I look forward to Easter for many reasons. As a Christian, it is the most important holiday for me to reflect on my faith and lead my family in the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We also look forward to the fun time with extended family, Easter Egg hunts, Easter baskets, and lot of great Easter food.
My favorite Easter recipe is from my husband’s family. His family brought their Babka Easter Bread recipe with them 4 generations ago from Poland. I was happy to introduce this bread to our family as an Easter tradition and we all look forward to it. Once you taste it, you will want tot add it to your annual Easter holiday traditions.
We usually have the Babka Easter Bread for Easter morning breakfast at our home, then enjoy it again for Easter dinner with the extended family. Each batch makes 3 loaves but I normally make at least 2 batches to share with family and friends. Last year, we ended up freezing 1 loaf to see if it would freeze well. To our delightful surprise, it freezes very well.
This recipe is moderate to difficult because of the amount of time it takes from beginning to end – about 6 hours. It is well worth the time and effort.
| Servings |
- 1-1/4 cup Milk
- 3-4 cup Flour
- 2 Yeast Cakes
- cup ½and 1 tbsp. Sugar
- 15 Egg Yolks
- ½ tsp. Salt
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- cup ½Melted Butter
- Yellow Raisins 1/2 box
Ingredients
| |
- 1. Scald Milk. Put 1 cup milk in large pot to mix. Add ¾ cup flour to milk. Stir till smooth.
- 2. Let remaining ¼ cup milk sit till lukewarm. To this remaining milk, add 1 tbsp. sugar and 2 yeast cakes, crumbled. Mix until there are no lumps. Cover, and let form a sponge, no liquid will be left on the bottom. After the sponge forms, add to the flour & milk mixture above, cover with a pot lid or dish towel and sit aside for ½ hour until sponge bubbles.
- 3. Beat egg yolks with salt and remaining sugar until creamy.
- 4. When sponge bubbles, add egg mixture, beat well. Add remaining flour and vanilla. Work till satin smooth. Add melted butter and kneed mixture longer. (You can use a bread dough hook on a KitchenAid mixer.) Add raisins and cover with pot lid or dish towel. Let the dough rise someplace warm until dough doubles in volume, about 1-1/2 hours. Once it doubles in size, knock it down, and cover with a pot lid or dish towel to rise again in a warm place, about 1-1/2 hours.
- 5. Knead well on board. Put in 3 well buttered bread pans. (If you use the new silicone bakeware, your bread will cook the same but be much wider and not as tall.) Mix a little sugar and melted butter with dough scraps and sprinkle over top of bread. Let dough rise in the pans until light (reaches top of pans), about 2 hours. Bake at 325 for 30 minutes or less. Put tin foil under pans.
- 6. May be served warm or cold, with or without butter on top.
Easter Breakfast
Traditionally, we serve Babka Easter Bread with hard boiled eggs and polish sausage for Easter morning. It is a very sweet, moist bread that is devoured by kids and adults alike.
Babka Easter Bread Recipe Tips
This recipe makes 3 loaves. I always double the recipe and give loaves as gifts to special friends and family.
Tip: Wrap it in several layers of plastic wrap to keep it moist. It starts to dry out in 2 or 3 days, if you have any left, put a piece in the microwave with a wet paper towel on top for a few seconds and it will taste fresh again.
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If you live in the Akron area, you can shop all the ingredients for this bread on the Acme Fresh Market website!
Hi Jill, Chocolate Babka! Yummy, sounds delicious. I’d love you to post a picture on our facebook page of it! Recipe too if you’d like to share.
My recipe is made in simple bread loaf pans, I just freeze what I don’t think we will eat before it gets stale. It froze really well last year. Wow, you knead the dough much longer than I do. Next year, I will try it for 15 minutes and see if it provides better results. Thanks for the hint!
I just finished making chocolate babka this evening!!! Wanted to have it ready to take to church to be blessed at noon tomorrow so had to make it today. My babka was shaped in a ring with the chocolate in the middle. It really looks beautiful. Will be beautifuperfect in my Easter basket tomorrow.
Have a question, so you froze your extra loaf after it was made? I was wondering because mine made 2 rings.
And I know I use the KA mixer to knead the dough for 15 minutes.
I just finished making chocolate babka this evening!!! Wanted to have it ready to take to church to be blessed at noon tomorrow so had to make it today. My babka was shaped in a ring with the chocolate in the middle. It really looks beautiful. Will be beautifuperfect in my Easter basket tomorrow.
Have a question, so you froze your extra loaf after it was made? I was wondering because mine made 2 rings.
Good luck on the Easter bunny bread, Beth. It take a LOT less time than the Babka bread. Both are fun for Easter!
yum! may try this next Easter–think I’ll do the bunny bread tomorrow! Hope it looks as good as yous! 🙂
kitchen aids have a variety of different appliances that can help you cook your food easier ;,:
This bread is like a dessert, it is that good! You should try it at least once, you’ll be hooked once you do! I’ve never seen anything in the stores like this or any recipe similar online.
Your making me hungry! Looks amazing but I am not very talented in the kitchen so I’m not sure I’d be up for it. I wonder if they sell anything similar in stores?
How long do you knead with the dough hook on your kitchen aid mixer?
Yes, it is sticky. I do add flour to the board when I Knead the dough but not too much. I actually cheat most of the time and use my Kitchen Aid Mixer with the dough hook. Then I separate the dough into 3 loaves and gently knead those individually. I don’t use too much flour on the board though. Did the bread turn out super yummy for you?
I’m originally from new England but moved to Virginia 2 years ago and quickly realized that Babka bread is not available here so I started to make my own. After my own attempts, I’m wondering how you manage to knead the dough on a board without adding a lot more flour to the recipe. The dough just seems so sticky and soft compared with any bread recipe that I’ve ever worked with. Is that the way it is supposed to be?
I just came across this recipe again. You gave me this bread last year. I can’t believe how fast the time flies.
Beth, don’t let that stop you. I had never baked bread before either until this recipe. It takes a LONG time but it is so yummy and made with love so it is special. 🙂
This recipe looks incredible – but I am sooo not the baker… May have to attempt 🙂
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