One of my favorite things I’ve heard Christoper Kimball say was uttered during a video shoot forAustrian Apple Strudel. He was rolling out the strudel dough and, when asked if he enjoys baking, his response was “baking is one of the few things you can still do with your hands.” Though that response didn’t make it into the final cut of the video, it stuck with me.

In an increasingly automated world, it’s nice to have a reason to stop one's busy life to just make something. The making itself is the art, just as much as the finished product. The fear that it might be difficult or messy is exactly why you should do it. Whenever I feel the urge to make something with my hands, I look to bread doughs. I love the cinnamon-walnut variation of our Chocolate-Tahini Babka(scroll down on the recipe page for directions), because it’s a project that feels worth the effort you put in.

Listen to the dough

Bread doughs can seem temperamental, but it’s just a language that you have to learn to understand. Like all good things, it takes time and practice. This recipe makes it easy to understand some of the cues that will build your bread instincts, and it will make you a better baker in the long run.

There are four basics to any yeasted dough: flour, yeast, hydration (typically just water), and salt. Enriched dough is all of those things plus fat. In this babka, that fat comes from whole eggs, egg yolks, milk, and butter. Fat weakens the gluten structure, something you need to give your bread that plush, softer texture and tighter crumb. A well developed gluten structure bakes up into a bread that is springy. Enriched doughs require a lot of kneading to build up gluten, so much that it would be tiring to do by hand. We knead ours on the dough hook of a stand mixer for over 10 minutes.

With a little attention you can learn how to spot audible and visual cues. For example, once you’ve added the butter, the dough will become shinier and smooth. As it continues to knead, it goes from a sticky, shaggy mass to a more structured one. It will start to slap the sides of the bowl more— and you can actually hear this process happening. It sounds different toward the end of mixing than it did when it started.

Another way to test doughs for gluten formation is “the windowpane test.” You pinch off a corner of your dough and stretch it with your fingers to create a “windowpane.” If it rips immediately, it’s not done yet. When it’s ready it should stretch enough so you can start to see through. Once you know what to look for, it’s a lot easier to trust the process.

Cinnamon takes a backseat to no babka!

Chocolate and cinnamon are the two most common babka flavors you’re likely to see in a bakery. I tend to prefer chocolate filled anything, but the cinnamon-walnut filling, which we developed as a variation to our Chocolate and Tahini Babka, surprised me. The walnuts are finely chopped and bring a welcome textural contrast; the bright, sunny orange zest is a perfect complement to the richer flavors of cinnamon and walnut. More orange flavor is brought in through a syrup that is brushed onto the babka while it’s still warm. It keeps the bread moist and adds a touch of extra sweetness.

This recipe makes two loaves, and I’ve found that babka freezes really well if you don’t want to serve both at once. I like to keep homemade bread on rotation in the house so I always have an easy breakfast on the go, but they’re ideal for serving at a brunch party or bringing over to a friend’s house. Gift the spare loaf to a neighbor or use it as an excuse to invite a friend over for coffee. Babka is an impressive feat and you should absolutely show it off.

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Willow Montana

Willow Montana is the Production Manager of Digital Media at Milk Street. Willow spends their days coordinating and planning video shoots, managing schedules and overseeing the execution of digital projects. They studied Baking and Pastry Arts at Johnson and Wales University and worked in restaurants while putting themself through six more years of college. They hold a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in English Literature and a Master’s of Fine Arts in Publishing and Writing. Willow is a firm believer in living a slow, quiet life and making things by hand. When they aren’t following the developers around with a camera at the Milk Street office, they may be found at home shaping loaves of sourdough, caring for dozens of houseplants and, occasionally, out in the wild at a punk rock show.