Thanks to the Coronavirus stay-at-home orders, I’ve been doing a significant amount of baking. This babka braid appears difficult but is actually quite simple. It’s an enjoyable way to utilize frozen blueberries! When freezing leftovers, wrap them tightly or place them in an airtight container.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 55 mins |
| Additional Time: | 3 hrs |
| Total Time: | 4 hrs 25 mins |
| Servings: | 10 |
| Yield: | 1 large braid |
Ingredients
- 1 cup whole milk
- 6 tablespoons white sugar, divided
- 2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 4 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons ground cardamom
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 ⅓ cups frozen unsweetened blueberries
- ⅓ cup white sugar
- 1 teaspoon orange juice
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 tablespoon pearl sugar (Optional)
Instructions
- Combine milk, 1 tablespoon sugar, and yeast in a small bowl. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.
- Add remaining sugar, butter, and eggs to the milk mixture. Stir until mostly combined, but it won’t be smooth.
- Measure flour, cardamom, and salt into the bowl of a stand mixer. Pour in wet ingredients and attach dough hook. Mix until dough comes together in a shaggy mass. Cover the stand mixer with a clean dish towel and let dough rest for 10 minutes.
- Uncover the dough and knead on medium speed until smooth, about 5 minutes. Continue to knead on low speed until dough is soft, elastic, and shiny, about 5 minutes more. Transfer to an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place in a warm spot until doubled in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
- Meanwhile, make the blueberry filling. Combine blueberries, sugar, and orange juice in a medium saucepan. Bring mixture to a low boil. Smash the blueberries with a potato masher. Continue to simmer until the mixture has thickened enough to spread, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in extracts. Chill until completely cool.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Punch down and divide into 2 pieces. Roll 1 piece into a 9×18-inch rectangle, squaring off with a bench scraper as you roll to make it is as even as possible. Spread 1/2 of the blueberry filling over the dough, leaving about a 1-inch border. Roll up the dough into a tight roll, starting from the long edge closest to you. Pinch seams to seal. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling.
- Place logs side by side on a lined baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and chill for 1 hour.
- Use a sharp knife or bench scraper to each log in half, lengthwise, so you have 4 filled strips of dough on the baking sheet.
- Place 2 strips across each other to form a plus sign. Arrange the remaining 2 strips to form an interlocking cross. Fold the end of the strip closest to you over the strip to its right. Repeat 3 more times, moving clockwise. Fold remaining strips over to the left, moving counterclockwise. Repeat folding step until only short ends remain; join ends and tuck them carefully under the braid.
- Cover the braid and place in a warm place to rise for 45 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) towards the end of the second rise.
- Beat egg with a pinch of salt and brush some over the braid. Sprinkle with pearl sugar.
- Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, about 35 minutes. Cool completely before slicing.
- I love cardamom with blueberries but you can try cinnamon, or omit the spice and use lemon zest instead.
- If you’re short on time, you can put the dough in the fridge for the first rise, 8 hours to overnight. Then roll out, fill, and roll into logs. The dough is easier to shape when chilled! Skip step 7 if you go this route.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 394 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 62 g |
| Cholesterol | 83 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 3 g |
| Protein | 9 g |
| Saturated Fat | 7 g |
| Sodium | 282 mg |
| Sugars | 19 g |
| Fat | 12 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
This made a huge beautiful bread! It did take a long time but wasn’t too difficult to follow. I don’t have a stand mixer and had to knead by hand, the dough was soft and not sticky; beautiful to work with. It did take me 15 minutes of hand kneading to get the “window pane” gluten development. And I had to look up how to shape the braid in a video since this was my first time making any babka. Thank you for this gorgeous recipe.
Heavenly!
I was in need of a day of baking therapy, and this recipe was the perfect way to do that. This is such a beautiful, and delicious bread! I opted to use whole wheat flour in place of all-purpose, just because I like the flavor of whole wheat, but kept everything else the same. It’s so good! I really really like the cardamom paired with the blueberries. Just yum! And it’s really not a difficult bread to make–it just takes some time. Definitely worth it! Thank you for sharing your recipe, Laura!