I’ve made various enriched dough recipes for brioche type bread as well as sweet rolls. Just before Christmas (2018), I saw this on SmittenKitchen for Baklava Babka. I do not like the crunchy, super sweet baklava but I loved the look of this softer babka and it was so pretty in the “round”.
@Fermentada (Melissa) had introduced me to using a sweet, stiff starter when she, with me following close behind, made sourdough raised donuts. From my minimal reading, there is a difference in the type of acid produced with a stiff starter vs a liquid starter. At any rate, I continued using a sweet, stiff starter when making sweet, enriched doughs. I converted the SK recipe to use a sweet, stiff starter by just backing out the amounts of all in the starter from the related ingredients.
So, my adaptation is as follows:
stiff sweet starter: 90 grams flour, 25 grams active starter (whatever your regular bread starter is), 40 g water and 20 g sugar. I usually mix this in the evening.
Next morning add the sweet starter to:
1/2 cup milk
130 g sugar
3 eggs
1.5 tsp vanilla
482 g flour
pinch salt (more if using unsalted butter)
6 T butter
I then use a stand mixer for this dough so not exactly a no knead and if you want to combine by hand go for it. For myself, combining the eggs, sugar and butter is easier with the mixer.
After mixing, I let it sit at room temp for 2-4 hours and then into the frig for 24 (ish) hours. Let the dough warm, roll / shape as you want. I make cinnamon rolls, babka like sweet roll, “Danish”, and doughnuts with this dough.
Directions for the babka rolling and shaping are well documented in the Smitten Kitchen recipe as well as in @Fermentada’s Sourdough Naan Babka on this site: .
This dough freezes well, baked items from the dough freeze well also so do not hesitate making a full recipe and freezing either dough, slices, rolls.
Some notes: The stiff starter does not grow or bubble like a liquid starter. I haven’t worried too much about it and use it after 12 hours with no issue. Additionally, the dough itself does not rise much and seems a bit stiff out of the refrigerator. My experience has been that as it warms up, it puffs up a bit and with some gentle kneading before shaping, becomes much softer. Whatever I’ve made with it, then rises normally after shaping. I go for about 25-30% rise after shaping.
The last time I made a babka with the dough, I departed from the cinnamon-nut filling and used walnuts, orange zest, sugar and dried cranberries with an orange syrup instead of honey syrup. That was my favorite to date.
Citrus filling: (mostly I eyeball the quantities, but … approximately as below)
1 cup sugar
1 T zest
mix the zest into the sugar so the zest releases oil, mixes in and smells wonderful!
add some juice (1 T) … not much you don’t want things runny
Softened butter like for cinnamon rolls, then the sugar zest mix and then the fruit (whatever looks good to me). I think I use about a cup of crushed walnuts or pecans.
Some photos:
Above is half the dough. Even if making a round, I split the dough and work with half at a time and join them for a circle or you can bake 2 loaves OR you can cut like cinnamon rolls.
And then donuts:
On the right is a cut, frozen and then lightly thawed donut. On the left is after air frying (5 min and 350). You can deep fry but I was amazed at how well the air fry did for a faster, less mess, I want it NOW! - donut.
