Ingredients:

Babka:

• 250 g flour
• 12 g fresh yeast
• 50 g granulated sugar
• 100 ml lukewarm whole milk
• 1 egg
• 85 g softened butter
• 3 g salt

Filling:

• 45 g muscovado sugar
• 18 g brown sugar
• 17 g Albert Ménès Madagascar cinnamon
• 90 g white chocolate
• 30 g butter

Glaze: 

• 40 g water
• 40 g sugar

Steps:

1 - Make the babka dough

Dilute the yeast in the lukewarm milk and leave for around 5 minutes.

Place the dry ingredients (flour, salt, sugar) in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook.

Add the egg and mix.

Add the milk and yeast mixture and knead for around 5 minutes. Finish by gradually adding the butter. Knead for around 10 minutes.

The dough should come away from the sides of the bowl easily. Decant the dough into a large mixing bowl.

Leave to rise covered with a clean tea towel for 2 hours in a warm area.

2 - Prepare the filling and shape the babka

Melt the butter and the white chocolate for the filling in a bain marie.

Place the sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Add the chocolate and butter mixture and mix everything togther. Finish mixing by hand to break up any lumps and to ensure the evenness of the mixture.

Knock back the dough and roll it out on a lightly floured work surface. Form a rectangle.

Spread the filling over the dough rectangle. Tightly roll into a long sausage. Cut the sausage in half (across the length) and then braid the two halves. Form a ring.

Place the ring on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper and use baking rings or other ovenproof equipment to maintain the shape.

Leave to rise for 1 to 1.5 hours covered with a clean tea towel.

3 - Bake and glaze the babka

Preheat the oven to 180°.

Bake the babka in the oven for about 15 minutes. Insert the tip of a knife (or skewer) into the babka to check if it is ready — the knife should come out clean and dry.

Prepare the glaze by heating the water and sugar together. Brush the babka with the glaze as soon as it comes out of the oven. The glaze makes the babka shiny and soft, and helps to keep it fresh.