gingerbread babka with a brown butter glaze

sticky, glossy, and unapologetically gingery

i’ve always been a ginger person — the flavour, not the hair — and my family has fully leaned into it

they send me care packages absolutely packed with it. glace, candied, crystallised, ginger biscuits, ginger marmalade, ginger cordial, ginger bears, ginger beer, ginger shots, i love it all

the first thing i ever baked (in year 9 home economics, hi mrs mcdermott!) was ginger slice and still have the crumpled, stained printout

this recipe is a riff on my danish dream babka, swapping the coconut filling for diced crystalised ginger, spicing the dough, and covering it all in an addictive brown butter glaze

it’s a perfect lead in to the christmas season

yields one loaf

ingredients

bun dough

125mL milk

20g dark brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla paste

4g instant yeast

230g plain flour

2g salt

3 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cinnamon

few cracks black pepper

1 egg

30g butter, melted and cooled

ginger filling

60g dark brown sugar

50g butter, softened

4 tsp ginger dried

50g crystalised ginger, finely chopped

brown butter glaze

30g butter

30g icing sugar

1 tsp milk

pinch of salt

method

bun dough

add to the milk (125mL), brown sugar (20g), and vanilla paste (1) to a small jug and microwave until just warm and the sugar has dissolved

add the flour (230g), yeast (4g), salt (2g), and baking powder (0.5 tsp) to a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer

mix in the egg (1)

mix to form a rough, shaggy dough

pour in the cooled, browned butter (30g)

knead until the dough is soft, supple, and passes the windowpane test (this will take about 10-15 minutes with a stand mixer, longer by hand!)

cover and let rise in a warm place for 60-75 minutes

meanwhile, prepare the ginger filling (below)

tip the proofed dough out onto the work surface and pat down lightly into a rectangle about 1cm thick and about 2:1 aspect ratio

spread the ginger filling evenly across the dough

roll into a log

if the dough is too floppy and difficult to handle you can transfer it to the fridge for 5-10 minutes to solidify

cut the dough in half down the long axis, leaving about 3cm at one end uncut

twist the cut halves so they face upwards, and twist around each other to make a spiral

confused? this is a good photo showing the steps (except I keep one end whole to make it easier to handle)

tuck the ends under the spiral and gently place the babka in the prepared loaf tin

cover lightly and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes

towards the end of the proofing period, preheat oven to 180°C

transfer the buns to the oven and bake for 25 minutes

meanwhile, prepare the brown sugar glaze (below)

brush the babka with the warm glaze as soon as it comes out of the oven

ginger filling

beat together the brown sugar (60g), butter (50g), and ground ginger (4 tsp)

fold in the chopped ginger pieces (50g)

set aside until needed

brown butter glaze

add the butter (30g) to a saucepan and cook over medium-high heat until the milk solids have just browned and stopped sizzling

remove from the heat and stir in the icing sugar (30g) and milk (1 tsp)

fold together to form a smooth, glossy glaze

add a pinch of salt, to taste