Sourdough babka is a sweet and soft enriched brioche-like dough swirled with chocolate and baked to perfection. Made with simple ingredients and naturally leavened with sourdough starter, this bread will win over any sweet-tooth.
As Iโve made more and more sourdough bread recipes, Iโve realized there really is no limit to the type of bread you can make.
Once I got my sourdough brioche bread down to a science, I decided to take my brioche dough to the next level by turning it into babka!
This sourdough chocolate babka is the current favorite dessert at the farmhouse. We’ve already gone through two this year (and it’s only January!). I may even go as far to say that this is in my top 5 of dessert sourdough recipes. It’s just that good!
I make mine with a chocolate filling, which is more traditional. But you can experiment with different fillings if you are not a chocolate-lover like most of my family.
If you are looking for a sweet treat this winter, this sourdough chocolate babka is the perfect cozy comfort food!
What is Babka?
Babka is a sweet, cake-like bread made with an enriched dough. It is filled with chocolate or other sweet concoctions, rolled up, and braided for a beautiful looking babka loaf. For this recipe, I use a very similar recipe to my sourdough brioche recipe, but with a little less butter.
Chocolate is the traditional filling for babkas, but if you are not a chocolate lover, you can also use cinnamon.
This recipe yields 2 loaves, so you could always make one chocolate and one cinnamon to try out!
Why you will love this recipe:
Easier to digest: If you have a hard time digesting unfermented grains, this long-fermented recipe will have less gluten and will be easier to digest than regular bread.
Delicious: With a sweet, tangy dough and a decadent chocolate filling, this bread will make your tastebuds sing with every single bite.
Simple: Although it looks super impressive, this bread is actually fairly simple to make. With just a few ingredients, you can make a beautiful and delicious bread.
You can make it your own: You can experiment with various fillings to fit your sweet tooth desire! If you love cinnamon rolls, I highly recommend trying a cinnamon sugar filling (recipe below!). I’ve heard of people experimenting with a Nutella filling and various fruit fillings, too!
Sourdough Babka Making Tips:
- Once you have your babka filled and rolled up, move it to a piece of parchment paper before cutting it and braiding. This way, you can use the parchment paper to easily lift it into your loaf pan. It also makes for easy clean up! Just be sure your parchment paper is cut to the right size.
- This dough is a wet dough. Even if you are tempted to add more flour, donโt. Too much flour will give you a tougher bread rather than something light and fluffy.
- Feed your starter 4-12 hours before you plan to start the dough. You want it to be super bubbly and active, at its peak.
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Ingredients:
The Dough
Sourdough starter – Active and bubbly. You really want to have a very active starter for this recipe so it has a really nice rise.
Bread flour – Bread flour gives this dough a much lighter and fluffier texture compared to using all purpose flour.
Sugar – Preferably organic cane sugar.
Milk – Preferably whole, but 2% should also work just fine.
Salt – I always chose sea salt.
Eggs
Unsalted Butter – Room temperature.
Chocolate Filling
Cocoa powder
Sugar
Butter
Semi-Sweet chocolate – You can also use dark chocolate here if you prefer.
Tools you may need:
Stand mixer (optional – you can also knead by hand!)
Bench scraper
Sharp knife
Pastry brush
FAQ:
What nationality is babka?
Babka is a Jewish dessert and can be traced back to early 19th century Jewish communities in Eastern Europe.
What is active sourdough starter?
Active sourdough starter is starter that has been fed water and flour and allowed to sit until it is bubbly and about doubled in size.
What is the difference between brioche bread and babka?
Both babka and brioche are made with an enriched dough. Brioche does not include a filling and can be used as a sandwich bread. Babka is a sweet bread with a chocolate or cinnamon filling.
What do you eat babka with?
Babka is great all on its own. We also love to enjoy a slice with a cold glass of milk on warmer days or a hot cup of coffee or tea in the winter.
How To Make Sourdough Babka
Feed starter at night before bed. This way when you wake up in the morning, it will be nice and bubbly.
Kneading Sourdough Babka Dough
In the morning, combine all ingredients in a mixer with a dough hook and knead until smooth and glossy. The dough will be very wet, but after 10-15 minutes in the stand mixer (or by hand), it will come together. Donโt add more flour even though it is tempting.
Cover with plastic wrap, a damp towel, or tight lid and place in a warm spot for 6-8 hours (or until doubled) for bulk fermentation.
After the 6-8 hours, refrigerate for a few hours (or overnight) so that dough is nice and stiff for shaping. Even a little fridge time makes shaping easier like it does with brioche and challah.
Make Your Filling
The traditional babka has a rich, sweet, chocolate filling.
In a pot, add the cocoa powder, sugar, and softened butter. Heat on low until melted, stirring occasionally.
For a cinnamon filling, mix together 10 tablespoons of softened, room temperature butter, ยพ cup brown sugar, and 2 tablespoons cinnamon.
Shaping Babka
Divide into two equal portions. I really like to use my bench scraper to do this.
You will then roll out each portion into a 10โ by 14โ rectangle. Trim any extra dough to make a straight edge.
If you donโt want to make two babkas, you can also freeze one portion of the dough for a couple of months to bake later.
Add the filling and roll
Add your filling to the rolled out rectangle of dough. Bring the filling to the edges, except on one of the short ends. Leave about an inch of dough.
Roll up your dough from the opposite short side.
Once rolled up, use a sharp knife to cut in half.
Twist the halves into a braid and add it to your loaf pan.
Pro tip: Place your braided dough on parchment paper and use it to lift your loaf into the pan. It makes it easy to transfer and also makes clean up a breeze!
Final rise
Let your babka rise in the loaf pan, covered for about 4 hours or until doubled.
