In a famous “Seinfeld” episode, Elaine refers to cinnamon babka as “lesser babka” and I wholeheartedly disagree (as does Jerry: “Lesser babka? I think not.”). Cinnamon babka is not as popular as chocolate babka, but it deserves accolades for its more subtle sweetness and warm spice appeal. It is not as damp and sweet as chocolate babka because you don’t bathe it in simple syrup the way you do the chocolate version. But the streusel topping of cinnamon babka melts down the sides of the loaf, making end pieces that are almost caramel-candied. Also cinnamon babka can be eaten warm from the oven without making a mess and paired with a hot cup of tea or coffee, it’s really awesome. Moreover, it lends itself to amazing French toast!
This recipe works with all purpose flour, whole wheat flour and any sifted flour in between, because the liquid amount is given as a range. In an early test batch, I used all purpose flour, a larger dough and less filling. The larger dough was harder to tent and keep from burning and there wasn’t enough filling in my opinion, so for the final version of the recipe, the dough is 10% smaller and there is about 20% more filling. You can see these ingredient shifts in the photos below but note that an all purpose or bread flour version of the new ingredient amounts will look a little fluffier than the whole wheat flour version in those same amounts that is depicted below. For more process photos, see the galleries after the recipe.
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- Test batch with too much dough (all purpose)
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- Not enough filling
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- Less dough, whole wheat
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- More filling
Notes on Cinnamon
I used ceylon cinnamon in this recipe. It’s a little milder and fruitier than the more common cassia cinnamon. If your cinnamon doesn’t specify that it is ceylon, it’s likely cassia. You can still follow the recipe as it stands, or if you want a milder flavor, you might reduce the cinnamon in the filling by 1-2 tsp.
Cinnamon was in the news this past year because some brands were found to have high levels of lead. This is not an issue of organic vs. conventional, or ceylon vs. cassia; the lead is primarily from ground contamination. (Before this makes you agree with Elaine that cinnamon is the lesser babka, note that lead and cadmium have been found in chocolate in concerning levels as well.) Back to cinnamon, here’s a Consumer Reports list of lead levels in 36 different brands of cinnamon, divided into the categories of avoid altogether, safe in limited amounts, and safe in large quantities. This babka has a total of 15.6 grams cinnamon (6 tsp). If you slice the bread into 8 thick pieces, that is 3/4 tsp per slice, which is well under the amount of cinnamon per day of the safe brands. For example, you would need to consume 16 tsp (the entire babka!) of the 365 Whole Foods Market brand cinnamon to arrive at the daily limit of acceptable lead consumption.
More Babkas
If you’d like to try different types of babka, check out these recipes for Chocolate Hazelnut Babka, Apple Almond Raisin Babka and Savory Sourdough Babka.
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- Chocolate hazelnut
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- Apples, almonds, raisins
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- Savory herbs, cheese
To make the Cinnamon Babka recipe below with sourdough starter instead of yeast, see the Recipe Notes.
Cinnamon babka is an aromatic sweet, twisted bread with layers of cinnamon and brown sugar and a streusel topping. Serve it warm and save a few slices for French toast. This recipe has instructions for different flours, yeast and sourdough.
Total Time
1 hour, 45 minutes
Ingredients
Dough
- 285 grams yecora rojo whole grain flour or all purpose flour (2 cups + 3 Tbsp)
- 36 grams sugar (3 Tbsp)
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (1.3 grams)
- 1/2 tsp salt (2.2 grams)
- 84-140 grams milk, warmed to 110°F or less, divided for blooming the yeast (6-10 Tbsp)
- 2 tsp instant yeast (6.2 grams)
- 1 egg
- 36 grams light-flavored oil (scant 3 Tbsp)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (4.2 grams)
Filling
- 125 grams brown sugar (1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp)
- 5 tsp ground cinnamon (13 grams)
- 1 Tbsp flour (8 grams)
- 4 Tbsp melted unsalted butter (57 grams)
- 1 Tbsp light-flavored oil (13 grams)
- option to sprinkle onto the filling after it’s spread on the dough, 50 grams toasted crushed walnuts (before crushing volume 1/2 cup)
Glaze
- 1 egg beaten with a teaspoon of water
Streusel Topping
- 2 Tbsp flour (16 grams)
- 1 Tbsp brown sugar (13 grams)
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (1.3 grams)
- pinch of salt
- 1 Tbsp unsalted butter (14 grams)
Instructions
- The recipe is scaled to a medium USA loaf pan 9x5x2.75 inches.
