Sourdough Chocolate Babka
This Sourdough Babka is for the chocolate lover! The chocolate filling is rich and dark, which is an amazing contrast to the buttery brioche-style dough. Best enjoyed with a cup of coffee on the side!
What is an Active Sourdough Starter?
In this recipe, it is essential to use a strong and bubbly sourdough starter to make the levain. Since we are not using any commercial yeast, we need a strong enough starter to take on the job. If you usually store your sourdough starter in the fridge, I recommend taking it out 2-3 days in advance, and feed it every 12 hours before you plan to bake.
What is Tangzhong?
Tangzhong or water-roux is a Japanese technique that involves pre-cooking a portion of the recipe’s flour and liquid. First, heat up the Tangzhong to 150°F/65°C; this causes the mixture to gelatinize. Next, spread the mixture onto a plate, cover with plastic wrap, and add it to your dough once it has cooled. In my experience, the Tangzhong causes the bread to remain softer with an extended shelf life.
How To Shape The Sourdough Chocolate Babka
Shaping this babka can be a bit messy. Remember to sharpen your knife, be confident, and always have flour on hand.
- Place the dough onto a floured work surface and roll it out into a square that measures approx. 13×13 inches/35×35 cm.
- Evenly spread out the chocolate filling using an offset spatula.
- Use both hands to roll up the square like a roulade.
- Tuck in the sides to even out the roll. Check to make sure the length of the roll matches the length of your bread tin.
- Transfer to the fridge, seam side down, and rest for at least 20 minutes before continuing with the next step.
- With a heavily floured and sharp knife, cut the roll in half lengthwise.
- With the cut sides facing up, starting from the middle, lift the left half over the right half, followed by the right half over the left half. Repeat all the way down to create a two-stranded plait.
- Gently tuck in the ends if needed and transfer to a 10 inches/25 cm lined or buttered bread tin.
Here are some tools I recommend you have on hand to make this recipe a success:
Digital Kitchen Scale is essential for exact measurements.
Stand mixer fitted with a dough hook to easily knead your dough.
Brød & Taylor Proofer Box manages the temperature during proof (now in stock!).
Rolling Pin to roll out the dough when shaping.
Offset Spatula to spread out the filling.
Bread Tin to proof and bake the bread in.
Sourdough Chocolate Babka
Equipment
- Digital kitchen scale
- Stand mixer
- Brød & Taylor proofer box (optional, but recommended)
- Rolling Pin
- Offset spatula
- Bread tin
Ingredients
Sweet Levain
- 5 g sugar
- 15 g active white sourdough starter 100% hydration
- 30 g whole milk cold
- 40 g all-purpose flour
Tangzhong
- 80 g whole milk
- 20 g all-purpose flour
Main Dough
- 320 g all-purpose flour or bread flour
- 50 g sugar
- 100 g eggs approx. 2 medium eggs
- 110-130 g whole milk cold
- all the tangzhong
- all the levain
- 6 g sea salt
- 65 g unsalted butter softened
Dark Chocolate Filling
- 80 g your favorite dark chocolate (70%)
- 70 g unsalted butter
- 65 g powdered sugar
- 18 g cocoa powder
- salt to taste
Syrup
- 40 g water
- 40 g sugar
Instructions
Sweet Levain
- Combine sugar, sourdough starter, milk, and flour in a bowl to make the levain. Place it in a warm spot, at around 75°F/24°C for 8-10 hours, or until the levain has doubled/tripled in size.
Tangzhong
- Add the flour and milk to a small pot. Heat up over medium heat, while stirring with a whisk, until the mixture thickens and the temperature has reached 150°F/65°C.
- Transfer to a plate/bowl and cover with plastic wrap. To avoid a skin forming, make sure the plastic wrap touches the entire surface of the tangzhong. Cool to room temperature before continuing with the next step.
Main Dough
- To the bowl of your stand mixer, add flour, sugar, eggs, milk, all the levain, and all the tangzhong. Mix until just combined. Rest/autolyse for 30 minutes.
- Add the salt and knead at medium speed for 5-10 minutes.
- Slowly add in cubed butter, one cube at a time. When all the butter is added, scrape down the sides of your mixing bowl and continue mixing at medium speed until your dough passes the window-pane test. This typically takes 15-25 minutes, depending on your mixer.
- Transfer the dough to a clean, lightly oiled bowl and proof for two hours at around 75°F/24°C.
- After the two hours proof, you can transfer the dough to the fridge and let it cold-proof for 8-15 hours.
Chocolate Filling
- You can start preparing the filling 30-60 minutes before you plan to take your dough out of the fridge.
- In a small pot, melt the butter over low-medium heat. Add the dark chocolate and stir until the chocolate is fully melted. Add powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and salt to taste. Stir until smooth.
