Recipe reprinted courtesy of JOY of KOSHER with Jamie Geller
Pumpkin Chocolate Babka by Jamie Geller
Pumpkin and chocolate are a delicious, but underrated combination. If more people tasted these two together, coffee shops would be changing their signature fall drink flavors to combine these two ingredients (pumpkin mocha–you heard it here first!).
This pareve babka makes a perfect breakfast bread or Shabbat dessert. If you don’t have time to bake today, try a refrigerator rise. After making the dough, rub it with a little extra virgin olive oil and place in a resealable plastic bag. Refrigerate for up to 2 days. When you’re ready to bake, remove from fridge, place dough in a greased bowl or on a parchment lined pan, and let come up to room temperature. Then shape, fill, and bake!
- 270 min duration
- 55 min cook time
- 215 min prep time
- 3 babkas servings
INGREDIENTS
Sponge:
• 1½ cups hot water at 100°F
• 4½ teaspoons yeast or 2 (¼-ounce) packages yeast
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
Dough:
• 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
• ⅔ cup honey
• 5 egg yolks
• 2 whole eggs
• 6 cups all-purpose flour
Chocolate Filling:
• 1 pound bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
Pumpkin Filling:
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• ½ cup confectioner’s sugar
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• Pinch of ground cloves
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• Pinch of kosher salt
Cinnamon Glaze:
• 1½ cups confectioner’s sugar
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• Pinch of sea salt
PREPARATION
Sponge:
1. Combine water, yeast, flour, and salt in the bowl of a standing mixer. Cover with a towel and let stand for 30 minutes, until the surface looks like a sponge.
Dough:
1. Add oil, honey, egg yolks, whole eggs, and flour to sponge and mix to combine.
2. Add flour, a little at a time until the dough is not sticky, but still has a bit of tackiness to it.
3. Transfer dough to a lightly greased bowl. Cover and rise for 2 hours. Or lightly oil the dough and transfer to a resealable bag and store overnight in the refrigerator (see note under photo).
Chocolate Filling:
1. In a medium bowl, stir chocolate, sugar, cinnamon, and salt together. Set aside.
Pumpkin Filling:
1. In a medium bowl, stir pumpkin, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and salt together. Set aside.
Shaping and Filling:
1. Lightly grease 3 loaf pans with extra virgin olive oil.
Separate risen dough into 3 pieces. If using refrigerated dough, let it come to room temperature before shaping.
2. With a rolling pin, roll one piece of dough into a 16-inch square. Sprinkle chocolate filling on half of the square. Shmear the other half with pumpkin filling. Roll the dough up tightly into a rope, being sure to seal the ends.
3. Slice the rope lengthwise and wrap the halves around each other at least 6 times. Fold the rope in half and place in greased loaf pan. Repeat with remaining dough. Allow babkas to rise for 1 hour.
4. Preheat oven to 350°F.
5. Bake babkas at 350°F for 40 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through. Remove from oven and cool in pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and cool on rack for 10 minutes more. Drizzle with cinnamon glaze, slice, and serve warm.
Cinnamon Glaze:
1. Whisk sugar, water, cinnamon, and salt together. Drizzle over cooled babkas.
