To start, it’s a dense bread that’s swirled with chocolate or cinnamon and often topped with nuggets of cinnamon-sugar streusel. Until recently, it could only be found in Jewish or Eastern European bakeries and the occasional grocery store. Now, though, we’re seeing babka (and creative adaptations of it!) in cafes, bakeries, and food blogs everywhere. Even Trader Joe’s sells babka!
Perhaps what makes babka so irresistible is the contrast between the slightly-dry layers of bread and the sticky, delicious swirls of chocolate spread. Because it manages to be both light and dense at once, it’s difficult to stop at just one slice! And while it’s perfect alongside coffee, it’s by no means limited to morning consumption and can be all-too-easily noshed on as an afternoon snack or dessert.
Babka’s history is as rich and interwoven as the swirls in its dough. Ari Weinzweig’s illuminating history of babka reveals that babka, which means “little grandmother” in Ukranian, Russian, and Eastern European Yiddish, has always been popular where those languages are spoken.
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