Cinnamon Bun Babka -- Tyler Florence Fridays

This week for Tyler Florence Fridays I decided to try Tyler's Cinnamon Bun Babka, doesn't that just sound delicious? After making Tyler's Cranberry Baba Cakes last week I was excited to try another yeasted sweet bread with a little different 'twist'...

Cinnamon Bun Babka -- Tyler Florence

1 package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) melted margarine or butter, cooled, plus more for brushing
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Filling:
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup melted margarine or butter, cooled

Glaze:
1/4 cup water
2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 orange, zest finely grated
1 large egg white

To prepare the dough: In the bowl of a standing electric mixer fitted with a dough hook, dissolve the yeast in 1/4 cup of the warm water. Sprinkle in 1/4 teaspoon of the sugar and let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes.

Turn the mixer on low speed and add the remaining water, sugar, melted margarine, eggs, and salt. Add 2 cups of the flour and turn the speed up to medium; continue to mix until incorporated. Gradually add the remaining flour, and continue to mix until the dough holds together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl; the dough will be very soft.

Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface, until smooth and elastic. Rub the inside of a mixing bowl with the oil and put the dough in it, turning to coat. Cover with a towel or plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature for about 1 1/2 hours, until doubled in size.

To prepare the filling: Combine the brown sugar and cinnamon in a mixing bowl. Add the orange zest, raisins, walnuts, and melted margarine. Fold the ingredients together to combine.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface into a large rectangle, about 10 by 18-inches.

Brush the surface of the dough with melted margarine and spread the filling evenly across.

Roll the dough up, jelly roll-style, into a long cylinder, and twist it a few times like your wringing out a towel. --This is the part I couldn't do because of too much filling -- Put the dough on the sheet pan and coil it around like a pinwheel, tuck the loose end of the dough under so it doesn't unravel. Brush the top of the dough with more melted margarine.

Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour until your kitchen smells like cinnamon, and the babka is golden brown. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, and then transfer to a wire rack.

To prepare the orange glaze: Mix the all the ingredients together in a bowl, until the sugar dissolves. Whisk the glaze to smooth out any lumps; drizzle it over the top of the babka while it is still warm.

~~~~~~~~~

Results & Changes: I made a few changes to this recipe and am actually sorry about that, please forgive me Tyler! If you check out the recipe at foodnetwork you will see it is a 5 star recipe, which is spot on -- if you follow directions. But after reading the reviews on foodnetwork I noticed lots of people said that you need to double the filling for it to be more like a true babka. That is where it all went down hill. Sure I thought, why not double the filling, these reviewers must be on to something...WRONG! Doubling the filling was a bad idea. I guess you could get away with it if you did not roll the dough as thin, but really, the filling amount written in the recipe is perfect.

This ultra soft amazing babka dough just could not handle all that filling. Not to mention all the pretty twists and turns this babka is supposed to have but mine doesn't. There is no possible way to maneuver that dough with that amount of filling with out it breaking. Poor babka dough!

So I tried, and the end result is great, maybe if I didn't mention my problem you might not have even noticed. But I sure did. You know when you set out to make something and you have a picture in your mind about what it will end up like, and if you are into cooking or baking you get excited about your end result, it's not just something slopped together, you really take pride in what you make. Well, this poor babka just doesn't look like I thought it would.

This recipe is going into the make again category and I will follow the directions and not double the filling, lesson learned. Other than my mistake, this was an amazing tasting babka, the dough was soft and flavorful, the filling was simple and delicious.