Recipe

Sweet Babka Easter Bread

Celebrate Easter with our Sweet Babka Easter Bread recipe. This traditional Eastern European sweet yeast bread can be served with breakfast, dinner or even as as dessert.

Makes: 3 loaves

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cups Milk
• 4-1/3 cup Flour, divided
• 2 Yeast Cakes
• 1-1/2 cup and 1 Tbsp Sugar, divided
• 15 Egg Yolks
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
  
• 1 cup Butter, melted, divided
• 1/2 box Golden Raisins
  

Instructions:

• Scald milk in small pot by heating milk to a near boil, remove from heat.
• Add 1 cup milk in large pot.  Add ¾ cup flour to milk.  Stir till smooth.
• Let remaining ¼ cup milk sit till lukewarm. To this remaining milk, add 1 tbsp. sugar and 2 yeast cakes, crumbled. Mix until there are no lumps. Cover, and let form a sponge (about 20 minutes), no liquid will be left on the bottom. 
• After the yeast sponge forms, add to the flour & milk mixture above, cover with a pot lid or dish towel and sit aside for ½ hour until sponge bubbles.
• Beat egg yolks with salt and remaining 1/2 cup sugar until creamy.
• When sponge forms and bubbles, add egg mixture, beat well.
• Add remaining 3-1/4 cup flour and vanilla. Work till satin smooth.
• Add melted butter and kneed mixture with hands. (You can use a bread dough hook on a stand mixer.)
• Stir in golden raisins
• Cover with pot lid or dish towel. Let the dough rise someplace warm until dough doubles in volume, about 1-1/2 hours. Once it doubles in size, knock it down, and cover with a pot lid or dish towel to rise again in a warm place, about 1-1/2 hours.
• Butter bread pans well with butter.
• Above dough has risen twice, knead well on board with flour.
• Separate into 3 sections and place in 3 well buttered bread pans. Flatten dough to ends of pan.
  
• Scrape remaining dough down the sides of bowl (about 1/3 cup of dough).
• Stir in 1 cup sugar and 1 stick melted butter with dough scraps.
• Stir in 1/3 cup flour.
• The consistency should be like play-doh and you should feel the grit of the sugar. If not, add more butter, sugar, and/or flour.
• Place dough scraps topping on top of bread, pressing slightly.
• Cover pans with a a dish towel. Let dough rise in the pans until light (reaches top of pans), about 2 hours.
• Bake at 325° for 27-30 minutes. Put tin foil under pans or a large baking sheet on rack below to catch possible drippings.
• May be served warm or cold, with or without butter on top.

Recipe Notes:

Set aside the day as this recipe requires several hours for the dough to rise. This recipe makes 3 loaves which will be gone quickly because it taste so good. A loaf of Sweet Babka Easter Bread also makes a delicious and thoughtful gift.
 
You may use any milk, we prefer Vitamin D for baking this recipe. Scald 1-1/2 cups milk to get the 1 -1/4 cups milk required for this recipe. A little milk dissipates while scalding.

This dough needs to rise three times. To get a good rise, place in a warm room.

Once bread cools, wrap in plastic wrap.  This bread has no preservatives so it needs wrapped very well to keep moist. Wrap 4-6 times all around the bread to keep fresh. You may freeze the bread by wrapping in plastic wrap and placing in a freezer-proof zip lock bag for up to 3 months.