Apple Honey Babka

🧂 Ingredients

• 500-530 grams apples

  (approximately 4 medium sized apples, weighed after peeled and cored)
• 1½ teaspoons cornstarch
• 63 grams honey

  (3 Tablespoons)
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla bean paste

  (or vanilla extract)
• 120 grams walnuts

  (1 cup)
• 42 grams unsalted butter, melted

  (3 Tablespoons)
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 10 grams vanilla extract

  (2 teaspoons)
• 110 grams light brown sugar

  (½ cup)
• 170 grams honey

  (½ cup)
• 23 grams heavy cream or milk

  (1½ Tablespoons)
• 7 grams active dry yeast (1 envelope)

  (2¼ teaspoons)
• 245 grams milk*

  (1 cup, warmed to 110℉)
• 75 grams honey

  (2 Tablespoons plus 1½ teaspoons)
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
• 10 grams vanilla extract

  (2 teaspoons)
• 480 grams all purpose flour

  (4 cups)
• 5 grams salt

  (1 teaspoon)
• 113 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature

  (8 Tablespoons or ½ cup)
• 23 grams water

  (1 Tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons)
• 43 grams honey

  (2 Tablespoons)
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ⅛ teaspoon salt

Instructions

• 1 Make the Apple Filling. Preheat oven to 350°. Line a rimmed baking sheet (a
  jelly roll pan) with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Cut the apples into ¼ of
  an inch squares. Toss apples with remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Lay the
  apples on the prepared baking sheet in one layer. Bake until apples are slightly
  tender, 25–30 minutes, just until a fork inserted comes out easily. Let cool,
  then transfer apples and any accumulated juices to a bowl.
• 2 Make the Walnut Honey Filling. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or
  aluminum foil. Spread walnuts evenly on sheet. Bake for 6 minutes. Stir the
  walnuts, flipping them over. Bake an additional 2-3 minutes. Be careful not to
  burn them. You just want them toasted. Remove from oven and set aside until the
  walnuts are cooled completely and at room temperature, at least 20 minutes.
• 3 While the walnuts are cooling, melt the butter in a saucepan on low. Once
  melted, set aside to cool to room temperature.
• 4 Once both the walnuts and butter are cooled to room temperature, place them with
  the remaining ingredients in a food processor and pulse until fully
  incorporated.
• 5 Cover with plastic wrap until ready to use.
• 6 Prepare Dough. If using active dry yeast, place warmed milk into bowl of
  electric mixer. Sprinkle yeast and approximately 1 teaspoon of the honey over
  the milk. Using a fork, stir the mixture to distribute the sugar and to ensure
  all the yeast granules are hydrated. Allow to sit for approximately 3-5 minutes
  until the mixture gets foamy.
• 7 If using instant yeast, combine the yeast, milk, and honey in the bowl of an
  electric mixer.
• 8 Once the yeast mixture is foamy, add the room temperature egg, the room
  temperature egg yolk, and the vanilla to the mixture. Using the dough hook, turn
  the mixer on at a low speed and add the rest of the honey. With the mixer
  running at the lowest speed, add the flour. As the flour starts to get absorbed
  by the liquid mixture, raise the mixer to a medium speed. You may need to turn
  the mixer off once or twice to wipe down the sides of the bowl with a rubber
  spatula. Allow to knead for approximately 3 minutes. The dough should clean the
  sides of the bowl. If it is too wet (sticking to the sides and bottom of the
  bowl), add some flour, no more than 1 Tablespoon at a time. If the mixture is
  too dry, add a little milk, 1 teaspoon at a time.
• 9 Lower the mixer speed to low (1 or 2 on the KitchenAid) and slowly add the salt,
  allowing it to knead into the dough, an additional 3 minutes. Stop the mixer and
  take a small piece of dough and stretch it between your fingers. It should form
  a “window pane”, meaning is should get thin enough that it is translucent
  without ripping. If it is not at that point yet, continue kneading in the
  machine at 1 minute intervals. (It may just need an additional minute or two to
  reach the window pane stage.)
