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It’s a good day anytime babka is involved! If you’ve never had a slice of this delicious bread, you’re missing out on possibly one of the best breads to exist!! That may be our personal opinion, but trust us, after one bite of this delicious sweet bread with swirls of homemade strawberry jam, you will be dreaming of your next slice!
We are absolutely obsessed with chocolate hazelnut babka, but we decided to put a fun twist on our traditional babka recipe. This strawberry donut babka is a soft yeast bread swirled with layers of homemade strawberry jam baked and coated in a sugar just like a jam filled donut.
Is your mouth watering yet or is it just us?! Keep reading to know how to make the perfect babka loaf!
Strawberry Donut Babka Bread
Ingredients:
Direction Snapshot:
- Make Babka Dough.
- Chill dough overnight.
- Make strawberry jam filling.
- Roll out chilled dough, spread filling and roll loaf.
- Cook loaf.
- Make sugar glaze.
- Brush cooked loaf with sugar glaze and roll loaf in sugar.
What is babka bread?
Babka is a decadent sweet bread (although the baking method is similar to a cake with yeast) that is rolled and twisted with decadent layers of chocolate, jams, cinnamon, sometimes nuts, raisins or other spices are added. There are even savory versions of the bread made with cheese and herbs. The options are really limitless.
What really makes babka such an iconic bread is the layers and swirls of delicious filling!!
Can I use preserves instead of jam for the filling?
The best filling for babka is a homemade fresh strawberry jam because you can control the consistency.
Because babka filling is known for its swirls of filling, you need something that wasn’t too runny or clumpy, like a fruit preserve would be. The problem that we ran into with preserves was the inconsistency of the texture. You need a filling that is smooth enough to create those beautiful layers.
How do you make a smooth strawberry jam?
We found the best fruit filling was a homemade jam. We took extra measures to make sure that the jam was perfectly very smooth. After we simmered the fresh fruit and sugar we did two things to make it smooth. First, we blended the mixture in a power blender. Then we strained the jam to remove any large clumps. This method proved perfect for creating a smooth jam for the beautiful swirls in the bread.
Tips for a beautiful babka bread...
Stone Loaf Pan
Rolling Pin with Handles
Strawberry Donut Babka
Description
A soft yeast bread swirled with layers of homemade strawberry jam baked and coated in a sugar just like a jam filled donut!
Ingredients
Babka Dough
20 g dry yeast
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
10 tbsp butter
3 eggs
1 1/4 tsp salt
4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp lemon zest
Strawberry Jam Filling
2 16 oz containers of strawberries, chopped
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tbsp water
2 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp lemon juice
Sugar Glaze
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
Extra sugar for coating
Instructions
Babka Bread Dough
- In saucepan over the stove or microwave, heat milk until warm (Just above lukewarm temperature). You want to make sure it isn’t too hot or it will kill the yeast, if it is too cold the yeast won’t activate. Add yeast to milk and let it sit for about 10 minutes.
- In an electric mixer with dough hook attachment, add flour, sugar, salt, vanilla, lemon zest and mix to combine. Next add in eggs and yeast mixture for a couple minutes, until a dough starts to form. If the dough is very sticky, add in a little bit of flour and mix until well combined.
- Add in the butter 1 tbsp at a time, and mix on medium speed until all is combined and there are no more clumps of butter. Once again if you find the dough is still sticky, add in a heaping spoonful of flour and beat to blend until a dough ball is formed. The dough should be able to pull away from the hook and sides of the bowl.
- Grease a separate bowl with butter. Remove the dough ball from the mixing bowl and place it in the greased bowl. Roll the dough ball around to make sure the whole surface is coated in butter. Cover with plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for 10-12 hours, overnight or at least 5-6 hours.
- Make strawberry jam and let it chill over night with the dough as well. (See directions below to make your home made strawberry jam.)
- Once the dough has chilled, preheat oven to 375°F and grease your loaf pan with some butter. Place a piece of parchment paper in the pan to make the loaf easy to remove once cooked.
- Place chilled dough ball on a floured surface. (If it is too cold to roll out, let it sit for 10 minutes before trying to roll out) Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out into a 9×11 inch rectangle. It should be even and thin. Spread strawberry filling in an even layer over the dough, leaving about 1/2 an inch edge. Start at the long side of the roll and tightly roll the dough towards you into a log shape.
- Horizontally slice the dough roll down the center. Turn the dough so you can see the chocolate layers and twist the dough like a braid and place in your greased and lined loaf pan. If you have uneven ends, fold them under the bottom of the loaf. Place in the loaf pan and bake for 45-50 minutes until browned on top and cooked through.
- While dough is cooking, make the sugar glaze. In a small sauce pan over medium heat, add sugar and water and heat until bubbling. Let it simmer for a couple minutes and remove from heat.
- Once babka loaf is cooked, remove from oven, brush with sugar glaze and cool for about 10 minutes. Pour about 1/2 a cup of sugar onto a plate large enough to roll your loaf in the sugar. Carefully remove the loaf from the pan and roll in the sugar. Slice and enjoy!
Homemade Strawberry Jam
- Put strawberries, sugar into sauce pan until it starts t bubble and boil. Once the strawberries soften, start to smash them with a wooden spoon. Pour hot mixture into a blender and blend until smooth. Pour the mixture
- Add cornstarch and water to a bowl, stir to make a cornstarch paste and pour into the saucepan with the strawberries. Add in vanilla and lemon juice and stir. The corn starch may clump if your jam is too hot, If you find it is clumpy, that is okay. It won’t effect the final product too much.
- Place a strainer over a bowl and pour the jam into the strainer. Using the back of your wooden press the jam into the strainer, removing any clumps. You want to make sure it’s super smooth jam.
