Chocolate Babka
This chocolate babka will make you swoon! Soft brioche bread ribboned with rich dark chocolate, and topped with a crumbly chocolate streusel.
I am so excited to be bringing you this recipe today!
I’ve had it in the works for some time, and I just couldn’t wait to tackle it.
Chocolate babka!
Isn’t it so pretty? I just love how the soft, stretchy bread swirls and loops around all that luscious chocolate!
My yeast bread archive is filling out nicely! I’m beginning to feel much more confident as a bread baker, now that I have developed so many fabulous bread recipes.
Be sure to check out my favorite white bread recipe, my soft Italian breadsticks, and my crusty French baguette recipe. These are all reader favorites, with rave reviews!
But today we are taking things in a sweeter direction, with a luxuriously rich bread that’s made even more so by the addition of chocolate!
WHAT IS BABKA?
Babka is a classic bread that derives from Eastern Europe.
It consists of a rich, soft, and moist bread that’s swirled with a sweet filling, such as cinnamon sugar, fruit, or, as you see here, chocolate!
It’s often topped with a crumbly streusel, to give it added texture and sweetness.
You’ll often find babka at a Jewish deli (remember that Seinfeld episode?), but this version is way better, because it’s homemade!
HOW TO MAKE AUTHENTIC CHOCOLATE BABKA
This bread has 3 main components:
- The brioche dough
- A chocolate filling
- The chocolate crumb topping
The dough takes the longest, so let’s start with that!
BRIOCHE
Brioche is what’s known as an “enriched” dough, which means it has eggs and butter added to it. This makes it so rich and luxurious!
I’ve adapted my homemade brioche hamburger buns recipe to make the dough for this babka.
Start by putting flour, water, yeast, sugar, salt, eggs, and egg yolks into a large mixing bowl.
I prefer to use my stand mixer for this, but you could also make this dough by hand or in a bread machine.
Using the dough hook attachment, mix everything together for a few minutes on low speed.
Once you have a sticky dough, work in the soft butter.
Add the butter a tablespoon at a time, allowing each addition to completely incorporate before adding the next.
Once all the butter has gone in, knead the dough on low speed for a full 10 minutes, then turn the mixer up to medium and give it another 15.
This dough needs a lot of kneading! It helps to make the dough easier to work with, and it will also develop the glutens so that the babka has a nice texture.
Next just cover the bowl and allow the dough to chill in the refrigerator. It needs at least 6 hours, but I find it much easier to just leave it in overnight and finish things up the next day.
CHOCOLATE FILLING
The filling for this babka is as simple as melting chocolate, butter, and sugar together and whisking until smooth.
You can do this in the microwave or over a double boiler.
I would not recommend using chocolate chips, unless you can get your hands on a premium-quality brand. Most chips contain stabilizers that will prevent them from melting smoothly. Baking bars will work much better. Just give them a rough chop.
Once your filling is made and your dough has chilled, roll it out to a large, thin rectangle and spread the filling all over in an even layer.
Then just roll it up into a log, just like if you were making cinnamon rolls.
Starting near the top, slice through the log vertically, creating two separate halves.
Twist the two halves around one another and pinch them together at the bottom.
Then just transfer that to a standard-sized loaf pan, cover it loosely with a sheet of greased plastic wrap, and allow the babka to rise in a warm place for 4 to 5 hours.
CHOCOLATE CRUMB TOPPING
For the chocolate streusel, melt butter then add in flour, sugar, cocoa powder, and salt.
You can use regular or Dutched cocoa powder for this. Whichever you prefer!
Just toss everything together with a fork until crumbly, then sprinkle it all over the top of the babka, just before baking.
You’ll know your chocolate babka is done when it’s a deep brown color and it feels really crusty on top.
Allow it to cool completely in the pan, then remove it, dust it with powdered sugar, and slice.
HOW TO SERVE CHOCOLATE BABKA
Chocolate babka is perfect any time of day.
