Coconut Pandan Babka #BreadBakers

Babkas are great dessert breads in my opinion!  They are fairly easy, just roll out, spread filling, roll up, cut down the middles, criss cross, and ready to rise and bake.  They look a lot more difficult and impressive than they actually are to make.  Just a "cinnamon roll" with a fancy shape.

This loaf has a coconut pandan filling.  I quite like pandan, it smells very much like a floral vanilla to me, with hints of alfalfa.  Being a farm girl, anything vegetal tends to remind me of alfalfa.  I always liked green tea ice cream although I am actually ambivalent about green tea, it really, really depends on the brand, strength/length of steep, and temperature of the water.  (Green tea steeped too hot is not good, and I usually like a 30-45 second steep as opposed to the typical 1-3 minutes [Japanese tea].)  Anyway, I have made pandan sticky rice with dried pandan and it was lovely.  It's also a popular flavor in milk and bubble teas and many Asian desserts.  I should see if I can't find frozen fresh pandan at the local H-mart.

Pandan flavoring, such as that used in this recipe, is typically going to have mostly the sweet, vanilla, bakery notes and should be pretty universally appealing!  We certainly found this loaf delicious, both fresh and toasted, with butter.  (Even after I over-baked it a wee bit because I had to run to pick up a child from the bus station and cross my fingers with the oven door propped open and turned off to finish baking in the middle!)  It's a large loaf and I recommend the larger bread pan.  Your kitchen will smell amazing.

Coconut Pandan Babka
makes 1 loaf 

300g bread flour
200g all purpose flour
2 tsp instant yeast
3 tbsp granulated sugar
215ml milk
2 eggs
¾ tsp sea salt
40g butter, softened, in pieces

optional egg yolk + 1 tbsp water to brush on the loaf before baking

Combine flours, yeast, sugar, and salt in a stand mixer.  Add in milk and egg and mix until a sticky dough forms.  

Add in the butter, one piece at a time, and knead until smooth.  Cover and let rest for an hour or until doubled in size.

Turn out the dough and knead briefly until smooth.  Place in a bowl or container and chill in the refrigerator for 30-60 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the filling and cover until ready to assemble. 

Coconut filling:
70g butter, softened
120g powdered sugar
110g dried shredded coconut (I only had shaved this time so I whizzed it in a blender until shredded)
50g milk powder
1 egg
½ tsp pandan flavoring (it smells like a bakery!)

In a large bowl, combine coconut, milk powder, and powdered sugar and mix well.

Stir in butter, egg and beat till well combined, then blend in the pandan flavoring.

Cover until ready to assemble.

Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and roll out into a rectangle about 11x18" inches. 

Spoon dots of the filling evenly over the dough and spread (as thinly as possible) with an offset spatula or knife, leaving a ½-in border. Roll the dough up tightly from one of the long edges, as for cinnamon rolls.

 Use a sharp knife to cut the sausage in half lengthwise, turning the cut side of the filling facing up. "Twist" the two halves together into a braid.  (Keeping the cut sides up, lift and cross the two pieces repeatedly over each other from the middle to the ends.  There is no real twisting motion although that is the common language used for this shape.)

 Line a 9x5 inch or a tall, 8½ inch (2lb) loaf tin with baking parchment.  Place the babka in the loaf tin, squishing it to fit if necessary.  Loosely cover the tin and set aside to rise until doubled in size, about an hour.  Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Once the loaf has risen, brush with egg wash if desired and bake in the preheated oven for 40-50 minutes.  Place the tin on a small sheet pan in case the filling bubbles over.  The loaf should reach 190ºF in the center when tested with a probe thermometer when it is fully baked.  Cover the loaf with foil halfway through to prevent over-browning.

Let the loaf cool for 10 minutes in the pan.  Then carefully lift out with the parchment, to finish cooling on a rack before slicing. 

Little dark but not too bad, considering the chauffeur run!

Be sure to check out the rest of our dessert bread bakes:

• Coconut Pandan Babka: A Messy Kitchen
• Eggless Oats Litchi Loaf: Sneha's Recipe
• Eggnog Babka Knots: Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Gingerbread: Palatable Pastime
• Sourdough Sweet Potato Loaf:  Zesty South Indian Kitchen 
• Sourdough Zucchini Bread: A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Sweet Cranberry Soda Bread: Food Lust People Love

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our lovely bread by following our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated after each event on the #BreadBakers home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.