Breadmaker Spring Babka Recipes

Steps:

• Stir white sugar, 1/4 cup butter, and salt into hot milk in a small bowl until butter is melted and mixture is lukewarm. In the work bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, sprinkle yeast over warm water; stir to dissolve.
• Stir milk mixture into yeast mixture. Add 2 eggs and 2 1/2 cups of the flour; beat on high until combined. With mixer on low, add remaining 2 cups flour, 1/2 cup at a time.
• Switch to the dough hook; mix until dough leaves sides of bowl, about 5 minutes. Set dough in a large, lightly greased bowl, turning dough to coat top. Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm spot until doubled, about 1 hour.
• Prepare walnut filling while dough rises. Lightly beat 3 eggs in a large bowl. Stir in brown sugar, 1/3 cup melted butter, cinnamon, and vanilla extract. Fold in walnuts.
• Punch dough down. Turn dough out onto a large, lightly floured surface, cover with the bowl, and let rest 10 minutes. Line three 9x5-inch loaf pans with parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on long sides.
• Divide dough into thirds; roll each third out to a 12-inch square on a lightly floured surface. Spoon 1/3 of the walnut filling onto each dough square and spread to within 1/2 inch of the edges. Roll up each square tightly as for a jelly roll. Pinch ends and seams closed to seal. With your palms, roll logs back and forth until uniformly round.
• With a sharp knife or dough scraper, cut 1 log in half lengthwise to form 2 striped strands. Working quickly, twist strands loosely together with cut sides facing out, making 2 or 3 wide, horizontal twists. Fit into one of the prepared pans, patting back any loose filling and tucking ends under, if needed. It might look like a mess now, but it comes out beautifully!
• Repeat with remaining logs and pans. Cover pans with a towel and let rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Loaves should not rise above top edges of pans.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Brush loaf tops with remaining 2 tablespoons melted butter.
• Bake loaves until puffed, well browned, and a thermometer inserted in centers registers 200 degrees F (93 degrees C), 35 to 45 minutes. Tent with foil if tops brown before loaves are done. Cool in pans for 10 minutes, then use parchment to lift from pans and transfer to a wire rack.
• Cool completely, about 1 hour. Glaze if desired, then slice crosswise to serve.

Steps:

• Dough:.
• Add all wet ingredients to bread machine.
• Top with flour and place yeast, sugar and salt in separate corners.
• Or add the ingredients according to your bread machine.
• Set machine to large loaf, dough cycle and press start.
• At the beep add the zest, cinnamon, cardamom, raisins, and or cranberries.
• Cheese filling:.
• Mix cheese filling ingredients together.
• Prepare pan:.
• Generously butter a fluted tube pan. Sprinkle with fine bread crumbs.
• When cycle has finished remove dough to a floured surface.
• Punch down dough and shape and roll out into a log about 20x 10. Then place cheese filling in the center down the long side of the roll, bringing the sides over to encase the filling. Then place into prepared pan covering with plastic wrap and let rise 60 minutes or till risen to top of pan.
• Brush with eggwash and sprinkle with almonds.
• Bake 350 for 45-60 minutes.

Steps:

