Babka

Eastern European sweet yeast viennoiserie cake or bread

This article is about the Jewish bread. For the Easter bread, see Easter bread. For other uses, see Babka (disambiguation).

Babka

Chocolate babka

Alternative names| Ugat Shmarim
Type| Cake
Place of origin| Jewish communities of Poland and western Ukraine[1][2][3][4]
Region or state| Israel, Jewish Diaspora
Variations| Chocolate babka, cinnamon babka, apple babka, sweet cheese babka, cinnamon raisin babka

*   Media: Babka

A babka, or an Ugat Shmarim (Hebrew: עוגת שמרים) is a sweet braided bread or cake or viennoiserie[citation needed] that originated in the Jewish communities of Poland and Ukraine.[5][6][7][8] It is popular in Israel where it is known as a yeast cake.[9] It is also popular in the Jewish diaspora. It is prepared with a yeast-leavened dough that is rolled out and spread with a filling such as chocolate, cinnamon, fruit, or cheese, then rolled up and braided before baking.

## History

[edit]

Interior of a chocolate babka

Babka developed in Poland and next in the Jewish communities of Central and Eastern Europe in the early 19th century.[citation needed] Extra challah dough was rolled up with fruit jam or cinnamon and baked as a loaf alongside the challah.[3] Chocolate was not originally used, as it was not generally available; the chocolate babka was likely a mid-20th century American development.[10] Its name (though not necessarily the dish itself) may be related to a type of Easter cake popular in Poland and Ukraine known as baba or the diminutive babka, which means "grandmother", related to the Yiddish bubbe.[3]

Although the Polish and Ukrainian babka are mutually synonymous with their Jewish counterparts, the appearance and preparation of each babka is drastically different. The Eastern European babka is known for its tall, stout, fluted sides formed in a traditional pan, and reminiscent of a grandma's skirt. In comparison, the variant introduced by émigrés to New York consists of strands of rich yeasted dough interwoven and baked in a loaf tin.[7][8]

The Jewish babka was mostly unheard of outside the Polish Jewish community until the latter part of the 20th century. European-style bakeries started to offer it in the late 1950s in Israel and the U.S. In addition to chocolate, various fillings including poppy seeds, almond paste, cheese, and others became popular, and some bakers began to top it with streusel.[3]

By the 1970s, babka was a widely popular Ashkenazi Jewish delicacy in greater New York City. Ashkenazi New York babka is typically more bread-loaf shaped and is different from Israeli babka, which tends to be flatter and rectangular. While likely every Jewish bakery in that period had a babka on offer, Green's became widely distributed at Kosher markets around the area and to other Jewish American communities till the 2000s, and the popularity of babka has continued to increase across the United States.[citation needed]

## Preparation

[edit]

A chocolate babka made with a dough similar to challah, and topped with streusel

It consists of either an enriched or laminated dough, a Viennoiserie; which is similar to those used for challah, and croissants respectively, that has been rolled out and spread with a variety of sweet fillings such as chocolate, cinnamon sugar, apples, sweet cheese, Nutella, mohn, or raisins, which is then braided either as an open or closed plait and topped with a sugar syrup to preserve freshness and make the bread moister.[11] It is sometimes topped with a streusel topping.

## Variations

[edit]

### Israeli style

[edit]

Israeli style babka (עוגת שמרים) is made with a laminated dough, enriched with butter, which is then folded and rolled multiple times to create many distinct layers, similar to that used for Israeli style rugelach, and also croissant dough. Israeli-style babka is available with a wider array of fillings and shapes. It is usually shaped into a loaf pan, but it is also sometimes made into individual babkas, a pie-shaped babka, formed into a ring shape, braided and baked free form, or formed into individual twists similar to a cheese straw. The most popular fillings are chocolate, which is commonly made with Hashachar Ha'ole (an Israeli chocolate spread), mohn (a sweetened poppy seed paste filling), and sweet cheese typically made with gvina levana. They are rarely topped with a streusel topping. It is typically sweet; however, savory versions are also popular in Israel, often containing labneh and za'atar.[12] It is also often baked as "roses", individual pastries shaped to resemble a rose. They may also be made with a closed plait versus the more common open plait.[13]

