Easy Italian Babka: SMASH this simple twist loaded with prosciutto, cheese, and bruschetta!

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Italian Babka before baking

I love making bread. Really, is there anything more satisfying? Such simple ingredients that seem to come together like magic to make BREAD, that carbo-loaded highlight of any dinner out. You people out there doing paleo? More power to you, but that’s a hard no from me. I need bread, I really do. It’s delicious it its own right, but it is also a vehicle for enjoyment of my second favorite food, butter. (Mayonnaise being my first favorite food, obviously. I like fat, ok?) This Italian Babka was born out of a strong desire for melty cheese, a profusion of babka shapes crawling through my pinterest feed, and a jar of pre-made bruschetta that I knew I needed to try to avoid just plowing through with a spoon. It looks tricky, but honestly it is so easy, and is substantial enough to serve as a main dish along with a hearty salad or soup.

This Italian Babka has a shortcut. Oops don’t tell.

Bread ingredients

I love to cook, but there’s some shortcuts that always seem worth it to me, including most sauces. My friend Jake is probably weeping as he reads this, but I confess that I almost never make things like marinara, alfredo, and bruschetta from scratch. I know, I know, everyone says it’s worth it. But hey. My mom always used the jarred stuff, so I do too.

Also, if you are a busy home baker like me, it might be nice to have a little shortcut. So, in this case, I turned to this jarred bruschetta spread. You can also find single jars at most supermarkets. Please, no one report me to Giada or Mario Batali. If you can’t find it, you can also just chop up a jar of sundried tomatoes and fold those in instead, it will satisfy the same flavor profile.

HOWEVER some shortcuts are not worth it. Do NOT grab that cannister of “parmesan cheese”/sawdust from your fridge. Buy yourself some actual parmesan cheese, you won’t regret it. Plus, it’s easy to grate directly into your mouth.

Babka Fillings

So, the filling of this bread is four layers: the tangy bruschetta, chopped prosciutto, torn fresh mozzarella, and freshly grated parmesan. If you have some fresh basil, feel free to toss some of that in there. I was far too lazy to go to the store and buy some.

Filled breads: so many shapes, so little practicality.

Baked Italian Babka

I love filled breads, and I’ve made many in the couronne shape. (Check out my pineapple couronne, so so good.). However, I knew I wanted to try a different shaping method, so I took to everyone’s favorite tool: google. However, this was a little tough. There are lots of beautiful twisty shapes out there, but so many don’t look great for…eating? How does one slice one of those that looks like a big sunflower with little skinny petals?

Anyway, I landed on that babka shape, which is a two-strand twist that is then baked in a loaf pan. It looks intimidating, but honestly it is really simple shaping. Here’s a video that will walk you through the shaping if you feel uneasy about it.

The last little puzzle: what kind of dough does one use for a savory Italian Babka?

A babka is typically sweet and uses an enriched dough. This would typically include lots of sugar, eggs, etc. However, I wanted to make a savory loaf. So, I leaned on my trusty pizza dough recipe and a savory brioche recipe adapted from my Paul Hollywood book to develop the dough for this bad boy.

I went with white bread flour, and then enriched it with loads of butter, eggs, a tiny bit of sugar, and milk. I also seasoned it liberally with salt, a healthy spoonful of garlic powder, and one of those Italian seasoning blends that we all keep stashed in our pantries.

The resulting dough was fluffy, buttery, and reminiscent of a rich brioche.

Italian Babka Sliced

I’ve been working on a lot of new baking skills that I am excited to share with you soon, including techniques for using Russian piping tips. I’m also hard at work developing the next several Boozy Bakes…stay tuned for a margarita tart, some sort of peanut butter bourbon something, and maybe cosmo cupcakes? Still hammering out those details. I still haven’t had the courage to revisit the peach bellini concept, I am scarred by my epic failure on that front.

I’ve also been taking more and more cake commissions! If you are interested in ordering anything from me for May or this coming summer, drop me an email anytime at kellylikestobake@gmail.com !

Easy Italian Babka!

Recipe by Kelly Likes to BakeCourse: UncategorizedCuisine: ItalianDifficulty: Intermediate
Servings

2

loaves
Prep time

30

minutes
Cooking time

40

minutes
Calories

300

kcal
Rising Time

3 hours

This delicious twisted bread has layers of buttery brioche, torn fresh mozzarella, freshly-grated parmesan, tangy tomato bruschetta, and flavorful prosciutto. Perfect as a main course with a hearty salad!

Ingredients

  • 550 g white bread flour

  • 10 g salt

  • 1 T sugar

  • 20 g dry active yeast

  • 150 ml milk, warmed slightly

  • 35 ml heavy cream

  • 4 eggs

  • 1 t garlic powder

  • 2 T Italian seasoning blend

  • 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened and sliced into 1 T pieces

  • 10 slices prosciutto

  • 3 balls fresh mozzarella torn into pieces, or 2 cups shredded mozzarella

  • 1 cup freshly-grated parmesan cheese

  • 1 jar bruschetta topping (or chopped sundried tomatoes)

Directions

  • Whisk together the milk, cream, sugar, and yeast in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment. Allow to stand for five minutes or until frothy. Avoiding pouring the salt directly on the cream and yeast mixture, add the flour, eggs, salt, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning, and turn on your mixer to medium-low. When the dough starts to come together, start adding your butter one tablespoon at a time. Turn the mixer to medium and keep mixing for a further 5-7 minutes. The dough will be sticky and soft, don’t worry, that is the correct consistency.
  • Turn your dough out into a bowl that you have coated with olive oil. Turn the dough so that it is covered with the oil. Cover and allow to rise for two hours in a warm place. In the meantime, prepare two bread loaf tins with cooking spray. Set aside.
  • Divide your risen dough into two pieces. On a floured surface, roll one piece out to a square, about 12 inches on each side. Lay out half of your fillings in an even layer over the dough in the following order: bruschetta, prosciutto, mozzarella, parmesan. Roll the filled dough up into a sausage, gently rocking back and forth a few times to seal it. Using a sharp knife or a bench scraper, cut the dough lengthwise like a pair of pants. Twist the two strands together, trying to keep the filling exposed. Place the finished twist into the loaf pan, squishing it a little to fit as required. Repeat this process with the second piece of dough. Cover the loaf pans and leave to rise for one more hour.
  • Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Bake your loaves in the top half of the oven for forty minutes or until they reach an inner temperatur of 190 degrees F. (Use a meat thermometer to test this.) If they start to get a little too brown on top, cover them with a little foil hat.
  • Allow them to cool on a cooling rack, slice and enjoy!