babchallah (babka + challah)

Today’s the day we brought home our new puppy—Pinot (named for my other gastronomic pursuit)—so what better way to celebrate his arrival, and thank our amazing breeder, than by making a celebratory and beautiful dessert from Claire Saffitz’ “Dessert Person” cookbook?! The first yeasted bread I ever made was challah, the famous Sabbath loaf enjoyed by many Jewish (and non-Jewish!) families. I remember my best friend from childhood bringing over his mother’s challah recipe, and our making it in the kitchen, swimming in the aroma of fresh, baking bread. One year for Christmas, we even tinted the strands of the dough red and green, so when we braided it, it was a nice Christmas combination of doughs!

Years later, I would learn of babka, another delightful Jewish dessert. I started with Smitten Kitchen’s recipe, which is phenomenal. The one trouble I had with it was knowing when it was baked. After under-baking it once, I got in the habit of baking the hell out of it. The problem is that a skewer never comes out clean, with as much chocolate as is rolled up into the dough. So I often vacillated between under- and over-baked, and eventually I stopped making it.

Enter the delightful Claire Saffitz, whose recipe I made for the first time last night. Maybe because the loaf is smaller (I divided one recipe, originally meant to be braided from thirds of the dough, into two loaves of two quarters each) or maybe because it’s baked on a sheet pan and not in a loaf pan, but this one turned out terrifically! So it’s a great, celebratory loaf that’s quite easy to make and can be whipped up in a few hours’ time. Welcome home, Pinot!