Cinnamon Streusel Babka

Instructions

BREAD

Place warm water in a medium size bowl. Sprinkle the yeast on top of the water. Whisk with a fork, wooden spoon, or spatula and allow to rest and activate for 10 minutes.
¼ cup (60mL) warm water, 1 and ⅛ teaspoons (3.5g) dry active yeast
Once the yeast mixture is active and bubbly, add the milk, melted butter, sugar, salt, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and egg yolk. Whisk to combine.
¼ cup (60mL) warm milk, ¼ cup (57g) unsalted butter, 2 Tablespoons (25g) granulated sugar, ½ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract, ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1 large egg yolk
Gradually stir in the flour. If using a stand mixer, use your dough hook. If mixing by hand, continue to use a wooden spoon. Blend until dough has mostly come together. It may still be shaggy, but it should pull away from the sides of the bowl fairly easily.
2 to 2 and ½ cups (240-300g) bread flour1
Turn out dough on a floured surface and knead for about 8-10 minutes, adding flour about 1 Tablespoon at a time if the dough is too sticky, until smooth and elastic. Your dough should resemble the surface texture of PlayDoh when it is done.
Place the kneaded dough in a greased bowl, turning the dough to coat the top. Cover with a towel and allow it to double² in size, about 1 and ½ to 2 hours.
After the dough has doubled, punch it down and turn it out onto a floured surface, then allow it to rest while you make the filling.

CINNAMON FILLING

In a medium size bowl, combine the granulated sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon.
¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar, ¼ cup (50g) firmly packed light brown sugar, 1 and ½ Tablespoons ground cinnamon
Whisk or stir until well-blended. Set aside.

ASSEMBLE THE DOUGH

Spray a 9" x 5" loaf pan generously with non-stick spray and set it aside.
Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out into a rectangle approximately 9" x 12" in size. Dough will be very elastic, so be patient and keep rolling. There is no need to rush this step.
When you have your rectangle, brush the melted butter evenly over the dough, leaving about ½" border around the edges. Sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar evenly over the melted butter.
1 Tablespoon (14g) unsalted butter
Starting with one of the long sides, roll the dough up into a tight 12" log and place the log on its seam. Use your fingers or palms on either end of the log to gently squeeze the log to "contain" the uneven ends.
Using a sharp (i prefer serrated) knife, cut the log in half lengthwise, keeping a tiny bit of the end you started at intact so it's not completely split in half entirely.
Criss-cross one half, cut side down, on top of the other half, forming an X. Pinch the two new ends together at the bottom, then twist the two ends in opposite directions to create a twisted bread. I find just one or two twists gets the job done. It does not need to be tightly twisted by any means.
Place the twisted dough into the prepared loaf pan and cover the whole thing with a clean towel. Allow shaped loaf to rest for 20-30 minutes as you prepare the topping, and preheat the oven to 350ºF (177ªC).

STREUSEL TOPPING

Place flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt into a small bowl. Toss together with a fork until combined.
¼ cup (30g) all-purpose flour, 2 Tablespoons (25g) firmly packed light brown sugar, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, ⅛ teaspoon salt
Add the butter to the bowl, then use a fork to smash the pieces of butter into the mixture.
2 Tablespoons (28g) cold unsalted butter
Use your fingers to press the ingredients together until butter is in small chunks. I like to pick up chunks of butter and gently pinch them between my thumb and pointer and middle fingers to flatten slightly. I then drop the flattened pieces of butter back into the mixture so they pick up the dry mixture, then go through the whole bowl again with all of my fingers to "fluff" the mixture and turn the flattened pieces back into larger chunks. You are aiming for mostly medium-size chunks and some smaller and larger chunks. Set the streusel aside.
Add the water to the reserved egg white, whisk together with a fork, then brush the loaf with the egg wash. This will get messy as there will be some exposed filling, but do your best to brush the whole loaf with the wash.
1 reserved egg white, 1 teaspoon water
Sprinkle the streusel over the entire loaf, tucking it into every nook and cranny you can find. It's ok if some falls over the side.
Bake the loaf for 40-50 minutes. The loaf is done when it produces a hollow sound when you tap on it or has an internal temperature of 190ºF (87ºC) detected with a digital instant-read thermometer. Allow the loaf to cool completely in the pan. Loaf stays fresh covered at room temperature up to 4 days or in the refrigerator up to 1 week. Bread freezes well, up to 2 months. Thaw at room temperature before serving.

Ingredients

BREAD

CINNAMON FILLING

STREUSEL TOPPING

EGG WASH

Instructions

BREAD

CINNAMON FILLING

ASSEMBLE THE DOUGH

STREUSEL TOPPING

Notes

Nutrition Disclosure