Sourdough Babka with Chocolate Filling
This sourdough Babka is a rich sweet bread made with brioche dough and filled with a double chocolate filling, then braided, topped with heavy cream, and baked to perfection.
The perfect recipe for breakfast, brunch, snacks, or dessert. Sourdough babka is the ultimate Christmas morning breakfast or any other special occasion.
Related: Sourdough monkey bread
Related: Sourdough Discard Banana Bread
This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure here.
What is Sourdough Babka
Sourdough babka is an enriched brioche dough made using a sourdough starter. Babka is stuffed with either sweet or savory ingredients, then sliced in half and braided so the filling gets incorporated into every bite.
Equipment You’ll Need
- Sourdough Starter – My favorite kitchen “tool” is my active sourdough starter! Learn how to make a sourdough starter in 7 days right here.
- Stand Mixer – This isn’t necessary but makes the process so nice! Double the kneading time if using your hands. Find a stand mixer here.
- Large Non-Reactive Bowl – I like using glass or ceramic for sourdough foods so the metal doesn’t kill off my yeast.
- Water Filter – Super important to use filtered water for sourdough so the contaminants in tap water don’t kill off your yeast. We use a Berkey water filter and LOVE it! Get a discount using my link.
- Loaf pans
- Rolling pin
How to Make Sourdough Babka with Chocolate Filling
This delicious sweet, brioche bread filled with chocolate filling will have your family running back for more! It’s amazingly addicting with its soft and buttery dough and chocolatey filling.
Babka Dough Ingredients and substitutions
- All-purpose flour – I tested this recipe using all-purpose flour, any other type of flour may need to be adjusted.
- Coconut sugar – Cane sugar can be substituted using a 1:1 ratio. Coconut sugar provides a rich depth of flavor that I love.
- Sea salt – Sea salt has great minerals. Don’t use table salt for this.
- Sourdough starter – Your sourdough starter will need to be nice and active for this recipe. Enriched doughs need a very active starter.
- Eggs
- Milk – Any milk or milk substitute will do, but I always like to use full-fat for best results.
- Vanilla extract – You can also use a vanilla bean paste.
- Butter – Since the dough is a brioche-style dough, you’ll be using lots of butter! Make sure it’s softened.
Chocolate filling:
- Butter – I always use grass-fed butter for it’s tremendous health benefits.
- Honey – This is the sweetener for the filling and makes it absolutely delicious!
- Unsweetened cocoa powder – Quality ingredients matter!
- Dark chocolate chips – I like using dark chocolate chips to give the babka a richer flavor, but you can use any type you like.
For the topping:
- Heavy whipping cream – my secret ingredient to the best sourdough babka on the planet. No other sourdough babka recipe does this and trust me, it won’t disappoint.
Step by Step Instructions (with photos)
- Make the dough in the stand mixer.
- Add butter 1 tbs at a time.
- Rest for 15 minutes, then add salt, then knead until dough passes the windowpane test.
- Bulk rise – let the dough rest for 6-8 hours.
- Place in the fridge until you’re ready to bake (or if you have time in one day continue to the next step).
- Remove dough from fridge, let come to room temp, then make the chocolate filling.
- On a floured surface, divide the dough in half then roll one dough half into a rectangle about 9 x 12 inches.
- Spread half the filling leaving about an inch of space on the perimeter of the rectangle.
- Roll up the long side of the dough tightly into a log.
- Pinch the ends and seem of the babka log so it creates a smooth log.
- If you have time, place log into the freezer for 15 minutes.
- Using a sharp, greased, knife, cut the log in half, lengthwise down the center.
- Braid the two halves together, by alternating each half over each other, then pinch the ends together.
- Place in one of the prepared pans. Repeat with the second dough.
- Pour 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream over each babka and allow to rise covered in a warm spot for about 1-4 hours until puffy.
- Bake the sourdough babka at 350F for about 40-45 minutes.
- When finished baking, let them cool in the pan for about 20 minutes then serve.
