Garlic Babka

Ingredients

Brioche

• 4 C bread flour or all-purpose flour

• 1 packet (2 heaping teaspoons) instant yeast

• 1 TBSP table salt

• 2 TBSP granulated sugar

• ⅓ C whole milk

• 4 TBSP salted butter

• 1 C cold water 1 egg

Filling

• 1 head garlic, plus 4-6 cloves, roughly chopped

• 1 teaspoon olive oil

• 1 stick salted butter, softened

• 1 egg

• 1 C grated Parmesan, Pecorino, or a mix

• 2 TBSP garlic powder or dried minced garlic

• 1 green onion, finely chopped

• 1 TSP mild red pepper flakes

• zest of 1/2 lemon

• ½ C finely chopped parsley leaves salt to taste

Egg wash

• 1 egg yolk

• 1 TBSP whole milk

Instructions

Brioche

Make the dough at least one day before you want to eat it. Whisk the flour, yeast, salt, and sugar together in a large bowl. Heat the milk and butter until the butter melts and the mixture is steaming hot, but not boiling. Meanwhile, whisk the cold water and egg together in another bowl.

Pour the hot liquids into the cold ones and whisk to combine. The mixture should be lukewarm: around 100ºF or barely warm to the touch.

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry with a spatula, scraping and folding until no dry flour remains. You’ll have a sticky, shaggy looking bowl of dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and immediately transfer to the refrigerator. Chill for 12 hours or up to two days. The dough won’t double in volume, and tastes better the longer you leave it.

Roast Garlic

Heat your oven to 350ºF. Remove the excess papery skin from a head of garlic and trim half an inch off the top to expose the cloves. Drizzle a teaspoon of olive oil over the top and rub all over the garlic sprinkle with sea salt and pepper. Wrap tightly in aluminum foil, place in a small baking dish, and roast until soft and fragrant, about an hour. Allow to cool before using.

Garlic Filling

Make the filling right before you roll out the dough. Combine the butter, egg, chopped raw garlic, cheese, and garlic powder in the bowl of a food processor. Squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of their skin directly on top. Pulse to combine, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and process for a minute or so until nice and smooth. Transfer to a bowl and fold in the chopped green onion, parsley, lemon zest, and pepper flakes; season with salt to taste. Set aside.

Shape and Roll the Brioche

Lightly flour a clean countertop and scrape the dough right onto the flour. Knead gently for a minute or two, just to get a feel for the texture and smooth it out slightly. Pat the dough into a rough rectangle, with the long sides at the top and bottom.

Now, flour the everything: countertop, rolling pin, both sides of the dough, and your hands. Be generous—you can brush off the excess later. Roll the dough out into a rectangle that’s 1/4 inch thick and roughly 10 wide and 24 inches on the long side, adding more flour anywhere it sticks. The exact dimensions are not important and matter less than the thickness and maintaining a vaguely rectangular shape with the long sides at the top and bottom.

If there’s lots of flour left on the dough, gently brush it off with the side of your palm or a pastry brush. Dollop the filling evenly across the surface and smooth it out with a spatula, leaving about 1/4 inch of space at each edge. Lift up the long edge closest to you and start rolling the dough into a log, gently pulling the roll toward you to tighten it as you go. Continue until it’s all rolled up.

Sizing

For two 1-pound loaf pans, trim 2-3 inches off each end and cut the remainder in half; you want two pieces, each slightly longer than a pan. For a 1.5-pound loaf pan, trim 4-5 inches off each end so the log is slightly longer than the pan. Reserve the trimmings. Place each log on a sheet of parchment, seam side down, and roll it up tightly in the parchment. Transfer to the freezer and chill until firm to the touch: 15-20 minutes for shorter logs, 25-30 minutes for longer ones.

Meanwhile, generously butter your pan(s) and a baking dish large enough to hold the trimmings. Whisk an egg yolk with 1 tablespoon of milk to make the egg wash. Arrange the trimmings in the baking dish however you like, brush with egg wash, and cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel. Set aside.

Cut and Twist

Remove your dough from the freezer and unroll the parchment. Arrange so that the seam faces down, then use the tip of a sharp knife to carefully cut the log in half the long way. Open it up like a book, with the cut sides facing up, and place one cut end on top of its neighbor. Press them together, then twist the two pieces around each other in an “S” shape. Press the other ends together and carefully transfer your beautiful creation to a buttered loaf pan, again with the cut sides facing up.

Bake Prep (1 1/2 hr)

Brush the surface with egg wash, cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel, and rest at room temperature until the dough warms up and puffs slightly. This is a really important step: Cold dough snaps as it expands in the oven, but warm dough stretches. You want it to stretch. Allow at least an hour for smaller loaves and up to two for larger ones.

Baking

When you’ve achieved puffiness, it’s finally time to bake. Heat your oven to 375ºF, with a rack in the middle. Brush the babka(s) with more egg wash and rest, uncovered, while the oven heats. Bake for at least 35 minutes (45 for big loaves) then reduce the temperature to 325ºF and bake for 10-20 minutes more. If the top browns too quickly, cover with a piece of foil. There is a lot of butter inside this loaf; when in doubt, another 5 minutes in the oven can’t hurt.

Cool the babka(s) in the pan. Serve in slices if you like, or tear with your bare hands—either way, a side of marinara for dipping is a great companion. Should you have leftovers, they make delicious toast for breakfast or savory French toast.

Urban Cowgill May 2019