A babka is a sweet braided bread (not a cake) which originated in the Jewish communities of Poland and Ukraine. It is popular in Israel (often referred to as simply a yeast cake: ) and in the Jewish diaspora. It is prepared with a yeast-leavened dough that is rolled out and spread with a filling such as chocolate, cinnamon, fruit, or cheese, then rolled up and braided before baking.

History

Babka developed in the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe in the early 19th century. Extra challah dough was rolled up with fruit jam or

cinnamon Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several tree species from the genus ''Cinnamomum''. Cinnamon is used mainly as an aromatic condiment and flavouring additive in a wide variety of cuisines, sweet and savoury dishes, breakfa ...

and baked as a loaf alongside the challah. Chocolate was not originally used, as it was not generally available; the chocolate babka was likely a mid-20th century American development. Its name (though not necessarily the dish itself) may be related to a type of

Easter cake Easter cakes are cakes or sweet breads traditionally prepared and served during the Easter season. They are traditionally associated with the Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Russian Orthodox churches and also with some other Christian churches in Nor ...

popular in Poland and Ukraine known as ''baba'' or the diminutive ''babka'', which means "grandmother", related to the Yiddish ''bubbe''. Although the Polish and Ukrainian babka are mutually eponymous with their Jewish counterparts, the appearance and preparation of each babka is drastically different. The Eastern European babka draws its name from its tall, stout, fluted sides formed in a traditional pan, and reminiscent of a grandma's skirt. In comparison, the variant introduced to Western culture by emigres to New York consists of strands of rich yeasted dough interwoven and baked in a loaf tin. Babka was mostly unheard of outside of the Polish Jewish community until the latter part of the 20th century. European-style bakeries started to offer it in late 1950s in Israel and in the US. In addition to chocolate, various fillings including poppy seeds, almond paste, cheese, and others became popular, and some bakers began to top it with streusel. The popularity of babka has continued to increase across the United States, especially in New York, where a popular Israeli bakery from Tel Aviv owned by Gadi Peleg, Breads Bakery, opened a location and began to sell their babka filled with traditional fillings such as cinnamon, as well as non-traditional fillings such as Nutella, apple, and cheesecake, as well as a savory version with za'atar and feta cheese. They became well known for their chocolate babka.

Preparation

It consists of either an enriched or laminated dough; which are similar to those used for challah, and croissants respectively, that has been rolled out and spread with a variety of sweet fillings such as chocolate, cinnamon sugar, apples, sweet cheese, Nutella, mohn, or raisins, which is then braided either as an open or closed plait, topped with a sugar syrup in order to preserve freshness and make the bread moister. It is sometimes topped with a streusel topping.

Variations

Israeli style

Israeli style babka (עוגת שמרים) is made with a

laminated dough Laminated dough is a culinary preparation consisting of many thin layers of dough separated by butter, produced by repeated folding and rolling. Such doughs may contain more than eighty layers. During baking, water in the butter vaporizes and exp ...

, enriched with butter, which is then folded and rolled multiple times to create many distinct layers, similar to that used for Israeli style rugelach, and also croissant dough. Israeli style babka is available with a wider array of fillings and shapes. It is most often shaped into a loaf pan, but it is also sometimes made into individual babkas, a pie-shaped babka, formed into a ring shape, or braided and baked free form or formed into individual twists similar to a cheese straw. The most popular fillings are chocolate which is commonly made with Hashachar Ha'ole (an Israeli chocolate spread), mohn (a sweetened poppy seed paste filling), and sweet cheese typically made with gvina levana. They are rarely topped with a streusel topping. It is typically sweet; however, savory versions are also popular in Israel, often containing labneh and za'atar. It is also often baked as " roses", individual pastries shaped to resemble a rose. They may also be made with a closed plait, versus the more common open plait.

References

External links