• Prepare the dough: In a small saucepan or a bowl in the microwave, warm the milk until it's lukewarm but not hot (about 110 degrees). Add yeast and a pinch of sugar and let sit for 5 to 10 minutes, until slightly foamy.
• In an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook, or in a food processor, mix together flour, 1/3 cup sugar, the salt, the vanilla, the lemon zest (if using) and the nutmeg. (If you don't have a mixer or processor, use a large bowl and a wooden spoon.) Beat or process in the yeast mixture and eggs until the dough comes together in a soft mass, about 2 minutes. If the dough sticks to the side of the bowl and doesn't come together, add a tablespoon more flour at a time until it does, beating very well in between additions.
• Add half the butter and beat or pulse until the dough is smooth and elastic, 3 to 5 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula as needed. Beat in the rest of the butter and continue to beat or pulse until the dough is smooth and stretchy, another 5 to 7 minutes. Again, if the dough sticks to the sides of the bowl, add additional flour, 1 tablespoon at a time.
• Butter a clean bowl, form the dough into a ball and roll it around in the bowl so all sides are buttered. Cover the bowl with a clean towel and let it rise in a warm, draft-free place (inside of a turned-off oven with the oven light on is good) until it puffs and rises, about 1 to 2 hours. It may not double in bulk but it should rise.
• Press the dough down with your hands, re-cover the bowl and refrigerate overnight (or, in a pinch, for at least 4 hours, but the flavor won't be as developed).
• Prepare the filling: In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine sugar, cream and salt. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until sugar completely dissolves, about 5 minutes. Scrape mixture into a bowl. Stir in chocolate, butter and vanilla until smooth. Let cool to room temperature. Filling can be made up to a week ahead and stored, covered, in the fridge. Let come to room temperature before using.
• Prepare the streusel: In a bowl, stir together flour, sugar, cocoa powder and salt. Stir in melted butter until it is evenly distributed and forms large, moist crumbs. Stir in the chocolate chips. Streusel can be prepared up to 3 days ahead and stored, covered, in the fridge.
• Prepare the syrup: In a small saucepan, combine sugar and 2/3 cup/158 milliliters water. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, then simmer for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally until the sugar dissolves.
• Butter two 9-inch loaf pans, then line with parchment paper, leaving 2 inches of paper hanging over on the sides to use as handles later.
• Remove dough from refrigerator and divide in half. On a floured surface, roll one piece into a 9-by-17-inch rectangle. Spread with half the filling (there's no need to leave a border). Starting with a long side, roll into a tight coil. Transfer the coil onto a dish towel or piece of plastic wrap and stick it in the freezer for 10 minutes. Repeat with the other piece of dough.
• Slice one of the dough coils in half lengthwise to expose the filling. Twist the halves together as if you were braiding them, then fold the braid in half so it's about 9 inches long. Place into a prepared pan, letting it curl around itself if it's a little too long for the pan. Cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until puffy (it won't quite double). Alternatively, you can cover the pans with plastic wrap and let them rise in the refrigerator overnight; bring them back to room temperature for an hour before baking.
• When you're ready to bake, heat the oven to 350 degrees. Use your fingers to clump streusel together and scatter all over the tops of the cakes. Transfer to oven and bake until a tester goes into the cakes without any rubbery resistance and comes out clean, 40 to 50 minutes. The cakes will also sound hollow if you unmold them and tap on the bottom. An instant-read thermometer will read between 185 and 210 degrees.
• As soon as the cakes come out of the oven, use a skewer or paring knife to pierce them all over going all the way to the bottom of the cakes, and then pour the syrup on top of the cakes, making sure to use half the syrup for each cake.
• Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before serving.

Steps:

• Warm the milk and melt 1/4 cup butter in a glass or ceramic bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds, or on the stovetop in a saucepan. Combine the bread flour, 2 cups all-purpose flour, yeast, and 1/4 cup sugar. Add the water, the milk-butter mixture, the egg, and the salt to the dry ingredients and mix well.
• Use the dough hook in a stand mixer on low speed or knead the dough by hand until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 15 minutes. If the dough is too wet, add more bread flour, about 2 tablespoonfuls at a time (up to 8 tablespoons) to make a workable dough; too much flour can make the dough dry. Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let rise until double in size, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
• Make the chocolate filling and the streusel while the dough is rising. For the filling, stir together the finely chopped chocolate, the cinnamon, and 1/4 cup sugar. Cut in 1/4 cup chilled butter with a fork. To make the streusel, combine the confectioners' sugar and 1/4 cup all-purpose flour; cut in 1/4 cup chilled butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
• When the dough has doubled, punch the dough down and cut it into two equal pieces. Loosely shape each piece into a ball. Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let it rest for 10 minutes.
• Roll out one portion on a lightly floured surface to form a 15x4-inch rectangle. Sprinkle with half the chocolate filling, roll up to form a long log, and seal the seam. Attach the ends to form a circle and place the ring, seam-side down, on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat with the second piece of dough. Use a serrated knife or kitchen shears to cut slits at 1-inch intervals around the rings. Cover the rings with damp kitchen towels and let rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
• Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Brush the loaves with the egg wash, if desired. Sprinkle streusel on top. Bake the loaves for about 25 minutes, rotating the baking sheets to promote even browning, until the bread is a deep golden brown.

Steps:

• Place biga ingredients in bread machine according to your manufacturers directions. Start on dough cycle. Let mix for 2 minutes (It doesn`t need to go for the full time of the dough cycle) then unplug and leave closed till the next morning.
• Dough:.
• The next morning add butter to biga which at this point should have collapsed. Whisk well eggs, sugar, vanilla and salt then add to bread machine. Top with flour.
• Set machine for dough cycle. At beep add raisins and zest.
• Meanwhile mix filling ingredients together in a food processor and chill till ready.
• Grease tube pan well and coat with cookie crumbs.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• When dough is done turn out on to a lightly floured work surface, and punch it down to release the built up gases.
• Roll out into a rectangle 8 by 14 inches.
• Spread the filling then roll them up jellyroll style and pinch the seams to seal them. Flatten the dough slightly with a rolling pin, then twist the dough 6 to 8 times. Allow the dough to rest a few minutes. Make spirals with the dough and place them in a greased tube pans. Cover pan with a damp cloth, and let rise in a warm place until almost doubled in volume, about 30 to 60 minutes.
• Bake the cakes for 45 minutes; then let cool in the pan.