Poppy Seed Babka
Poppyseed Babka Recipe is like a cake and a sweet bread in one. Soft sweet yeast dough with cream cheese and poppy seed filling twisted into a decadent wreath.
Ingredients
Dough:
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter
- ½ tsp table salt
- 2 large eggs
- 2 ½ tsp active dry yeast
- 3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour, measured then sifted
Filling:
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 12.5 oz canned poppy seed
- powdered sugar, for dusting, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven at to 365°F at step 10.
- Cover a large baking sheet with parchment paper, lightly spray with baking spray. Set aside.
- In a small saucepan, add butter, salt, sugar and milk, heat until very warm but not hot (no warmer than 100 degrees).
- Remove from heat and add whisked eggs and yeast, stir to combine. Cover saucepan and allow yeast to activate, about 5 minutes.
- Add flour to saucepan and mix to combine. Transfer dough to a large greased mixing bowl and cover (if the saucepan used was large, keep dough in there).
- Allow the dough to rise 1 1/2 hours or until doubled in size.
- Combine cream cheese and sugar.
- Dust surface with flour and roll out the dough to a rectangle, about 13" x 20" in size. The dough will be slightly sticky, keep surface and top of dough floured.
- Spread poppy seed filling over the dough. Spread cream cheese mixture over poppy seed.
- Roll up dough into a log, bring log together to create a wreath and bring together ends of log and secure seems.
- Pull out on the wreath to stretch the dough.
- With kitchen shears, cut slits in the dough about ½” - ¾” apart.
- Shape cut slits into a wreath (see pictures and video) and brush with egg wash. As you are shaping the wreath pull dough away.
- Rise for 1/2 hour.
- Bake until top of babka is golden, about 18-22 minutes.
- Once cooled, dust with powdered sugar, optional.