Apple Butter Babka
This soft and tender apple butter babka has cinnamon baked right into the dough, with apple butter generously swirled throughout.
I thought this babka was going to be the death of me. I couldnβt get the filling to stop leaking out after 7+ tests, among a myriad of other issues. So I shelved it for 2021 and moved on to other things.
A year later and that much more experience with yeast doughs, and I was ready to try again. As you can already tell, I finally found success! Less overthinking, a few methodical tweaks, and weβre back, baby.
Method
You donβt need a stand mixer to make this, which was a huge plus for me. When I started developing this recipe again, we were in the midst of moving, which meant I didnβt have a lot of my equipment on hand. This babka takes 2 mixing bowls and a loaf pan.
When youβre bringing things together before you knead the dough, you donβt want to be too rough and end up overworking the gluten. Our goal is a soft, tender loaf. Resist the urge to really crank on it with the spatula, even if it looks dry and chunky. Everything will come together beautifully when you knead it.
One note about the butter, I had the best results when it was very soft. Since weβre not making buttercream, we donβt need to worry about it being a greasy mess. Because the butter is so soft, it incorporates into the dough a lot easier, both with the spatula and then later when kneading. This also helps with the earlier reminder to not overwork the dough.
Rise
Donβt be shocked by the long rise times! Itβs well worth the wait. Because this apple butter babka is sweeter and richer than a typical loaf of bread, it needs additional time to rise. My dough proofed in 3 1/2 hours, but I strongly encourage you to go by sight, rather than a hard and fast time. Once the dough has doubled, you can continue with the recipe. Whether that takes more or less time depends on your circumstances!
Filling
Previously, I tried stuffing sliced apples into the swirls together with brown sugar. It kind of worked, definitely tasted great, but I couldnβt get it to NOT leak out during proofing. It wouldnβt have been so bad, but the leaking kind of sabotaged the loaf once it was in the oven. I think moisture from the apples was the issue, so I went with apple butter to include both a strong apple flavor and the spices.
Whether you make it from scratch or buy a jar, your babka will taste amazing. Iβve used both, and my taste testers definitely loved both. The only thing Iβll caution you on is making sure that thereβs no excess water in your apple butter. It wonβt affect taste, but it could leak out during proofing and your swirls wouldnβt be as defined.
Shaping
I did my best to explain how to shape this babka in the recipe card, but with these type of things, a visual aid is always better.
Just make sure your seam is sealed and the ends are pinched shut, and you shouldnβt have any leaking.
Print
Apple Butter Babka
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Total Rise Time: 5 hours + 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 6 hours + 45 minutes
- Yield: One 9 x 5 loaf (10 slices) 1x
- Category: Bread
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American, Jewish
Description
Sweet and soft, this babka is swirled with delicious apple butter and has cinnamon baked right into the dough.
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 2/3 cup whole milk, heated to 110 degrees F
- 1 packet yeast, or 2 1/4 tsp (instant or active dry)
- 1/3 cup + 1 TB granulated sugar, divided
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 2 2/3 cups all purpose flour, sifted and divided
- 5 TB unsalted butter, soft room temperature
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
For the crumble topping:
- 2 TB brown sugar
- 2 TB all purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 2 TB unsalted butter, cold and cubed
For filling and egg wash:
- 1/2 cup + 2 TB apple butter
- 1 large egg, well beaten
Instructions
To make the dough:
- Grease the short sides of a 9 x 5 loaf pan, and add a strip of parchment paper to completely over the bottom and long sides. Be sure to leave about 3-4 inches of overhang to make it easier to remove the baked loaf.
- Combine the hot milk, yeast and 1 TB of the sugar in a glass measuring cup or small bowl and whisk well. Cover with a kitchen towel and allow to proof for 5 minutes.
- While the yeast is proofing, combine the remaining 1/3 cup sugar, salt, cinnamon and 1 cup of the flour in a large mixing bowl. Whisk to evenly mix.
- Once the yeast has proofed, it should be a few inches taller and very foamy. Add the yeast mixture, soft butter, egg yolks and vanilla extract to the sugar/flour/cinnamon mixture and use a spatula or wooden spoon to fold everything together for 30 seconds. Donβt be rough or use a lot of pressure.
- Add a second cup of the flour and continue to mix for another 30 seconds. Again, donβt be rough. The dough will come together beautifully when you knead it. At this point, there should still be some visible streaks of butter.
- Add 1/2 cup of the flour and mix until the dough has somewhat pulled together and looks pieced and shaggy.
- Of the original 2 2/3 cups of flour you started with, there should be 2-3 tablespoons remaining. Dump that extra flour onto your countertop, and turn out the dough on top of it. Be sure to use the spatula or wooden spoon to scrape the bowl and get all of the dough pieces onto the countertop.
- Knead the dough for 3 minutes. It should pick up all the dry pieces and excess flour, and become soft, smooth and elastic. Place the dough into a greased bowl, cover with a kitchen towel, and allow to rise in a warm, draft free area until doubled. Since this dough is richer and has more fat, allow up to 4 hours for the first rise. Mine was doubled in 3 1/2 hours.
To make the crumble topping:
- After you begin the first rise, make the crumble topping so that itβs easy to grab later on. Combine the brown sugar, flour and cinnamon in a small bowl and stir together until evenly mixed. Add the cold butter and use your hands to work everything together until it has the consistency of wet sand. Itβs okay if the butter softens a bit as you work with it, because youβll be storing the crumble in the fridge before you use it.
- Once the crumble is done, cover and refrigerate until needed.
Fill, Shape and Bake the loaf:
- After the dough has doubled, punch it down to deflate it and use a rolling pin to create a 12 x 16 inch rectangle. You should not need any additional flour to roll out the dough. Spread the apple butter evenly over the dough, leaving at least an inch wide border around the edges.
- Beginning with the longer side, gently roll the dough into a 16β³ long log and tightly pinch the seam and ends closed. Create a βUβ shape with the dough log, making sure the the βUβ bend is curved AWAY from you. Make a figure 8 with the dough log, tucking the sealed ends underneath and forming a loaf. See visual aid in post.
- Add the shaped loaf to the prepared loaf pan, and cover with a kitchen towel. Allow to rise in a warm, draft free place for another 90 minutes. 30 minutes before the dough is done rising, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- After the second rise in the loaf pan, the dough should have crowned about an inch above the edges of the pan. Brush the loaf with the egg wash, and use a skewer or cake tester to poke about a dozen holes in the loaf. This prevents gaps from forming around the apple butter swirls.
- Evenly sprinkle the loaf with the crumble topping and bake for an hour. After baking, remove the babka from the oven and allow to rest for 15 minutes before removing from the pan to a cooling rack.
- Cool completely before slicing.
Equipment
Buy Now β Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 304
- Sugar: 16 g
- Sodium: 255.8 mg
- Fat: 9.9 g
- Saturated Fat: 5.6 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 47.6 g
- Fiber: 1.5 g
- Protein: 5.9 g
- Cholesterol: 77.2 mg