- Transfer the chocolate filling to a bowl and let it chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes, stirring every 5-10 minutes. Alternatively, you can let it sit at room temperature for longer, but you still want to mix it every now and then. Be careful as this filling tends to harden quickly. You want it to be a spreadable paste.
Shaping
- Take the filling and dough out of the fridge. Give the filling a good stir.
- Place the dough onto a floured work surface and roll it out into a square that measures approx. 13×13 inches/35×35 cm
- Evenly spread out the filling, leaving a ½ inch/1 cm border all around.
- Use both hands to roll up the square like a roulade.
- Push in the sides to even out the roll. Next, place it in the fridge, seam side down, and rest for at least 20 minutes before continuing with the next step.
- With a heavily floured and sharp knife, cut the roll in half lengthwise.
- With the cut sides facing up, starting from the middle, lift the left half over the right half, followed by the right half over the left half. Repeat all the way down to create a two-stranded plait. (see pictures above for reference)
- Gently tuck in the ends and transfer to a 10-inch/25 cm lined or buttered bread tin. Cover the tin and proof at 75°F/24°C for 6-8 hours or until the dough fills up about 80% of the tin.
Bake and Prepare The Syrup
- Preheat your oven to 390°F/200°C. Bake the babka for 20 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 350°F/175°C and bake for another 20 minutes. Cover with aluminum foil if it browns too quickly.
- While the babka is in the oven, you can make the syrup:
- Add sugar and water to a small pot over medium heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Take the syrup off the heat and leave to cool.
- The babka is ready when the internal temperature is at least 203°F/95°C, and the exterior is golden brown.
- When the babka is out of the oven, immediately brush/pour over the syrup. Then leave it in the bread tin until it is cool enough to handle. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Notes
Nutrition
If you liked this recipe, you might also like my Sourdough Cardamom Buns recipe
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26 Comments
Jason
Love the recipe. Just made it yesterday. My Dad is a huge (and picky) Babka guy and he loved it. I have a quick question. If I wanted to make this a cinnamon & chocolate babka, how much cinnamon should I add and also where and when? Any ideas or thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Looking forward to your milk bread recipe next. Thanks Elise!
breadbyelise
Hi Jason! I’m happy to hear you and your dad enjoyed the babka. Cinnamon definitely sounds like a really good addition! You can add a small amount (probably 1-2 teaspoons) of cinnamon to the chocolate filling – just mix it in with the other dry ingredients. Happy baking!
Angelina
Great recipe as always! The babka turned out beautiful and tasty! Thank you for your work Elise <3
Leslie
Elise, would you clarify when the dough goes into fridge on the afternoon and morning bake? Is the 2 hour counter rise eliminatedafter mixing to window pane on afternoon bake? Prior to fridge?same question for morning bake on day 2 after making dough, rise for 2 hours then into the fridge or straight to fridge?
Thanks😊
Bread by Elise
Hi Leslie! You want to let the dough rise for two hours (after mixing) before placing it in the fridge. It’s the same process for the morning and afternoon bake – just different timings. Let me know if you have any more questions!
Teresa
I made this babka this week, and it was fantastic! It tasted like I imagined it would based on the pictures, and the loaves are just beautiful.
I quadrupled the recipe and made 4 loaves in my kitchenaid stand mixer. We plan to hand them out as Christmas gifts.
I sprinkled chopped pecans on the dough after rolling it out and spreading the chocolate paste on it, and pressed them in a bit with my palms so they wouldn’t fall out during the braiding step. That added a wonderful touch.
This is a well thought out recipe and I will definitely be making it again!
Cathy
Hi Elise…I made this recipe but insteaad of chololate I filled it with a mix of cinnamon and butter. It’s so delicious even though I made some almost fatal mistakes. In my mind the stiff levain was my starter…oops. So when it came to add the levain I added 83 g of started and then quickly realized that it was way too wet and saw my mistake. I didn’t want to toss it out so I added some flour, and then some more flour. I then followed your recipe steps. In the meantime I made the stiff levain so I could make another loaf in case this one didn’t turn out. But I baked the cinnamon loaf yesterday and enjoyed a slice today. It’s divine! So it turns out I made a happy mistake afterall. And the second loaf using the chocolate filling is doing the final rise as I type this. Hope it turns out as good or better than my first attempt! Thaks for your detailed recipe and the great pictures of the steps. I love all your posts on Instagram!
Bread by Elise
Hi Cathy! I’m glad to hear the babka turned out in the end. The cinnamon filling sounds so good! Thank you so much for the 5-star vote and your kind words. ♥
Esther
I made a double batch of this and am pretty happy with them. However, I had to add almost 200 grams of extra flour before the dough came together so it ended up getting over worked in the mixer and the final loaves are chewier/tougher than I think they should be. That being said, the loaves baked up beautifully and taste great!
