Pecan Babka Recipe

A sliced pumpkin babka with one slice on a blue, beige, and white-striped plate.

This pecan streusel pumpkin brioche babka is about as fallish as one can get.

The crunchy, nutty streusel works beautifully with the soft, chewy pumpkin brioche and the rich, jammy filling.

Course Bread and Rolls Recipes

Cuisine Jewish

Prep Time 45

Cook Time 45

Additional Time 4 30

Total Time 5 50

Servings slices

Calories 362kcal

Author Jennifer Field

Equipment

Ingredients

For the Dough

8 oz whole milk 227 grams or 1 cup, warm but not hot
1 Tablespoon maple syrup 15 grams
1 ¼ teaspoons fine salt 7 grams
4 oz pumpkin puree 113 grams or about 1/2 cup
1 oz brown sugar 29 grams or 2 Tablespoons
1 egg
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
2 oz butter 57 grams, 4 Tablespoons, or 1/2 stick, melted
19 oz bread flour 510 grams or about 4 1/2 cups
1 teaspoon yeast instant or active dry

For the Filling

2 oz maple syrup 57 grams
2 oz pumpkin puree 57 grams
2 oz brown sugar 57 grams
2 oz gingersnaps 57 grams, pulverized
½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
heavy pinch of salt

For the Syrup

2 oz water
2 oz brown sugar
1/4-1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
pinch salt
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

For the Dough

In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine warm milk, maple syrup, salt, pumpkin puree, brown sugar, egg, pumpkin spice, and melted butter. Mix until fairly uniform.
Add the flour and yeast, and mix for another 2 minutes. Increase speed to medium, and knead for 12 minutes. The dough will be very soft, smooth, and shiny. A little may stick in the bottom of the bowl, but that's fine. Do not add additional flour.
Oil up your hands and quickly shape the dough into a round. Place it back in the mixing bowl, smooth side up, and spray it with some neutral oil spray.
Cover the bowl, and let sit in a cozy place until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.

To Shape and Fill

When nicely risen, plop the dough out onto a clean work surface.
Press out all the gases, spray the top with a little oil or pan spray, and then roll it out into a large rectangle about 16" on the long side and maybe 12" or so inches on the short side. Try to keep it as rectangular as you can (I love a tapered pin for this--it gives you a lot of control). NOTE: If shaping in the classic way, roll to an 18" or even 20" rectangle.
Spread the filling evenly all over the dough--it will be a thin layer. Spread to within 1/2" of three sides and leave 1 1/2" plain on one long side.
Roll up the dough starting with a long side and rolling toward the side with the wider margin of plain dough.
Once you get to the end. Pinch the seam very well to seal and turn it seam-side down.

To Shape a Classic Babka

Slice your cylinder of dough in half lengthwise so you end up with two "half-pipes" of dough.
Place one half over the other half in the shape of a cross with the cut sides up.
Twist either end one or two times, and pinch the ends together.
Press the twists together from either end to compact them and gently fit the dough into a 5x 9" loaf pan.

Alternate Shaping (Simplified)

Cut the cylinder of dough open but don't cut it all the way through. Open it up like a long clam shell.
Shape this into an "S" shape and fit into your 5" x 9" loaf pan.

Second Rise and Baking

Preheat the oven to 350F.
Cover the loaf with a lint-free towel and let rise in a warm place until almost at the top of the pan, about 30-45 minutes. This dough rises QUICKLY, so be prepared!
Bake in the bottom third of the oven for about 45 minutes, or until deeply golden brown with an internal temperature of 195F-200F. To prevent excess browning. tent the loaf with foil after 30 minutes. NOTE: If your babka overproofs or is just very ebullient and is enormous, it could take much longer to finish baking. Make sure it's in the bottom third of the oven, and that it is tented with foil. If it's not done after 45 minutes, turn the heat down to 325F or even 300F and continue baking, checking every few minutes with your instant read.
Remove from the oven and liberally brush the entire top of the loaf with the pumpkin spice syrup. I like to brush 2 coats on top and then get all four sides with one coat. You will most likely not use all the syrup. You can use the rest to sweeten your coffee!
Run a knife around the inside of the loaf pans to loosen any stuck bits, and turn out the loaves to cool completely. You may brush on a second layer of syrup if you like.

To Make the Filling

Stir all the ingredients together until evenly combined.

To Make the Syrup

In a small saucepan, heat water, sugar, spice, and salt to a boil. Allow to boil for 30 seconds.
Remove the pan from the heat, and whisk in the vanilla.,
Cool to warm before using.

Notes

As an optional addition to your filling, you can sprinkle on a liberal amount of real chocolate sprinkles or microplane some of your favorite chocolate over the top of the filling before rolling your babkas.

For another variation on the filling, substitute 2 ounces of toasted and finely chopped pecans for the gingersnaps.

Nutritional information is calculated for 1/10 of a loaf, or 1 nice thick slice of babka.

Storing

If eating on the same day as you make it, store the babka, loosely covered, at room temperature. For longer storage, slice into thick pieces and freeze.

Freezing

Since there is jammy filling inside a babka, before freezing a loaf, cut into thick pieces and place a piece of parchment in between the slices. Then fit into a freezer bag, press out as much air as possible, and freeze for up to 3 months.

Take pieces out as needed and heat in a microwave for a few seconds or rewarm in foil in an oven or toaster oven until hot.

Nutrition