## In popular culture

[edit]

The Seinfeld episode "The Dinner Party" references both chocolate and cinnamon babka extensively, with the character Elaine Benes expressing dismay over the latter's status as "the lesser babka," to which Jerry Seinfeld exclaims "Cinnamon takes a backseat to no babka!" and "Lesser babka? I think not!" [14][15].

Social media influencer and food blogger Chris Caresnone (born Chris Campbell), known as the 'babka king', commented: “It’s a delicious pastry. Even a bad pastry is good. But it’s more than that, it’s beautiful. It’s flowy and braided. When you cut it you see all these layers".[16]

Baker Shimi Aaron was called "the future babka king” by Bill Addison of The Los Angeles Times in 2020.[17][18] Aaron's innovations included adding orange peel and rose petals, and bringing his Egyptian, Iraqi and Yemeni heritage to his recipes for savory babkas.[18]

## See also

[edit]

* Food portal

* Bourekas
* Brioche
* Coffee cake
* Lekach – Jewish honey cake
* List of desserts
* Potato babka
* Rum baba
* Tsoureki

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Ana De Sa Martins's ePortfolio » The History of Babka".
2. ^ "Eating Jewish: Babka". Jewish Women's Archive.
3. ^ a b c d Marks, Gil (17 November 2010). Encyclopedia of Jewish Food. HMH. ISBN 978-0-544-18631-6 – via Google Books.
4. ^ Weinzweig, Ari (April 30, 2009). "Babka, Trans-Atlantic Jewish Delight". The Atlantic.
5. ^ "Ana De Sa Martins's ePortfolio » The History of Babka". Retrieved 2020-09-26.
6. ^ Romanow, Katherine (October 28, 2010). "Eating Jewish: Babka". Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved 2020-09-26.
7. ^ a b Marks, Gil (2010-11-17). Encyclopedia of Jewish Food. HMH. ISBN 978-0-544-18631-6.
8. ^ a b Weinzweig, Ari (2009-04-30). "Babka, Trans-Atlantic Jewish Delight". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2020-09-26.
9. ^ Sheff, Sharon Gomperts and Rachel Emquies (2024-10-22). "A Babka By Any Other Name". Jewish Journal. Retrieved 2025-02-16.
10. ^ Weinzweig, Ari (30 April 2009). "Babka, Trans-Atlantic Jewish Delight". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2020-05-12.
11. ^ Breads Bakery (November 6, 2019). "Perfect Chocolate Babka Recipe". VICE. Retrieved December 5, 2021.
12. ^ Scheft, Uri. Breaking Breads. Artisan.
13. ^ Srulovich, Itamar. The Honey & Co. Baking Book.
14. ^ "Seinfeld Scripts - The Dinner Party".
15. ^ Williams, Annabelle (15 February 2022). "Kathryn Kates, Actress of 'Seinfeld' Babka Fame, Dies at 73 (Published 2022)". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 April 2025.
16. ^ Prince, Cathryn J.; Magid, Jacob; Sharon, Jeremy; Sokol, Sam (2025-01-24). "The 'Babka King' is bridging cultural gaps on Instagram". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 2025-04-22.
17. ^ Addison, Bill (2020-09-05). "Meet the future babka king of Los Angeles". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2025-04-22.
18. ^ a b Eckerling, Debra L. (2023-02-02). "Shimi Aaron Is the King of Babka". Jewish Journal. Retrieved 2025-04-22.

## External links

[edit]

Look up babka in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

* Video of the preparation of chocolate babka
* Breaking the babka code with Chris Caresnone on New York Live TV

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