Recipe - Chocolate Babka (Peggy Cullen)

One half Recipe danish dough (1
pound)

STREUSEL
3 tablespoon Flour
3 tablespoon Sugar
1 tablespoon Melted butter
(approximately)

FILLING
3 ounce Grated or finely chopped
semisweet chocolate
One fourth cup Sugar
One fourth teaspoon Cinnamon
One half cup Streusel (approx)
2 tablespoon Melted butter; approximately

Make streusel: In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and sugar. Drizzle
in the melted butter and mix with your fingertips until the mixture lumps
into unevenly sized crumbs. Refrigerate until ready to use. Combine the
chocolate, sugar and cinnamon. Brush a 8 x 4 x 2 1/2inch pan, or 5 cup
loaf pan with melted butter. Roll the dough into a rectangle measuring 9 x
22 inches and brush off any excess flour. Brush the dough generously with
the melted butter, leaving a 1/2inch along the top edge of the dough.
Sprinkle the chocolate mixture evenly over the dough, leaving the top 1/2
inch border free. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the mixture. Sprinkle the
streusel over the chocolate, reserving about 3 tablespoons. Brush the
1/2inch border along the top lightly with water. Beginning at the bottom
edge, roll the dough into a log and pinch along the seam to seal it well.
Moisten the ends of the log with water and bring them together to form a
ring. Pinch the ends to seal. Gently twist the circle of dough twice into a
double figure 8 and place in the prepared loaf pan, keeping the joint and
seam down. Brush the top with melted butter. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cover the pan with a towel and set in a warm draftfree place to proof for
about 1 One fourth hour, or until a finger gently pressed into the dough leaves an
indentation. It will not quite double, but will increase more than half
again in size when fully proofed. Brush the top with more melted butter and
sprinkle with the reserved chocolate/sugar and streusel. Bake 45 to 50
minutes, or until the dough in the crevices appears baked. If the top
browns too quickly, cover loosely with foil. Cool on a rack, in the pan,
for 15 minutes. Slip a knife around the edge to loosen it and turn out onto
the rack. Cool before slicing. Yield: 1 One fourth pound loaf
Recipe By : BAKERS' DOZEN (PEGGY CULLEN) SHOW #BD1A39

Posted to MCRecipe Digest V1 #311

Date: Sat, 23 Nov 1996 22:43:51 0600

From: Jackie Bordelon jbord@premier.net