• 10 With the mixer running at medium speed, add the butter a few pieces at a time
  until fully integrated into the dough before adding more. You may need to turn
  off the mixer once or twice to scrape down the sides of the bowl, and it could
  take up to ten minutes for the butter to become fully integrated into the dough.
  The dough should look shiny and be slightly sticky. If, after several minutes,
  the butter is still not fully incorporated, do not panic. Just keep kneading. If
  you completely lose patience, you can just move to the next step – having some
  unincorporated butter is not problematic in this recipe.
• 11 Lightly grease a bowl (with a little butter or nonstick cooking spray). Form
  dough into a ball and place it in the bowl. Turn the dough over to coat it in
  the butter or nonstick cooking spray and cover tightly with plastic wrap.** Let
  the dough sit in a warm area on the counter until doubled in size, approximately
  one hour.
• 12 Prepare two loaf pans, 8 or 9 inches long, and 3 to 5 inches wide, by coating
  with nonstick cooking spray or butter. (Using butter imparts more flavor on the
  edges of your babkas.) For an even easier pan removal, use parchment paper on
  the bottom and/or sides of the pan, but be sure to coast the parchment with
  nonstick cooking spray or butter.
• 13 Once dough has doubled in size, remove the plastic wrap and de-gas it by folding
  it over onto itself and knead it a few times by hand. Divide it in half,
  preferably by weight. Cover one half with plastic wrap until you are ready to
  work with it.
• 14 Roll dough out to three inches longer than the length of your pan. (If you are
  using a 9 inch long pan, roll it out to 12 inches, to form a rectangle of 12
  inches by approximately 16-18 inches. The dough should be approximately ⅛ inch
  thick.
• 15 Leaving a border of ½ an inch on every side, spread ½ of the walnut honey
  filling on the dough. Spread half of the apples on top.
• 16 Have the dough facing you the long way so that the side of the dough that is
  three inches longer than the length of your pan is facing you. For example, if
  your pan is 9 inches long, the side of the dough that is 12 inches long should
  be in front of you. Roll the dough upward so that you have a 12 inch long log.
  Trim ½ inch to an inch from both sides of the log. (Tip: Save these trimmings
  and bake in a separate greased pan with trimmings from second log. This is the
  “mini babka” you get to taste so you can present the two babkas to your guests
  and already know how good it tastes!)
• 17 Slice down the middle in half, exposing the layers of filling. Form an X with
  the two pieces, and cross the two over each other starting from the middle. Turn
  dough around and cross the other side. Place dough in prepared pan. Cover
  loosely with plastic wrap and allow to sit until doubled in size, approximately
  one hour.
• 18 Repeat steps 14-17 with second portion of dough from step 13.
• 19 Approximately 30 minutes into the second rise, preheat oven to 350°F.
• 20 Once the babkas have doubled in size, bake for 45-50 minutes. The babkas are
  done once the tops are golden brown. (If taking the babka’s temperature, the
  internal temperature should be at least 205°F).
• 21 Make the glaze. While the babkas are in the oven, stir the water, honey and
  vanilla in a small pan over medium-low heat, just until the mixture comes to a
  simmer.
• 22 Immediately after coming out of the oven, brush the honey syrup on top of the
  babkas. Return them to the oven for 1-2 minutes. Remove the babkas from the oven
  and cool them in their pans for 10-15 minutes and then remove them from their
  pans onto a wire rack. (Use a metal spatula or flat knife against the sides of
  the pans before turning the pans over.) If using paper baking pans, leave babkas
  in the pans to cool completely. Once at room temperature, if not eating
  immediately, cover in plastic wrap. If they actually last so long, they stay
  fresh for several days wrapped in plastic and stored at room temperature and
  even longer stored in the refrigerator. They also freeze beautifully, wrapped in
  plastic wrap, for up to 3 months.

Nutrition Info