I love it for breakfast or brunch, or for a nice afternoon pick-me-up, along with a cup of coffee or tea.
And it’s great for dessert as well!
CAN THIS BE MADE AHEAD?
You will want to allow yourself plenty of time to make this chocolate babka! It needs several hours to chill and rise, and it takes a while to cool down after it’s been baked too.
I think it’s best to start the recipe at least a day before you plan to serve it. Maybe even two days!
It will last at room temperature for 5 to 7 days. Just keep it tightly wrapped so that it doesn’t become stale or dried out.
If you still have leftovers hanging around after a week or so, pop them into the fridge and they’ll keep for several more days there.
CAN YOU FREEZE IT?
Yeast breads like this one freeze beautifully. Just wrap this babka up tightly in plastic wrap and slip it into a freezer bag. It will last in the freezer for around 2 months.
Thaw it at room temperature and it will taste fresh as the day it was made!
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Chocolate Babka
Ingredients
For the Brioche Bread Dough
- 2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup (59.15 ml) water
- 1 3/4 teaspoons (8.63 g) active dry yeast*
- 3 tablespoons (44.36 g) granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 eggs, (large)
- 1 egg yolk, (large)
- 12 tablespoons (147.87 g) unsalted butter, (1 1/2 sticks), softened
For the Chocolate Filling
- 6 ounces (170.1 g) semi-sweet chocolate , (roughly chopped bar or premium quality chips)
- 6 tablespoons (88.72 g) unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 tablespoons (22.18 g) granulated sugar
For the Chocolate Crumb Topping
- 6 tablespoons (88.72 g) unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup (93.75 g) all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup (66.67 g) granulated sugar
- 2 1/2 tablespoons (36.97 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
Optional Garnish
Instructions
To Make the Brioche Bread Dough
- Place the flour, water, yeast, sugar, salt, eggs, and egg yolk in a large mixing bowl and mix on low speed (with a dough hook attachment) for 6 to 8 minutes, stopping halfway to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a silicone spatula.
- While continuing to mix, add the butter in one tablespoon at a time, allowing each addition to fully incorporate before adding the next.
- Knead the dough for a full 10 minutes on low speed, then turn the mixer up to medium speed and knead for another full 15 minutes.
- Chill the dough (covered) in the refrigerator overnight, or for a minumum of 6 hours.
- Knead the dough a few times to soften and warm it slightly, then roll it out to a large rectangle with a thickness of about 1/8-inch.
- Spread the chocolate filling in an even layer all over the dough.
- Starting at one of the shorter sides of the rectangle, roll the dough into a log shape.
- Beginning near the top of the log, slice vertically through and then twist the two halves together, pinching back together at the base.
- Transfer the unbaked loaf to a lightly greased, standard-sized loaf pan, cover loosely with a sheet of greased plastic wrap, and allow the bread to rise in a warm place for 4 to 5 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and sprinkle the bread with chocolate crumb topping.
- Bake the bread for 35 to 45 minutes, or until deeply golden and crusty.
- Cool completely in the pan before dusting with powdered sugar and slicing.
To Make the Chocolate Filling
- Place the chocolate, butter, and sugar in a medium bowl and melt together, either in the microwave (for about 1 to 1 1/2 minutes on full power), or over a double boiler, whisking until smooth.
To Make the Chocolate Crumb Topping
- Melt the butter in a small pot over low heat.
- Add the flour, sugar, cocoa, and salt, tossing together with a fork until crumbly.
If using the dough setting in bread machine should I still proof overnight in refrigerator? Are there any other changes to recipe?
Yes it wants a slow proof in the fridge for sure! Good luck!
I’m trying this out soon it looks really good. Can I use bread flour or is the dough best prepared with AP?
You could definitely try bread flour! I usually use AP but maybe you might like bread flour better. Let me know!
