Chocolate Babka

For a very long time, we've been meaning to try baking babka/paska. I'm actually a little confused about the difference between the two. When I say paska, SP thinks babka based on what his Polish grandma used to bake. When I say babka, I mean swirly bread. He thinks bread with raisins (what I call paska). I thought we had it all sorted out one day after lots of Googling, but then it turns out we didn't because we found more contradictions. So I'm just going with babka/paska all depends on where exactly your ancestors are from.

This is a Chocolate Babka recipe from Cook's Country. Making the dough with the dough hook in the stand mixer is straight-forward and easy. Place it in a bowl, cover, and let it rise at room temperature for an hour and then in the refrigerator for an hour.

SP rolled the dough out, spread on the filling, rolled, and twisted while I was doing something else so there are no photos of those steps. Here it is, nestled in the loaf pan:

Let it rise for another hour and then bake it about 45 minutes.

A golden brown loaf with swirly chocolate interior. We should have smushed it together a bit tighter because there is a crack/hole where the twisting seam pulled apart.

It was very good. Pretty chocolate swirls inside. I liked the interior best and would rip off the crust but then again, I've never much liked the crusts of breads. It kept well for a week wrapped in foil. We ate it for dessert.

Next time, I think we'll try the cinnamon version.

Recipe here.