Chocolate, espresso and rye babka is made with super-soft brioche dough, spiked with a wee bit of rye flour for the most beautiful toasty flavour, then a rich chocolate and espresso filling, and a sneaky wee sugar syrup to give a beautiful glossy finish. I love making babka so much - it is super easy once you get the hang of it, and the filling options really are endless.
Chocolate Espresso and Rye Babka
Hi hi! Sorry things have been a bit quiet around here the last wee while - it’s been a weird year for sure! I am just popping in to share this chocolate, espresso and rye babka! I made this a few weeks ago and never got around to sharing the recipe but here we are - it’s so good!
Using Rye in Baking
How to store Chocolate Espresso Babka
A few wee tips for Chocolate Espresso Babka
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If you don’t want to use rye flour and just want to do full all-purpose, go ahead! use 565g all-purpose instead
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I like to give my brioche dough a fridge rise as it makes rolling it out much easier. I do a minimum of 2 ½ to 3 hours but it can also be made the day before and chilled overnight. You can do the whole thing in one day if you like - it will need 45 minutes to an hour or so at room temp until it has doubled in size
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The chilling step is also optional here but I find that it makes shaping the babka a bit less messy. You can skip that too if you like. A wee note on that for this specific recipe - the chilling step causes the chocolate to harden, so it may crack a wee bit as you are cutting the log in half and making into a babka. This isn’t a big deal at all, I just wanted to give you a heads up!
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These are made in a 1lb quantity loaf pan (so not the wider ones you sometimes see, although those work great too!)
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Leave out the espresso if you like too! This would likely work well with milk chocolate too. The chocolate is quite bitter so feel free to sub in some milk chocolate if you like.
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You could also add chopped nuts here if you like - that would be so yum!
For more Brioche Recipes:
- Apple and Cardamom Babka
- Mixed Nut and Dulce de Leche Brioche Knot
- Brown Butter Cinnamon Rolls
- Brioche Doughnuts with roasted strawberry and vanilla bean pastry cream
Chocolate, Espresso, and Rye Babka
- Prep Time: 45 Mins
- Cook Time: 60 Mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: Makes two loaves 1x
Description
A super easy, rich chocolate and espresso babka made with a rye brioche. The brioche dough is super soft and fluffy, made with rye flour for a toasty finish, and is filled with an espresso chocolate filling and finished with a simple syrup to give it shine and lock in moisture
Ingredients
Rye Babka Dough
- 250g whole milk, lukewarm
- 2 ¼ tsp active dry yeast
- 4 Tbsp sugar
- 85g rye flour
- 480g all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
- 115g unsalted butter, at room temperature
Chocolate Espresso Filling
- 350g dark chocolate (I used 70%)
- 150g unsalted butter (cold from the fridge is fine)
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp vanilla bean paste
- 4 tsp espresso powder (or finely ground instant coffee powder)
- 120g powdered sugar, sifted
Sugar Syrup
- 60g water
- 50g sugar
- ¼ tsp vanilla bean paste
Instructions
BABKA DOUGH
- In a small bowl, combine the yeast, milk and 2 Tbsp of the sugar. Mix well, and leave to sit for 10-15 minutes, or until foamy.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the remaining 2 Tbsp sugar, rye flour, all-purpose flour, and salt. Mix briefly to combine. Add the eggs, vanilla, and foamy yeast mixture to the bowl. Mix on low for 2-3 minutes, until the dough is starting to come together. It may look slightly dry but do not worry - it will mix together nicely in the next steps. Increase the mixer speed to medium, and mix for another 10 minutes, until the dough is soft and smooth.
- Reduce the mixer speed to low, and add the butter a little at a time, waiting until it is fully incorporated into the dough before adding the next piece. This process should take 3-4 minutes.
- Once the butter is fully incorporated, increase the mixer speed to medium, and mix for a further 5 minutes, until the dough is very soft and smooth.
- Transfer to an oiled bowl, and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Place in the fridge to rise - at least 3 hours and up to overnight (see notes)
CHOCOLATE ESPRESSO FILLING
- Place the chocolate and butter into a medium heat proof bowl. Set over a pot of simmering water, ensuring that the bowl does not touch the water, and heat, stirring often, until the butter and chocolate have melted and the mixture is smooth.
- Remove from the heat and add the salt, vanilla bean paste, espresso powder and powdered sugar, and whisk until smooth. Set aside to cool slightly, stirring occasionally.
ASSEMBLY AND BAKING
- Lightly grease two loaf pans, and line with parchment paper.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to a 16" x 25" rectangle (40x64cm). Spread the chocolate filling over the surface of the dough. Starting with the long side, roll up into a tight spiral. Measure the length of the sausage of dough, then cut in half so it is in two sausages.
- Place these pieces side by side on the lined baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and chill for an hour.
- Remove the dough from the fridge. Using a sharp knife, cut the first piece in half, lengthwise, and then cross the pieces over each other, and then cross over two more times to form a twist, as shown in the photos (See my IG highlight).
- Place into the loaf pan, tucking the ends under slightly if needed. Repeat with the second half of the dough.