How to Store Sourdough Babka
As with any homemade bread recipe, sourdough babka is best enjoyed on day one of baking, however, it can be stored for later.
Room temperature
Store your sourdough babka in an air-tight container at room temp for 2-3 days.
Freezing instructions
Freeze either the sourdough babka dough or baked loaves.
To freeze the dough, do so after the bulk ferment, or even after stuffing and rolling (but before cutting). Remove from the freezer and allow to come to room temp before moving to the next step in the instructions.
To freeze the baked loaves, simply let them cool completely, then wrap them tightly in plastic wrap, then in an airtight bag or container, and freeze for up to 3 months. Remove from the freezer, defrost, then heat in the oven or microwave until warmed through.
In a Pinch Ideas
- Purchase a premade chocolate sauce (or dulce de leche would be amazing too) and use that as the filling.
- Follow the freezing instructions above so you already have most of the babka made and you can either just bake, or defrost and serve.
Sourdough Babka Tips
- Freeze before cutting – Freezing the babka right after filling and rolling for 15 minutes is very helpful. This will give you a cleaner and more beautiful cut, resulting in a more beautiful babka loaf.
- Grease or flour your knife before cutting the babka dough – This is key to making sure your knife doesn’t tear apart your dough giving you a sloppy babka.
- Wait 15 minutes before adding salt to the dough – All my sourdough recipes call for this annoying, yet crucial step. It becomes all the more crucial for enriched doughs as they tend to need more help fermenting and rising. Waiting to add the salt ensures the starter has time to activate in the dough before the salt starts killing off the yeast.
How to Make Sourdough Babka Healthier
- Use quality ingredients – namely, the milk, eggs, butter, and flour are of utmost importance for digestibility and our bodies’ mineral absorption.
- Filling – fillings and toppings are usually where things can get “unhealthy” really quickly.
Sourdough Babka Baker’s Timeline
I give two timeline options here, the two-day timeline is my preferred option since the one-day timeline tends to not use the starter at it’s peak and also doesn’t give you babka in the morning, but at night.
One-day timeline (feed starter night before)
6am – make dough (using starter that was fed right before you went to bed the night before)
6:30am – begin bulk rise
12:30pm – make filling/shape dough
1pm – Proof
4pm – bake babka loaves
5pm – serve
Two-day timeline
6am – feed starter
10am – make dough
10:30am – begin bulk rise
4:30pm – place dough in fridge until the morning
6am (day 2) – remove dough from fridge and let come to room temp
7am – make filling/shape dough
7:30am – Proof
9am – bake babka loaves
10am – serve
Serving Suggestions
- Babka and coffee
- Brunch
- Babka french toast
- Dessert
- Mothers day brunch
- Christmas morning breakfast
- Easter morning breakfast
Sourdough babka types
Sweet
- Chocolate
- Nutella
- Dulce de leche
- Caramel apple
- Berries and cream
- Chocolate and fruit (banana, berries, etc.)
- White chocolate
- Blueberry lemon
- Caramel pecan
- Streusal top
- Rum raisin
Savory
- Pizza babka
- Herb and oil
- Pesto and tomato
- Cheesy
- Everything bagel
- Spinach tomato basil
Shop This Post
(These affiliate links help to support this blog at no extra cost to you. Your support means the world to me!)
- Berkey water filter (we use the Royal because we drink an insane amount of water!)
- Thrive Market – 25% off & free gift! (where I get a ton of my ingredients)
- Azure Standard: $25 off your order. Code kyrieluke1
- Stand mixer
More Sweet Sourdough Recipes
Pumpkin Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls
Cardamom Sourdough Bread with Amaretto Soaked Raisins
Sourdough Babka FAQ
Babka is a sweet bread, brioche style dough which is stuffed with either a sweet or savory filling, then braided and baked so the filling is incorporated throughout the dough.
Babka means grandmother in Polish.
Babka dough is an enriched dough and is very similar, if not the same as most brioche recipes.
Rum raisin is the traditional babka filling.
