The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Heads Up - Babka Community Bake

DanAyo's picture
DanAyo

Heads Up - Babka Community Bake

This Friday a new Community Bake, featuring Babka will be posted to the forum. All forms of Babka, including Sourdough, Yeast Water, and commercial yeast leavened doughs are encouraged. Hopefully some of the participating bakers will inspire us with various fillings and shapes.

All things Babka are on the table.

Bakers that have never participated in our Community Bakes before are encouraged to join in on the fun and learn new skills.

The Roadside Pie King's picture
The Roadside Pi...

I have a question. Will, there be a formula suggestion for inspiration? 

 Off-topic, Seinfeld says that chocolate is the King of all Babka. Then he goes on to add that cinnamon takes the back seat to no Babka! Smile... Thoughts? Meanwhile, I will search my Ebooks and the entire internet for a suitable and worthy formula. 

Kind regards,

Will F.

DanAyo's picture
DanAyo

I will post a spreadsheet for Babka, but all formulas are good. I am hoping we get some great and varied options. All I know is chocolate Babka,  but the sky is the limit…

The Roadside Pie King's picture
The Roadside Pi...

What better formula & tutorial for a born and bred Brooklyn boy like me? None better than one by a Jewish boy from Brooklyn! 

I enjoyed the video tutorial, immensely! I wish the recipe was scaled down to a more Manhattan size kitchen-friendly version. I really don't want to start messing with the numbers for a bread I have never before made. Then there is the fresh to instant yeast conversion to deal with. The search continues! Enjoy the mind candy inspiration. 

Perfect Chocolate Babka Recipe (vice.com)

DanAyo's picture
DanAyo

I will be mixing my next test Babka using the link you provided. What a nice guy and his instructions in the video are excellent. He makes it look so easy.

Instead of his formula that uses
2 ¼ cups|325 grams bread flour, sifted
2 ¼ cups|325 grams pastry flour, sifted

Since many of our bakers won’t have Pastry Flour on hand, I think 650g All Purpose flour should come close to accomplishing the same result. Anyone disagree?

The Roadside Pie King's picture
The Roadside Pi...

I am glad you enjoyed the video and liked the formula. 

 In my internet travels last night/this early morning, I happened upon a mint condition hardcover copy of the iconic book authored by two of our most esteemed fresh loaf members. Sadly Norm Berg is no longer with us. May he rest in peace and smile down on our loaves of bread. Meanwhile, Stan is still doing his thing over a couple of internet blocks at, "N.Y. Baker." Long story short, and $175.00 later. I now own the above-mentioned volume! Smile... So, if you get an angry phone call from my wife Dan, you have only yourself to blame! Ha, haha, ha! (Just kidding.) I kill me. I am kidding about the phone call, not the book! 

DanAyo's picture
DanAyo

Ordered the molds in medium. They’ll make nice presentations for give-a-ways.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002BCGWPC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The Roadside Pie King's picture
The Roadside Pi...

You're all set now, brother!

The Roadside Pie King's picture
The Roadside Pi...

When he was listing the ingredients as he mixed the batch, the first thing I thought of was "why not just use AP!" Now I have a question. What if one were to totally go off the reservation and use 1/2 AP and 1/2 pastry flour? 

 

Benito's picture
Benito

I've used AP flour 11-12% successfully for babka and other similar breads so if you don't have pastry flour to blend it should work in my limited experience.