Chocolate Babka — But It's Buns

Hello, bakers. Here is Martin, in the studio, preparing a beautiful and tasty bread-shaped bobca. I roll it up. It has several layers. It is infused with flavors of chocolate, cinnamon, orange and even a little coffee. These are our bobca breads. Come with me. Let me show you how to do it. Ok, guys. Let's make this dough. So, this is a bobca dough. It is a enriched dough. And when I was writing this recipe, I tried some different things. I tried with a biological dough. I tried with a dough more similar to milk. But I ended up using basically the proportions I use when I roll. Some observations about the temperature for this. You know, with enriched breads, it is important, as with all breads, but especially important with enriched breads, to guide fermentation. I heated my milk because I want it to grow well. I also put my eggs in warm water to let them warm up a little. I don't want to shock the yeast with eggs and cold milk. The recipe uses two whole eggs and then a yolk. And you reserve the white that you will not use to brush things before putting them in the oven. So, I put my flour here. I'm going to use common wheat flour today. Common wheat flour has a lot of strength for this dough. You will see that it will grow a lot. Put your warm milk. And I go in the order in which I get things. Instant yeast. Some vegetables. Oil. Yolks to give moisture and also softness. I put a little salt. Very important. And lastly, but no less important, honey. I chose honey here because honey brings a complexity that sugar does not necessarily bring. So, I'm going to stir for a few minutes and when I feel that it is relatively homogeneous, I will increase to speed 4 in this mixer and I will give about 6 or 8 minutes, maybe 10 if necessary. Ok, so, I think we're there. But I always check the temperature. And why would I do that? Well, that's why. So, if the dough comes out of the mixer and is only 70 degrees Celsius, I know it will take longer to grow than if it is at a warmer temperature. There is a kind of golden box area for each type of dough we make, right? In this case, I would love it to be between, say, 75 and 80 degrees C. The next thing I will do is put this in a container to grow, right? You can use a bowl. You can use a container with a lid. I really like containers with a lid because you want to protect the dough from drying out. I'll put it in the container and then we'll let it rest a little and I'll be back to knead in about 20 minutes. So, we mix the dough and let it rest for about 20 minutes. And I'm going to knead for just a second. The purpose of this is to strengthen the dough a little more. It's ready. So, back to the container. Put it in a comfortable place to grow for an hour and a half to two hours. In my second step, it goes to the lid. So, in a comfortable place. An hour and a half to two hours. See you soon. We'll be on our way to make some Bobca buns. Bada! Maybe this dough has been an hour and a half to two hours. In our case, we had a very good temperature coming out of the mixture and it grew very well. But it doubled. Open! It's a beautiful dough. Very, very happy. And it's ready for the next phase. So, a little flour on top. A little flour on the bottom. So, you know. Let's just roll it up. You can degas and stay with your hands if you want. You can't hurt this dough. OK? So, if you see me exaggerating a little, it's just me telling the dough what to do. So, I'm going to open it in a rectangle of 10 by 6. Similar to how you pre-shape a bread dough or something. I'm almost pre-shaping my Bobca dough. I want to leave it in a very uniform shape so that when we move on to the next step, which is to open it in an even larger format, it will be very uniform. Right? I'm opening it in a size a little bigger than I want. Because I know it's going to retract a little. Put it in a lightly floured pan. And then I'll put a lid on and put it in the fridge. See you in 20 minutes. I'm going to do something else. Cecil said that if I make a mistake, it doesn't matter. It's all right. So, it's all right. I can go. She's helping me because, you know, sometimes it's like, ah, I'm getting it right. I don't know. This is kind of the classic flavors for a Bobca, right? At least a chocolate Bobca. So, in the filling of the chocolate Bobca, of course, I'm going to put some chocolate. It's very good. Very, very good. Quality chocolate. Brown sugar. I put a little salt here. I think while I was thinking about the flavors that go well with chocolate, I also thought, well, of course, I need to put a little coffee powder here. And if you don't want the coffee powder, just leave it out. No problem. A tablespoon full of cinnamon. And I'm using very high quality cinnamon here. And then a little cocoa powder. And I'm using this bitter double. It will give a little color beyond the depth of flavor. Very good. And there's nothing else. Just stir to mix. This is one of those times when you want to use brown sugar that doesn't get all balled up, right? You want it to be soft. And I don't know in your house, but if my brown sugar is a little balled up, I take a piece of bread and put it in the plastic bag and the brown sugar doesn't get balled up immediately, or at least in a few hours. One of the many purposes or uses of bread, I think. All right. Good enough. Leave that aside. Take the dough and let's open a little. So, the dough had 20 minutes to cool. It may take a little longer. It may take a little less. What's going on is that she's relaxing a little. This is really the main thing I want. I want this to literally cool down a little. So, I'm going to put it on my surface. You don't need a lot of flour here. This dough won't stick much. It's very firm, right? I'm going to roll according to the instructions, which are 12 by 24. But if you want to make a maximum roll in the roll when you look from above or when you cut the cross section, you can roll two 12 by 30. Give yourself some space to enjoy the cooking, if you have, if you can find. Sometimes, we need more space than other times. One, and for me, you know. Baking is a place of space. It's a place where I can enjoy a little peace and quiet, do something beautiful. One of my little indulgences is to bake. So much so that I turned it into my job. So, I'm with 12 by 24. That's what I want. As I said, if you want to do 30, if you want to be that maximalist person who wants a maximum roll and stuff like that, go ahead. Actually, I like that too, but I'll leave it here for now. So, now it's time to make the filling. Remember that, during the mixture, we reserved an egg white, right? So, we put two whole eggs and then an egg yolk. The other half of this third is on the side. I'm going to use a little now and then I'm going to use a little more before