Converting Babka Recipe to Sourdough...
I'd imagine something along these lines has been covered before, but either way, just wondering if I could pick your brains, especially with Easter just around the corner...
I have a really old family recipe (pre-WW2) for a traditional Polish babka, but it's always left something to be desired. To my palate it tastes too yeasty and the texture has a tendency to be rather crumbly. Occasionally I've ended up with a very buttery brick. Over the years I've played around with the quantities and type of yeast used (fresh, dried active), but I've never quite managed to hit the sweet spot with it - as the recipe is 80-odd years old, I'm working under the assumption that it was written with fresh cake yeast in mind. Given the problems I've had with it, I usually just end up baking Panettone instead as it's a reasonable substitute...
Am thinking that converting the babka to sourdough might help with the taste & texture.The ingredients (for a full quantity) are as follows:
500g flour
150g sugar
250 ml single cream or full cream milk
6 egg yolks (I use 3 whole eggs if I don't want to waste egg whites)
40g yeast
100g butter, melted
vanilla, lemon zest
pinch of salt
150g raisins or sultanas
The babka is made using the sponge method, where the yeast is creamed with with the cream or milk and a couple of spoons of the sugar before adding 100g of the flour. That's left to rise for a bit before combining with the rest of the ingredients, dolloping into a mould (it's a fairly soft, sticky dough) and leaving to rise before baking in a hot oven.
Given the above method, I am assuming that I can ditch the yeast entirely, then take, 50g say, of my 100% hydration (rye) starter and use this to make a levain with the 100g of flour and the 250ml of milk / cream. I'd leave this for 8-12 hours in a cool place before making the dough. The other aspect is do I give it the single rise like in the original recipe? Or do I go for the bulk ferment & proof like I would for sourdough bread?
Is this feasible? Or am I likely to fall flat on my face?