Babka

Dough

• 1 package dry yeast or 1 yeast cake

• 2 teaspoons sugar

• 2 cups all-purpose, unbleached flour

• ½ cup lukewarm milk

• 4 eggs, lightly beaten

• 1 scant teaspoon salt

• 1½ sticks soft sweet butter

1. Place the yeast, sugar, and 3 tablespoons of the flour in a warm 2- to 3-quart mixing bowl and mix well. Sprinkle with the warm milk, and set the bowl in a warm, draft-free place until the mixture becomes foamy or bubbly, which will take 15 to 20 minutes.

2. Add the lightly beaten eggs, flour and salt, and stir well until the batter becomes smooth.

3. Add the softened butter and stir until the dough is smooth and elastic (about 5 minutes). Turn it into a shallow bowl, and chill in the refrigerator overnight or place in the freezer for 4 to 5 hours.

Filling

• ⅔ cup walnuts

• ⅔ cup seedless raisins

• ½ cup raspberry preserves

• 2 teaspoons cinnamon

• ⅔ cup superfine sugar

• 2 egg whites

1. To prepare the ingredients for the filling, chop the nuts and cut the raisins in half. Mix the cinnamon with the sugar. If the preserves are stiff, and they usually are, stir them well to make them more pliable. Beat the egg whites to soft peaks.

2. Cut off 2 sheets of waxed paper each about 22 inches long. Spread them out with the sheet nearest you overlapping the second one. Dust them generously with flour.

3. From this point, work swiftly as the dough is rich and fragile.

4. Place the dough on the paper, and roll out with a cold, flour-dusted rolling pin. As you roll, pick the dough up frequently and give it a quarter turn. If it begins to stick dust the sticky spot with additional flour. Roll the dough into a rectangular shape approximately 18” x 12” and ¼” thick.

5. Spread the egg white over the dough to within about 2” from the edges. Quickly sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar, then the raisins and nuts. Drop about 8 or 10 dollops of the raspberry jam over the filling.

6. Now roll the dough up in jelly-roll fashion. To do this, lift up the edge of waxed paper closest to you and give it a quick flip away from you to begin rolling up the dough. Give the dough about three turns. Flip the far edge of the paper toward you. With a good grasp on each end of the paper holding the rolled-up dough, shape the roll into a horseshoe. Then lift it up and carefully slide it into a tube pan 10” long and 3” deep, paper and all. Gently pull the paper out from the dough; it should slide out very easily.

7. Hold the mold with the two ends of the horseshoe-shaped dough away from you. Join them by tilting the pan and shaking it gently. With a rubber spatula or the back of a spoon, lightly press down the dough from around the sides of the tube pan so that the ring settles evenly on the bottom. Brush 1 tablespoon of melted butter over the top.

8. Set the pan in a warm (about 80°) draft-free place to rise to within ½” from the top. This will take about 1 to 1½ hours.

9. Allow 15 minutes to preheat the oven to 375°F.

10. Bake the babka about 45 minutes. Remove and set the pan on a rack for 12 minutes before turning it out onto a serving plate.