April 20, 2005

Babka

A coworker was complaining about how you can't get babka in Portland. She'd gone to the Jewish deli and to some bakeries and apparently even went so far as to call up the free weekly newspaper and pitch a "Why is there no babka in Portland" story to them. Well, I hate to see someone go without a beloved breadstuff, so I made some babka.

I made two, one for us, and we tasted the one for us this morning. It is superb. I don't really know from babka, so I couldn't tell you how authentic it is, but it certainly is tasty! The chocolate swirls through it magnificently; instead of being satisfied with a jelly roll, you are supposed to twist the bread rope-like afterwards and then coil the rope into the shape of the bread. It's a great technique, one that leads to beautiful and unpredictable swirls, and I'll have to remember it for the next time I'm making a swirled bread.

Posted by chris at April 20, 2005 10:35 AM