Made this today and it over proofed… so it sunk once out of the oven but tasted good😀. Should the rise just come to the top of the pan? Thanks
Please provide the recipe for making this in a bread machine.
OMG! This was so incredibly delicious! Not much work if you use a mixer w/a dough hook. I did as recipe stated and kneaded the dough for a full 25 minutes and then proofed in refrigerator overnight. I rolled the dough tight and chocolate did not seep out. This came out perfectly. My husband was in his glory eating babka w/a good cup of coffee!
Have you ever doubled this recipe to make two loaves?
Hello! Very excited to try this out. My dough looks great day 1! I was wondering the approximate length/width you roll out the dough? Thank you!
Hey Tanya! I think for this recipe, it’s more important that you get it to the right thickness. The thinner you can roll it, the more surface area you have to spread the filling on. The dimensions of the rectangle don’t really matter because of the way the roll gets twisted… it goes in the loaf pan all loopy and swirly anyway. I hope that makes sense!
After refrigerating my dough overnite and rolling dough, might be too much chocolate because it oozes out. Dough wasnt firm enough to make tight roll. It is now in the pan but not very neat looking. Trusting it will taste good anyway.
I’m sure it will taste good! But next time be sure to take note of the kneading time- this will really help the dough to become firmer. It’s a lot of kneading and it will give your machine a workout, but it really does stiffen things up by quite a lot.
For the proofing in the loaf pan, can I proof in a warm oven with the temp being 200F and then turning the oven off after it preheats?
That sounds like a great idea! Good luck!
Hi there! Any advice on how to modify this recipe for the bread machine (i.e., what order to add ingredients, etc.)? Thanks!
Unfortunately, despite all the kneading, the dough is sticky and I had to use a lot of flour to even be able to roll it. Now with the chocolate on, it’s basically impossible to roll it up at all. It’s just sticky and pieces are coming off. Just stuck it in the freezer for a few minutes, hoping that it might become firmer so that I can save it. Not sure what went wrong 🙁
This was meant as its own comment, but I accidentally replied to the person above. Sorry about that.
Does the wet ingredients (water, eggs, butter) need to be at room temperature?
It’s best if they are, yes. Good luck!
After I roll the dough can I leave overnight or only 4 to 5 hours?
You can refrigerate it for up to 48 hours.
If I am refrigerating this for about 48 hours, should I punch down the dough periodically? And how often? Every 10 – 12 hours or so?
You only need to punch it down the one time. Good luck and I hope you enjoy!
Are these proportions right? My dough was SO sticky, nowhere near rollable! 2 cups of flour and 12 tablespoons of butter? Other recipes said 6 cups of flour and 8 tablespoons of butter!
Yes, they are right! I tested the recipe several times. A few tips for you:
Hopefully this info is useful!
I tried it today, it’s so good! I have seen many different recipes of Babka and my family love yours. The taste and the texture are superb!
This sounds wonderful. I do have one question. Do you have to prep the loaf pan in any way before putting the dough into the pan. Thanks so much.
Hi there! You only have to lightly grease the pan. I typically just give it a quick mist with non-stick spray. Good luck and I hope you enjoy!
Hi Allie, I attempted the brioche today. My dough was a success, but I had chocolate oozing everywhere. My roll was not tight. And I did use a good quality chocolate. Did you let your chocolate firm up a bit before putting it on the dough? That is what I am thinking. Nevertheless, I baked it, it smelled divine and tasted pretty good to. Thank you.
Hey Diane! I’m so happy you tried the recipe but sorry that you had some trouble! When I was making it, the dough was still a little cool from the fridge as I was rolling it out, and the chocolate filling had probably been sitting for around 10 minutes. It was quite runny when I poured it on, but I noticed that as I started spreading it, it was firming up just from being in contact with the cool air and the dough. You can sort of see this in the video. I’m glad that your finished product still tasted good but I’m sure that must have been frustrating to work with. Hopefully this helps and maybe next time you’ll have better luck. Thanks for reading!