Bread by Elise
Oh wow! Perfect example of how different flours can be from each other. I’m sorry that happened. For the next time – find a flour with high protein content that’s suitable for bread baking and add a little milk at a time until you get a dough consistency you’re comfortable with. This dough is not supposed to be stiff or overly liquid, but very elastic and a little on the sticky side. Happy baking!
Füsun
Recetenizi yapmaya basladim sahanesiniz inanilmaz acik ve güzel anlatmissiniz tesekkurler.Turkiyede yaşayan biri olarak sıcak iklim oldugu icin mayalama suresini biraz kisalttim diger tariflerinizide yapıp size bildireceğim cibatta tarifinizide görmek isterim😍dükkanında sattığımız size resim atarım saglikla ve sevgiyle kalin💕
Janice S.
This turned out so wonderfully! Delicious and beautiful as well. The recipe is so well written and easy to follow,
Thank you!
Blueberry Lemon Sourdough Babka is next!
Sara
The bread turned out exactly as it does in the photo and it is very light and fluffy from the tangzhong. Though I was wondering if your profile pic is a mega sized version of this bread? It looks much bigger? It was delicious! I used Nutella as the chocolate filling bc I was out of chocolate at the house. It worked great. Followed the recipe otherwise to the letter. I bought the pan you have and love it. I did wonder if you use parchment with it? This recipe gave me a big confidence boost after months of sourdough baking success and failures. It’s beautiful and worth the time!
Isabela
Hello! I wanted to know if instead of sourdough, could I use normal bread yeast?
Mariam
Hello,
I live in a really hot climate and I was wondering if the overnight cool proof and 6-8 hours proof after if shaping is really necessary?
I tried overnight proof with yeast recipes (others not from the blog) and it smells so much like yeast it ruins the whole taste.
Thanks
Bread by Elise
Hi! Yes, the overnight cold-proof is indeed necessary. Sourdough recipes vs. commercial yeast recipes differ in how quickly the dough rises and develops flavor. Sourdough takes more time. Trust the process 🙂
Irina
This babka is delicious! I forgot to do the fold the first day and used normal sugar instead of powdered for the chocolate filling, but it turned out amazing. Thank you Elise!
Arelys
Mágica receta y proceso, con la maravilla de la masa madre, es la confiabilidad del producto final. Muchas gracias.
Claire
Just made this yesterday and it’s already halfway gone. This was my first time making babka, and I followed the directions exactly as written. Well… almost… I added some chopped, toasted pecans on top of the chocolate filling. It turned out perfectly and everyone that has tried it has raved about it. Thank you so much for such an amazing and detailed recipe.
Sharon Rossy
Hi Elise. I wanted to know about a change of timeline if I wanted to bake this around 3 pm. I figured if I made the levain the night before so it’s ready in the morning along with the tanzhong, and the dough is made, proofed for two hours and then in the fridge overnight. Next morning roll it out, and let it proof in pan until time to bake.
Thanks,
Sharon
Malee
This babka is AMAZING. The crust is crunchy and the interior is pillowy soft. My favorite babka I’ve ever made and such a fun way to use my starter. Thank you Elise!
Jamile Santos
Parabéns pela receita Elise!
Ja tentei fazer Babka várias vezes e sem muito sucesso, massa ressecada, salgada, sem crescimento. Fiz sua receita, mas me ousei a fazer algumas modificações, reduzir a manteiga e os ovos. Fiz com fermento biológico. Modifiquei pela dificuldades em trabalhar com massa muito amanteigada e com mais de 1 ovo.
RESULTADO: conseguir fazer babka🤣🤣🤣🤣😃😃😃😃😃 fiquei muito muito feliz!
Obrigada!!!!!!
Sou do Brasil!
Grande beijo!😘😘😘😘
Susan
Just made this last night. I didn’t have a big enough loaf pan so I used an tube pan. It turned out beautiful and delicious. I would like to make it for a wedding. Can I make it and hold it in the fridge before baking or bake and freeze? Thanks for all your great recipes.
Angie Broyles
Looks big and beautiful. The filling was hard to spread- next time I will not refrigerate at all. Thanks for the recipe and timeline!
Natalie Bernardova
Thank you Elise for this delicious recipe! It was my first time using tangzhong and I almost skipped it, because other babka recipes rarely ask for it. I’m glad I trusted you and took that extra step, it made the babka super soft and fluffy. You’re my go-to baker for sourdough goods, all your recipes turned out amazing.
Valerie
Yum! Such a delicious recipe, thank you Elise! This was my first ever attempt at enriched sourdough (the freezer is FULL of bread so I needed to make something else) and I’ve never made a tangzhong before. The resulting loaf is enormous, fluffy and the taste testers (me and my bf) agree it’s the best babka we’ve ever had.
I should note that I skipped the sweet levain because I’d already fed up my normal rye starter so I just used 90g of that and it came together without drama in my chilly London flat. Looking forward to trying the cardamom buns next!