- From mixing to oven, this babka took 3 1/2 hours with the dough at 78-80°F. The first rise and the final proof were about 1 1/2 hours each. If your dough/ambient temperature are cooler, expect longer rise times.
Dough (see the Notes for hand mixing instructions)
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt.
- Warm 6 Tbsp/84 grams of the milk to 110°F or less. The rest of the milk can be cold or warm, and will be added later as needed depending on the flour you have chosen.
- Add the instant yeast to the warmed milk, whisk and let it bloom for a few minutes.
- Pour this yeast-milk mixture into the stand mixer bowl with the dry ingredients. Add the egg, oil and vanilla extract.
- Mix at low speed for a few minutes, scraping down the sides of the mixer at least once. I use the dough hook attachment from the get-go, but you can start with the paddle attachment if you prefer.
- Add more milk one tablespoon at a time, mixing for a minute or two in between, until there are no dry bits of dough.
- Turn off the mixer and let the dough rest about 5 minutes.
- Resume mixing for 1 minute, then stop the mixer and feel the dough with your fingers. If it is very stiff add more milk, and if it is gloppy and sticks to your fingers add more flour.
- Mix for 2-3 minutes more until the dough is supple.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl or straight-walled container, cover and let it rise until it has doubled in size.
Filling Prep
- Combine all of the filling ingredients in a small bowl and mix thoroughly.
Babka Assembly
- Lightly grease a loaf pan or line it with parchment paper.
- When the dough has doubled in size, transfer it to a clean work surface and roll it out to a square about 14×14 inches. Use a light dusting of flour if needed to make sure it can be peeled up and rolled later.
- Spread the filling over the dough, leaving about 1/2 inch uncovered around the perimeter.
- Sprinkle on the toasted and crushed walnuts if desired.
- Roll the dough into a tube.
- With the seam facing up and centered, cut the dough lengthwise along the seam (the goal with this is to not have a loose thin strip of cut dough). I use a chef’s knife for this.
- Position to the two halves of dough in an X shape with the layering facing up.
- Twist the strands above and below the intersection of the X until you have one long twist.
- Compress the length of the dough a bit with your hand and a bench knife on either end, and lift and transfer the dough to the loaf pan.
- Cover and let the dough rise until it fills the pan more (see Photo Gallery), about 1 1/2 hours at 78°F.
Streusel Prep
- Whisk together the flour, brown sugar, ground cinnamon and salt. Using your fingers, break apart the tablespoon of butter rub it into the dry ingredients until you have many coated crumb-flakes of butter.
Topping and Baking
- Preheat the oven to 350°F
- When the babka has finished proofing, brush it with the egg wash and sprinkle the crumble on top.
- Bake for 45 minutes, tenting the babka with foil about halfway through. The internal temperature of the babka should be over 190°F when it is done.
- Let cool about 15 minutes, then remove the babka from the pan. Slice carefully if serving warm or let it cool fully and heat slices in the toaster or microwave.
- Wrap in plastic, beeswax wrap, or aluminum foil to store at room temperature for several days. Babkas also freeze well if wrapped tightly.
Notes
Hand Mixing: You can mix the dough in a bowl with a Danish dough whisk or spatula or by hand. Follow the instructions above to add the milk slowly, rest the dough, and check the dough-feel after the rest. You should aim for a supple dough that you can eventually knead by hand on your work surface.
Natural Leavening: Build a sweet stiff levain the night before you mix the dough. The ingredient amounts in the levain are then subtracted from the dough ingredients. In the example below, the levain is quite large relative to the flour amount, but your dough will still take longer for both the first rise and the final proof than the yeast recipe suggests. You should ignore the clock and watch the dough.
Sweet Stiff Levain
- 100 grams flour
- 47 grams milk
- 26 grams starter
- 18 grams sugar
Final Dough
- All of the sweet stiff levain, expanded to at least doubled in size (191 grams)
- 172 grams flour
- 18 grams sugar
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 24-70 grams milk
- 1 egg
- 36 grams oil
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Whole Wheat Photo Gallery
