When I saw the photo of King Arthur Flour's Cranberry-Orange Babka, it looked so good that I immediately decided to try the recipe. I actually made a cranberry babka a few years ago for Thanksgiving, but I've had a lot more practice with yeasted breads since then, so I was hoping to improve on my previous effort.
This recipe uses instant yeast, so you just dump all of the bread ingredients into a bowl (warm water, egg, softened butter, buttery sweet dough flavor, Fiori de Sicilia, all-purpose flour, salt, granulated sugar, baker's special dry milk, and instant yeast) and knead until you get a smooth, supple dough. I made the dough in my Kitchenaid mixer, so this took very little effort. You put the dough in a greased bowl and make the filling while the dough rises.
To make the filling, you cook orange juice, brown sugar, fresh cranberries and dried cranberries until the mixture thickens into a jam. Some of my fresh cranberries burst during this process, but most stayed intact. Then I added orange zest, melted butter, and cinnamon, and let the filling cool.
This dough was really easy to work with -- I rolled it out on parchment without using any flour, and it didn't shrink or stick or tear. I rolled it into a rectangle and spread over the cranberry filling. The recipe lists orange jammy bits as an optional ingredient and I diced some candied orange peel to use instead -- but I accidentally forgot to sprinkle it on the filling before I rolled up the dough. I cut the rolled up dough in half lengthwise, twisted the two halves, pinched the ends together, and put the bread in a 10-inch by 5-inch loaf pan. After another rise, I put the babka in the oven to bake.
I baked it for 45 minutes, tenting it with aluminum foil halfway through. When I tested the internal temperature, it was 200 degrees. I brushed the top of the loaf with melted butter after I took it out of the oven and let the babka cool for a few minutes before turning it out of the pan. After the loaf was completely cool, I drizzled on a simple icing made of glazing sugar mixed with milk.
I loved this babka. The bread was soft and flavorful; we enjoyed it toasted. I really liked the bright zing of the cranberry-orange filling and especially appreciated having whole cranberries in the loaf. Even the glaze was terrific, melting into a sweet sticky coating in the toaster. I stored the babka at room temperature under a cake dome and remarkably, it stayed fresh for days. I baked the babka on a Sunday and we enjoyed it throughout the week; the bread didn't really start deteriorating until Friday. I would absolutely recommend this recipe, which produces a beautiful and delicious loaf.
Recipe: "Cranberry-Orange Babka" from King Arthur Flour.
Previous Posts:
This recipe uses instant yeast, so you just dump all of the bread ingredients into a bowl (warm water, egg, softened butter, buttery sweet dough flavor, Fiori de Sicilia, all-purpose flour, salt, granulated sugar, baker's special dry milk, and instant yeast) and knead until you get a smooth, supple dough. I made the dough in my Kitchenaid mixer, so this took very little effort. You put the dough in a greased bowl and make the filling while the dough rises.
To make the filling, you cook orange juice, brown sugar, fresh cranberries and dried cranberries until the mixture thickens into a jam. Some of my fresh cranberries burst during this process, but most stayed intact. Then I added orange zest, melted butter, and cinnamon, and let the filling cool.
This dough was really easy to work with -- I rolled it out on parchment without using any flour, and it didn't shrink or stick or tear. I rolled it into a rectangle and spread over the cranberry filling. The recipe lists orange jammy bits as an optional ingredient and I diced some candied orange peel to use instead -- but I accidentally forgot to sprinkle it on the filling before I rolled up the dough. I cut the rolled up dough in half lengthwise, twisted the two halves, pinched the ends together, and put the bread in a 10-inch by 5-inch loaf pan. After another rise, I put the babka in the oven to bake.
Recipe: "Cranberry-Orange Babka" from King Arthur Flour.
Previous Posts:
- "Too Much Spice In My Pumpkin Spice?: Pumpkin Spice Babka," October 2, 2016.
- "Happy Thangivukkah!: Thanksgiving Babka," December 11, 2013.
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