- Lightly cover the loaf pans in plastic wrap, and place in a warm place to rise for 45 minutes to an hour, or until the dough springs back lightly when pressed. While the loaves are proofing, preheat the oven to 350˚f / 180˚c.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until the loaves are golden brown and measure 190°f / 90°c on an instant read thermometer. While the loaves are baking prepare the sugar syrup - combine all the ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to the boil, then boil for 1-2 minutes. Leave to stand.
- Remove from the oven and brush both loaves with the sugar syrup while hot. Allow to cool in pans for 15 minutes then remove and transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool completely before slicing.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container, or wrap tightly before freezing.
Notes
This Babka makes amazing French Toast!
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Could I substitute vanilla extract for the vanilla paste? Would it be the same amount? Very excited to make this, I’ve always been intimidated by babka!
Hi! Yep same amount of vanilla extract 🙂
I always thought this was difficult to make. You make it look so easy and it great to see no Nutella can't stand the stuff..LOL
I do like the sound of your apple and carbon, think it would be lovelly with apricots too. Thankyou I look forward to baking these...
Yay I hope you do! They are so good!
This is super delicious!!!!
And not that difficult to make.
Yay I am so glad that you enjoyed! It is definitely a favourite of mine! x
This is a great recipe. It made my first babka making a success and was super fun! The only thing is that I wish I just trusted my instinct instead of using the internal temp given by the recipe. It looked great after 40 minutes but I put it back in for another few minutes because my internal temp wasn’t reaching 190. Those few minutes caused it to be just a little dry (and even then it registered 185).
★★★★★
So glad you like it! Sorry it turned out a wee bit dry! Intuition always wins! x
Hi Erin,
This babka came out so lovely and very tasty. It was so strange that it took 20 mins for mine to bake. I am obviously not an experienced baker and had a problem that when the babka is cooling, it dipped like deflated somehow in the middle. What have I done wrong? Did I overproof too long?
★★★★★
Hi, it sounds like your oven was too hot! It should have taken a little longer to bake and then sounds like maybe it slumped a little because the inside wasn't fully finished? So sorry it didn't work out for you!
This was is AMAZING!!! Once I see this babka in my feed, I can't stop thinking about it until I make it again. The rye flour in the dough is just enough to give it flavor without making the dough too slack (as it's low in gluten!), and the filling is DIVINE. I do downscale the bread dough recipe a touch (downscaled everything pro ratio until total flour is 500 g, keep the two eggs) so I can bake it in one big bread tin. My BF actually hates coffee but it's just subtle enough to know it's there, and we both loved it! As we say in Dutch, what you don't know, doesn't harm you 😛
I also skipped the sugar syrup bc I usually eat about a third of a babka for breakfast and my teeth can't handle it otherwise 😀
★★★★★
Hi! Ahhhh I am so glad that you love! This modification sounds so good!
Hey Erin, this looks incredible, is there anyway to substitute the yeast for sourdough starter?
Hi! I don't know sorry as I haven't tried! I would look for a sourdough enriched dough - the one from these sourdough cinnamon rolls would probably work nicely! I have been meaning to try and use it for a babka!
If I don’t have enough baking chocolate can I use chocolate chips instead for the filling?
Hi! Chocolate chips generally don't melt. Regular bar chocolate will work great too!
I am trying to think how I could do both rises in the refrigerator. Is this possible? Thanks!
Hi! So sorry, I only just saw this. Yep you can do first one in the fridge then assemble and pop back in and it should be fine 🙂
Amazing recipe! It was the first but definitely not the last time I will make babka. Since it yiels two loaves, I halved the chocolate mixture and used your apple filling for the 2nd loaf. Difficult to say which one we liked best!
Also, grams for the win 😀
★★★★★
Yayyy so happy you loved! So smart to do two different fillings too!
Hi Erin! I'm digging through your babka/brioche recipes and noticed that this one calls for 50g more milk than most (250g vs 200g), although there is some variation in the amount of milk you typically call for. That seems like a pretty big difference to me. Is this dough noticeably wetter than some of your other brioche doughs?
Hi! This one has rye in it which means that I upped the hydration to account for it. I usually use 250g milk in babka / brioche now - I just haven't posted a recipe since I started using the higher quantity! The Brown Butter Cinnamon Rolls is the go-to I use for everything now. My recipe has just evolved over the years. They all work, this one is just softer and nicer to work with!
Would I be able to halve the recipe? No freezer space and having 2 is too dangerous haha
Hi! You can, but I haven't tried it sorry!
This was just the baking project I needed last week. Surprisingly easy, and now the reason why my children think chocolate bread is an acceptable breakfast food. Thank you! Cant wait to make again and try a cinnamon filling!
★★★★
Hi! Ahhh so happy it worked so well for you!
Hello! I have a question about the first rise steps. So, if I don’t want to do an over night rise, can I leave it out after mixing for 45-1hr like you would normally do with bread? Or do I need to mix it and then give it 2hr in the fridge before rolling it out and filling?
Hi! Yep you can do the first rise at room temperature! The only thing is that it may be a little harder to roll out as cold dough is easier to work with. I mention this in the tips section of the post too - there is notes about doing a cold rise all in one day. 🙂
This babka was such a hit. The flavors perfectly balance sweet & slightly tangy. The rye and espresso help keep it balanced and make you want to go back for another bite. The recipe was clear, concise, and easy to follow.
★★★★★