Babka

Name: Babka
Total time: 3 h
Yield: 8 servings
Cuisine: Jewish
Ingredients: Plain flour; Vegetable oil; 1 medium egg; Caster sugar; Semi-skimmed milk; Water; Fresh yeast; Salt; Quark; Cocoa powder; Sugar for filling; Water for glaze; Sugar for glaze

290 kcal a serving, against 531 for the traditional version. That is 241 kcal off, or 45%, with 9.8g of protein. Serves 8. 3 hours, including rising.

What the traditional version is

The classic babka is a luxurious brioche-style dough, enriched with butter, whole eggs and plenty of sugar.

What changed, and what each change costs

Butter in the dough out for a tiny dash of oil, and eggs down from two to one

The wild richness in babka comes from all the butter and eggs. Swapping for oil and dropping an egg pulls the fat way down, tips the protein higher and keeps you from feeling like you need a lie down after a slice.

What it costs you. This is the first and worst hit - the bread loses its soft brioche texture. It's springy, but don't expect that billowy pull-apart crumb. If someone hands you a slice and you don't see a greasy napkin, it's probably mine.

Dark chocolate and extra butter in the filling for a cocoa and quark paste

Dark chocolate, plus more butter, is where all the dense filling comes from. I ditch the melting chocolate and mix cocoa powder with quark, a soft fresh cheese, and a bit of sugar to make a fudgey swirl with barely any fat.

What it costs you. It's fudgy, not silky. There's still a swirl, but it's not that deep, glossy vein of chocolate. If you miss that, you aren't wrong.

Syrup-brushing after baking for a very brisk paint with water and a bit of sugar

The gloss on top is pure syrup in the original. Here, a quick splash of sweetened water gives a bit of shine and keeps the crust from getting hard as a board.

What it costs you. Less sticky, less shine, fewer sticky fingerprints on your plate.

Plain flour unchanged and yeast unchanged

There's no point mucking about with the flour or yeast. You need that gluten for any hope of structure.

What it costs you. At least one thing survived.

Milk goes half-and-half with water

Milk gives tenderness and a faint richness. Dropping half the milk for water saves a bit on fat and sugar, and doesn't kill the dough.

What it costs you. Slightly less tender crumb, but if it bothers you, double the tea.

What goes in it

The ingredients, without the quantities. The weights are what the figures below are computed from, and they are in the book.

Plain flour
Vegetable oil
1 medium egg
Caster sugar
Semi-skimmed milk
Water
Fresh yeast
Salt
Quark
Cocoa powder
Sugar for filling
Water for glaze
Sugar for glaze

How it starts

Whisk the yeast into the lukewarm milk and water with a spoonful of the sugar.
Tip the flour, the rest of the sugar and salt into a large bowl.
Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel and leave it somewhere warm for at least 1 hour, or till it's doubled in size.

The rest of the method, and every weight, is in Authentic-ish Jewish.

The numbers

Per serving	Traditional	Lightened
Calories	531	290
Protein	8.4g	9.8g
Fat	24.3g	4.3g
Saturated fat	14.3g	1g
Carbohydrate	70.1g	54.3g
Protein per 100 kcal	1.6g	3.4g

Every figure is computed from the recipe's own weighed ingredient list against public food composition databases. The appendix in Authentic-ish Jewish prints the exact database row used for each ingredient, so any number here can be checked. How every number is computed sets out the method.

Allergens. gluten, eggs, milk.

The method is in the book

If you want the original, you need butter, eggs and a bar of decent chocolate. There's no real way to fake that rich, soft crumb or the thick, glossy filling. This one is lean, a bit pious, and makes a better breakfast than dessert. Serve it with tea and good company. If you get complaints, remind people there's always toast.

The quantities and the method for this dish are in Authentic-ish Jewish, along with 51 more. Buy the paperback