Akron Ohio Moms

Babka Easter Bread Recipe

Ingredients

Instructions

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.

Recipe Notes