High Altitude Cinnamon Babka
Soft and fluffy cinnamon babka made from pillowy brioche dough, filled with butter, brown sugar and cinnamon, twisted into loaves and baked until golden brown.
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with Dough Hook
- 2 Bread Loaf Pans
Ingredients
Tangzhong
- 3 tbsp water
- 3 tbsp whole milk
- 2 tbsp bread flour
Dough
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter
- ¾ cup whole milk
- 2 ¼ tsp (1 packet) instant/rapid rise yeast or active dry yeast
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 3 ½ cups bread flour, spooned and leveled,
- 1 tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp ground cardamom
- 2 large eggs (room temperature)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Filling
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- ¾ cup light or dark brown sugar, packed
- 1 ½ tbsp cinnamon
Instructions
Tangzhong
- In a small saucepan, whisk together the water, milk and flour. Cook over medium heat for several minutes, whisking constantly, until it thickens into a paste.
- Remove from the heat, scrape the tangzhong into a small bowl, and set aside until needed.
Dough
- In the same saucepan you used to make the tangzhong (no need to wash the pan first), melt the butter over medium heat. Stir in the milk, and warm the mixture just until it reaches between 110-115 degrees Fahrenheit.If it gets too hot, let it sit for a few minutes until it cools down to the correct temperature. It's important that you check the temperature - if it's too cold, it won't activate the yeast, and if it's too hot, it will kill the yeast.
- Remove the saucepan from the heat. Stir in the yeast and 1 teaspoon of the sugar. Let stand for 5 to 10 minutes until it begins to foam and bubble; this will let you know that the yeast is active.Baker's Note: If using instant/rapid rise yeast, you can choose to skip this step of proofing the yeast in the warm liquid first, and simply add the warm liquid and the yeast to the rest of the dough ingredients. However, I like to proof the yeast every time, simply to ensure the yeast is active and not expired, before adding it to the dough.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, stir together the flour with the warm milk mixture, tangzhong, the rest of the sugar, salt, nutmeg, cardamom, eggs and vanilla into a rough shaggy dough. With the dough hook, knead on medium/low speed for 10 minutes. The dough will be soft, sticky and loose, but don't add more flour.
- Lightly spray a large bowl with nonstick spray - the bowl should be at least 3 times as big as the dough. Place the dough in the bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and set in a warm place to rise until doubled in size, about 40-45 minutes.If your oven has a bread-proofing setting, you can use that to proof your dough. If not, let your oven preheat to the lowest setting, turn the oven off, and then set your dough inside to rise.
- Set the bowl of dough, still covered, in the refrigerator to chill for at least 2 hours, or overnight. This dough is very active, and will continue to rise in the refrigerator, which is why you need a very large bowl to hold the dough, or it will spill over.The chill time allows the gluten to rest and the dough to develop flavor. It's also much easier to work with the dough when it's cold, since this is a soft dough.
- Get two bread loaf pans ready by brushing the bottom and sides with butter, then dusting them with flour.
Filling
- Turn the chilled dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Sprinkle the top of the dough with more flour, and gently press the air out of the dough. Roll your dough out into a rectangle measuring approximately 15x20 inches.
- Melt your butter and use a pastry brush to spread it evenly over the dough, all the way to the edges.
- In a small bowl, mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon, then sprinkle that evenly over the butter.
- Roll up the dough (starting on one of the long sides) into a log, keeping it as tight as you can. Cut the log in half, so that you have two logs, each measuring about 10 inches long.
- Using a sharp knife, cut the logs of dough lengthwise, right down the center. Twist the halves together, as shown in the photos. Gently place the twisted loaves in the prepared pans, tucking the ends down.
- Let the dough rest for about 30-45 minutes, or until the dough is starting to puff and fills the pans (but isn't puffing over the top of the pans).
Bake
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.
- Bake the bread for about 35-40 minutes, until a digital instant read thermometer inserted into the center of the loaves reads 195 degrees Fahrenheit. The bread will be a deep golden brown on top.
- Let the bread cool in the pans for about 15 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack. Cool for at least an hour, then slice with a sharp, serrated bread knife.
- Store the bread in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3-5 days.
- To freeze the bread for later, wrap the cooled loaves in several layers of plastic wrap, and freeze for up to 3-6 months.
Notes
- Yeast: This recipe calls for instant or rapid-rise yeast, which does not require any proofing first, so you can just mix it right into the dough. If you only have regular active dry yeast, you should proof it first, before adding to the dough. To do this, heat your butter and buttermilk as instructed, then sprinkle the yeast, and 1 teaspoon of sugar, over the liquid. Stir in and let sit until foamy, about 5-10 minutes. Add to your dough and mix as instructed.
- Eggs: Your eggs will be too cold if you use them straight from the fridge, and the chill could prevent your dough from rising. Let them sit out for about an hour (or place the eggs in a glass of hot water) to warm up to room temperature before adding to your dough.
- 110-115 Degrees: It's very important that you check the temperature of your melted butter and warmed milk. The amount noted here is not a suggestion; it's essential to correctly activating your yeast. Too cold, and the yeast won't be activated. Too hot, and it will kill the yeast.
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