putting it in the oven. What I'm doing is applying a very thin layer of egg white and that will help the fillings stay in place. Right. So, just sprinkle a little filling. And you don't need to do this perfectly because I'm going to come back with my hand and level. But I'm going to start by distributing it in the best possible way. Right, that's good. So, with mine. And I'm going to kind of move this to the edges. We want everyone who wins a Bobca bun to have the opportunity to tell the rest of the neighborhood how good you are. Now, the first fold with this is really the most important fold. I just want it to be very small. I'm going to fold it about half an inch. And I'm just going to press gently to adhere. And then I go to the second. And there really isn't much tension here. I'm not really tensing. I'm almost turning over myself. When you get to the end, mine looks a little, as if it had dried a little because I talked too much. So, you can go back, take a little of your egg brush and hit just that edge if you want. Again, it's one of those things like a hammer that you don't necessarily need to do, but it will help to seal. Right. And while the seam hardens, I'm going to get my pan and brush a little. So, I got my pan. I got my roll here and checked where I am in terms of length. I have twelve, basically a little over twelve. If you want, you can lock your measuring tape. And then you can come here and say, okay, half and then half again. And then each one of them will be divided into thirds. Basically pieces of an inch, right? When I finish, I must have twelve. Okay, this one is good. What I'm trying to do is put the rolls in the pan and leave them the same size so that when they are baked, they are all uniform. That's more or less how I like it. Okay. So, cutting, following my marks, pieces of an inch. Ready. And we'll make four rows of three or three rows of four. It's all the same. It depends on how you count. I'm just making sure that each roll has its own space here, right? I'm going to press them a little to flatten them. I'm not moving the spirals. I'm just pressing them lightly to make them as uniform as possible. It's another step that no one will taste, but you can watch. You can make them a little prettier. Now, while I was cutting, a little bit of chocolate drops came out and a little bit of filling. Take this and put it on top so you don't waste it. Right. The job is basically done. Now it's time to make another coffee maker. Take your favorite book, put your feet up, sit by the fire, whatever it is. They will grow for about two hours. Basically, let them grow until they are soft and fully grown before baking. Make sure to cover them. Make sure to put them in a comfortable place. If you're cozy on the couch, maybe put them on your lap. Get cozy, have a cup of tea and let the buns grow for a few hours. So let's bake. It's time to finally bake them. We're nearing the end of the process. We can almost take advantage of our work, right? So let's take a look at the proof. When I look at these buns, I'm happy because most of the corners came together. There's a little space there, but most of them fill the shape, which is what I want. And the reason for that is not just visual. It also supports the bread, which is miraculously full of air, soft and light. So, I'm brushing the egg white we kept from the mixture on the buns. And what this will do is really add a visual appeal. It will add a little shine. My oven is set to 400 degrees and has a grid in the middle. There's one more step we'll do, so be patient with me. The last thing I'm going to do after brushing them is to press them a little in the center to make sure they're firm and uniform. So that when they come out of the oven, they're relatively homogeneous. So, they're great. Let's put them in the oven. It's over, but they're waiting. Be patient. 18 to 20 minutes, 400 degrees. Let's see if they need to be turned. While they bake, I'm going to make this orange syrup. While the buns bake, let's make this cover, which is basically a simple syrup. It's a simple syrup with orange infusion. You can do this in advance and leave at room temperature until they deflate. All right, too. So, what I'm going to do is add a little water. And then add the sugar. And the other thing that's here, and similar to the filling, is a little bit of maybe a secret ingredient, I think. I don't know. It's a little salt. Salt gives a special touch. And I think it's very important. Actually, let it reach the temperature. It will take a minute. You can stir to mix, if you want. When I started writing this, I thought, well, of course, chocolate is good. Of course, a little coffee with chocolate can add a little cocoa powder. I wanted a stronger aroma in the mixture and I feel that chocolate and orange are classic flavors. I tried several different ways. I tried to add the scrapes at the beginning. I tried to use the peel. I tried several different ways to put orange. And what I found that gave me the most delicate, elegant, beautiful, subtle, but really memorable expression of orange was the peel. And after the liquid reduces, I go ahead, add and leave in infusion. So, it's a smooth infusion. When it's good, turn off the heat and put the scrapes. Let's let it rest for a few minutes. I'm going to strain. All right. Reserve. We'll be back soon with some hot buns. I don't know what to say. I don't think I need to say anything. I think they speak for themselves. They are beautifully golden. They got a beautiful color in the oven. The egg white we brushed is giving support to that. They also have this spiral effect, which is exactly what I wanted. As soon as they come out, drain the orange peel and it will stay on top. The reason for doing this as soon as they come out is because I want the orange to bloom again. And while they're still hot, they'll absorb the liquid better. Sometimes I come back with a pastry brush and make sure the coverage is good. Because, when I'm draining, maybe I forgot to go to some point and I want the coverage to reach all the loaves. Because that will give a visual touch, which is the shine. Do your best to wait at least one or two minutes, you know, for them to cool down and harden a little. It will be easier to remove them that way. So, let's give it a minute and then we'll be back. I come back and decide which one I'm going to eat first. It's one of those few recipes where I think nothing would change. Almost everything I write, I think it could probably change one way or another. No, just eat like this, do like this. Don't forget to click the like button and subscribe too. We have videos coming all the time. Thanks for participating. This is Martin, from the studio, saying thank you. It's like a mouth spa treatment, you know? It's just like chocolate.