Polish Babka Recipe for the Holidays

A Great Polish Babka Recipe

This is Robert Strydel’s (Warsaw correspondent for the Polish News) recipe for an easy yeast-raised Babka. We have tried it, and like the solid, yet airy, bread-like texture and lemony taste. It is a simple "single dough" Babka, unlike the ones made in a bakery, which are made up out of 5 (fruit-filled) rolls of dough, combined in one pan. Let’s get started. From start to finish, this may take up to 3-1/2 hours.

Ingredients

All purpose flour 4 cups
Compressed yeast 1 cake
Granulated white sugar 1 cup
Unsalted butter 3/4 cup
Milk (very hot) 1 cup
Raisins 1/2 cup
Grated lemon peel 2 tablespoons
Eggs (whole) 3
Vanilla extract 1 teaspoon

Ingredients for the icing

Lemon juice 2 tablespoons
Confectioner's sugar 2/3 cup
Water (boiling) 1 tablespoon

Preparations/ Baking

In a large bowl, mash the yeast cake with the sugar (note: the compressed yeast cake can be substituted with a package of active dry yeast; to activate, follow the directions on the package). Beat the 3 eggs and add to the yeast mixture. Heat the milk to very warm and dissolve the butter in it. Add to the mixture and add the flour, grated lemon rind, vanilla extract and the raisins. Mix well to blend all ingredients, but do not knead.Grease a 9-1/2 inch Babka pan, brioche mold, Bundt pan, or other tube pan and fill with the dough to about 1/3 full. Cover with cloth and let stand in warm place for about 2 hours (until the Babka dough has doubled in size).Towards the end of the rising, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (177 degrees Celsius) place the Babka inside and bake it for about 45 minutes. Note, if you use bakeware that is dark or colored on the outside, set the oven at 325 deg Fahrenheit (162 deg Calsius). It is fully baked when a wooden pick comes out clean.After baking, remove the Babka from the oven and let it cool for a few minutes. Carefully remove from pan and dust it with confectioner’s sugar or glaze with icing.For the icing, combine the confectioner’s sugar, lemon juice, and boiling water in a small bowl and mix together.If you glaze to Babka with the icing, sprinkle it with chopped walnuts, slivered almonds, raisins or finely chopped candied orange rind, before the icing sets.Let it cool completely before serving. Wrap leftovers tightly with plastic wrap for storage at room temperature. For longer storage, you can freeze the Babka, tightly sealed in a plastic bag.
Enjoy your homemade Babka!