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp almond extract

1/2 tsp lemon zest

50g butter.

100g raisins (I don't want to use a bicycle between one raisin and another)

Method:

Make the levain with the starter, flour and milk. Stir well, cover and leave. I left this overnight, but you could easily do this in the morning in order to make your dough in the evening. This levain took a while to get going, but come the morning it was nice and bubbly.

Sift the flour and salt together and put to one side. Melt the butter. Soak the raisins for around 10 mins, then drain. Grease and flour the tin - I used a traditional fluted tin, but you can use a plain loaf tin if you wish.

Put the eggs and the sugar into a bowl and whisk until pale and fluffy. Add the levain and the flavourings. Fold in the flour with a rubber spatula. Next, slowly add the butter a dribble at the time. When the butter is incorporated, fold in the fruit.

Dollop into the tin - it should be around 1/3 full. Place the tin in a plastic bag and leave to rise until the tin is nearly full. I found this took around 12 hours at room temperature (18C-ish) - I'd started midday, and the babka was oven ready at midnight. Would be ideal for an overnight rise next time I try this.

Bake for 40 mins in a preheated oven 190C. I baked for 20 mins under my stock pot "cloche" and finished it off uncovered.

Remove from tin while still hot and glaze.

Verdict:

First observation is that the dough rose much slower than with the ridiculously large quantity of yeast quoted in the original recipe. This does, however, make it perfect to fit around doing other things than having to worry about it escaping the tin... Other than that, I didn't notice much difference while actually working with the dough.

Second, when I tasted the bowl scrapings after putting the dough in the tin, they didn't taste sour at all. You could actually taste the other ingredients instead of everything being masked by the flavour of yeast, which was something of a revelation.

Third. It smelled *amazing* while it was baking. Same point as above regarding the absence of the yeasty aroma.

Fourth. Didn't get the usual squeaky bum moment turning the babka out of the tin - usually it sticks, breaks or both... This time it just dropped out beautifully after a good sharp tap.

Fifth. The finished babka was lovely and springy to the touch, not brittle and prone to baking. There wasn't over much in the way of oven spring, but this is the best rise and end result I've ever had.

My overall impression is that the sourdough version performed much better than yeasted version. Alas I haven't yet conducted the acid test i.e. tasting it, because that's for tomorrow morning's breakfast. The babka found its way into my swieconka to sit alongside my baranek wielkanocny (easter lamb) made from victoria sponge mix and a small 70% wholegrain sourdough, not to mention the other traditional items of kielbasa, cheese, salt, eggs and butter. Had some very favourable comments regarding my baked goods when I took my basket to church this morning. Makes all the effort worthwhile :-)

Will post results from the taste tests and the crumb shot tomorrow :-) If this babka tastes as good as it smells, then the yeasted version I think will be kicked into touch for good.

Just want to take the time to wish everyone here a Happy Easter from myself, Poppy and Lexi.