Pin it For Later – Sourdough Babka
Related: Long-Fermented Sandwich Bread
Print the Sourdough Babka Recipe
Sourdough Babka with Chocolate Filling
Ingredients
Method
- Combine flour and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment.
- Once combined, add the sourdough starter, eggs, milk, and vanilla using the dough hook. Mix on low speed until the mixture comes together. Continue on low speed, and add the butter 1 tbs at a time, until incorporated. Let the dough rest for 15 minutes.
- After 15 minutes, add your salt then continue kneading on low-medium speed for another 15 minutes until the dough passes the windowpane test.
- For the bulk rise, place the dough in a greased bowl covered with a damp towel or beeswax wrap for about 6-8 hours at room temperature.
- After the bulk rise, if you have time in the day you can bake the babka, or you can place the dough in the fridge until the morning.
- If you placed the babka in the fridge overnight, remove about 2-4 hours before you want to bake so it can come back to room temperature.
- Grease 2 loaf pans and make the filling by combining the softened butter, honey, cocoa powder, and chocolate chips.
- On a floured surface, divide the dough in half then roll one dough half into a rectangle about 9 x 12 inches and spread half the filling leaving about an inch of space on the perimeter of the rectangle.
- Roll up the long side of the dough tightly into a log. Pinch the ends and seem of the babka log so it creates a smooth log.
- If you're pinched for time continue to the next step, if not, place the log into the freezer for 15 minutes.
- Then using a sharp, greased knife, cut the log in half, lengthwise down the center. Braid the two halves together, by alternating each half over each other, then pinch the ends together. Place in one of the prepared pans.
- Repeat with the second dough.
- Pour 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream over each babka and allow to rise covered in a warm spot for about 1-4 hours until puffy.
- During the last 10 minutes of rising, preheat the oven to 350ºF.
- Bake the sourdough babka in the oven for about 40-45 minutes. When finished baking, let them cool in the pan for about 20 minutes then serve.
Video
Notes
How to Store Sourdough Babka
As with any homemade bread recipe, sourdough babka is best enjoyed on day one of baking, however it can be stored for later.Room temperature
Store your sourdough babka in an air-tight container at room temp for 2-3 days.Freezing instructions
Freeze either the sourdough babka dough, or baked loaves. To freeze the dough, do so after the bulk ferment, or even after stuffing and rolling (but before cutting). Remove from the freezer and allow to come to room temp before moving to the next step in the instructions. To freeze the baked loaves, simply let them cool completely, then wrap tightly in plastic wrap, then in an airtight bag or container and freeze for up to 3 months. Remove from the freezer, defrost, then heat in the oven or microwave until warmed through.In a Pinch Ideas
- Purchase a premade chocolate sauce (or dulce de leche would be amazing too) and use that as the filling.
- Follow the freezing instructions above so you already have most of the babka made and you can either just bake, or defrost and serve.
Sourdough Babka Tips
- Freeze before cutting – Freezing the babka right after filling and rolling for 15 minutes is very helpful. This will give you a cleaner and more beautiful cut, resulting in a more beautiful babka loaf.
- Grease or flour your knife before cutting the babka dough – This is key to making sure your knife doesn’t tear apart your dough giving you a sloppy babka.
- Wait 15 minutes before adding salt to the dough – All my sourdough recipes call for this annoying, yet crucial step. It becomes all the more crucial for enriched doughs as they tend to need more help fermenting and rising. Waiting to add the salt ensures the starter has time to activate in the dough before the salt starts killing off the yeast.
About Me
Thanks for trying out my sourdough babka recipe! Let me know what you think in the comments below.
Hi Kyrie,
I’m surprised to be the first reviewer!
I made this recipe yesterday/today and it is fantastic. The recipe produces 2 loaves, so I made 1 chocolate, and 1 cinnamon pecan. Both delicious and a fun idea for a sweet sourdough treat. Thanks a lot <3
Oh cinnamon pecan sounds DELISH! Thanks so much for the review 🙂