Babka (Part 1)

Dan's mission this weekend was to carry on a cherished Polish dish passed down by his great grandma Mima. Soo, I decided to help and made sure to take a lot of pictures!

Dan you look confused. Maybe a little overwhelmed by the fact we have no idea how to make any type of bread!?

First step- getting the yeast ready. Mix 2 packets with a teaspoon of water. Let it sit for ~10min.Preparing the flour mixture. Milk with a stick of melted butter is poured in bowl.

Flour, eggs, butter, milk, salt and yeast all mixed together.

Cover and let rise.
Flour the table. Time to get the hands dirty!!

Knead it for a good 8 min! (Raisins were added at this time.)

Put it in a bowl and cover with aluminum foil. Let it rise for ~1 and 1/2 hours.

We put it on the floor near the heater. A little heat will make it rise faster.
It should double in size by now. Take it out and knead. Try to get the air out. I have no idea how that works, but we just punched and folded the dough.

We can now split it up into loaves, muffin pans and maybe even into pretzels.


Dan and his pretzel making skills. How sexy!?

After you portion it off - you gotta let it rise again. Another 1 and 1/2 hours or so. Then you will glaze with egg yolk before you can finally bake the damn thing.

It's finally ready to be baked. Into the oven you go!!!

How did the Babka turn out? To be continued...