When your babka is ready to bake, create an egg wash by beating an egg with a little bit of water. Brush it over the loaf
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and bake for 40-45 minutes.
How To Store:
Once your babka has cooled, wrap it in plastic wrap or store it in an airtight container. It can usually keep at room-temperature for 3 to 5 days.
You can freeze your baked babka for up to a month.
We also love to turn our babka bread into French toast if we havenโt used it up in a few days!
Baker’s Schedule
8 p.m. Feed your starter
8 a.m. The next morning: Mix up your dough
8:25 a.m. Cover your dough and let it rise for 6-8 hours until doubled
4:25 p.m. (or sooner) Place the dough in the fridge for at least an hour and up to overnight.
8 a.m. The next day: Mix up your filling, roll out the dough, fill, and roll.
8:20 a.m. Cut and braid your dough and place in your loaf pan. Let it rise another 4 hours.
12:20 p.m. Bake your babka for 40-45 minutes in a 350 degrees preheated oven.
Find more Of My Favorite Sourdough Bread Recipes:
- Sourdough Pretzel Bites
- Sourdough Discard Focaccia
- Rosemary Sourdough Bread
- Sourdough Potato Bread
- Sourdough Pizza Dough
If you try this recipe and love it, I would love if you gave it 5 stars! Also, tag me on Instagram @farmhouseonboone.
Sourdough Babka
Ingredients
Dough
- 3 1/2 cups bread flour
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 large eggs
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 cup active sourdough starter
Chocolate Filling
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup butter
- 4 ounces semi sweet chocolate, chopped
Instructions
- Feed starter at night before bed. This way when you wake up in the morning, it will be nice and bubbly.
- In the morning, combine all ingredients in a mixer and knead until smooth and glossy. The dough will be very wet, but after 10-15 minutes in the stand mixer (or by hand), it will come together.
- Cover with plastic wrap, a damp towel, or tight lid and place in a warm spot for 6-8 hours (or until doubled).
- Refrigerate for a few hours (or overnight) so that dough is nice and stiff for shaping.
- In a pot, add the cocoa powder, sugar, and softened butter.ย Heat on low until melted, stirring occasionally.
- Divide the dough into two equal portions. I really like to use my bench scraper to do this.
- Roll out each portion to a 10โ by 14โ rectangle
- Add the filling to the edge, except on one short end, leave about an inch of dough showing. Sprinkle the semisweet chocolate over the filling.
- Roll up your dough from the opposite short end.
- Cut the roll down the middle and twist.
- Add your babka to a loaf pan, cover, and allow to rise until doubled, about 4 hours.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Create an egg wash by beating an egg with water. Brush over the loaf.
- Bake 40-45 minutes
Notes
- Donโt add more flour even though it is tempting.
- Once you have your babka filled and rolled up, move it to a piece of parchment paper before cutting it and braiding. This way, you can use the parchment paper to easily lift it into your loaf pan. It also makes for easy clean up! Just be sure your parchment paper is cut to the right size.
- This dough is a wet dough. Even if you are tempted to add more flour, donโt. Too much flour will give you a tougher bread rather than something light and fluffy.
- If you donโt have bread flour, you can use all-purpose. It will not be quite as soft as using the mix of the two flours, but it will still be yummy.
- Feed your starter 4-12 hours before starting to the dough. You want it to be super bubbly and at its peak.
- 10 tbs unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons cinnamon
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I messed up *at least* three different ways while making this, and I only had all purpose flour… still turned out delicious! Thank you for this recipe — such a treat!
(for those of you who skip text and go straight to the recipe — note that this is for two babkas! divide in half. also, read the body of the text for more info on making the filling.)
I’ve made this several times and it’s always well loved! Have you ever assembled the loaves with filling in the pans and then kept them in the fridge overnight? I’m thinking it would work if I just keep the dough in the fridge for a couple of hours after the initial ferment, assemble the loaves before bed and then bring them out to rise in the morning?
Thanks for the great recipes! I wish all of them had weight options for the scale instead of cups and tsp. Clean up is much easier with out all the measuring tools and just a scale.
I do have a conversion chart that you can use!
I have made this close to 20 times and everyone absolutely loves it! Not only is it extremely delicious but beautiful! A real showstopper at brunches and whatnot ๐
I tried baking this bread today for an Easter potluck tomorrow. It turned out wonderfully, though I haven’t tasted yet. Based on the smell of my kitchen today, it is going to be a hit. I fumbled a little with the twisting of the dough. Also, I did not use bread flour. I’ve only used All purpose flour for all recipes so far and they all have turned out! They rise and taste soft. Just as with other wet doughs, I mixed the ingredients let it sit 10 or 15 minutes before kneading. The wait time really helped!
At what step can I put this in the fridge for the morning? Is that possible?
Yes, that’s fine.
I made this yesterday, and it turned out great!! The dough was so soft, I was worried about it turning out alright, but it was just fine. The recipe doesn’t say what to do with the chopped chocolate, so I just added to the warm chocolate mixture, and it partially melted. Love watching your youtube channel, and all the recipes! If I start feeling burnt out, I watch one and it gets me excited about homemaking again!
I know the dough recipe is for two loaves. Is the chocolate filling recipe enough for both loaves? Thanks!!
Yes, it is!
I liked your website for my beginner sourdough recipes but it seemed like you just stopped adding the measurements. Hard for me to want to keep coming and using your recipes anymore.
The measurements are down at the bottom where the recipe is!
I made one a few days ago and it was delicious, but today my dough wonโt come together, it looks like crepes Dough. Could it be, because one egg had to yolks and was rather huge? (I only did half the amount)
Do you have this recipe with weighted measurements
I do have a conversion chart.