[I] anticipate my monthly bread adventures the way others look forward to road trips or nights on the town. I enjoy those things, too, but the plotting and planning of a bread-baking day has my mind aswirl and my excitement on the rise, especially when I embark on a recipe that is new. I see these ventures as destinations of their own, particularly when I head to a bread of another land.
So it was with babka. Babka. It’s just fun to say! With spring in hand and in step and Easter on the way, I was looking for a bread reflecting springtime tradition. In Poland and among Polish families, they often serve babka at Easter. This babka, made from a batter bread and baked in a Bundt pan, differs from the Jewish babka, made from a thicker yeast dough rolled up and filled with cinnamon and chocolate (which was hilariously sought out as a party offering by Elaine on “Seinfeld.â€)
“Babka†is the Polish word for “grandmother,†and my impending babka, baked in a fluted ring mold, was meant to represent the ruffles in Grandmother’s skirt. The babka is sweet, enhanced with dried or candied fruits, and often saturated with a syrup made of rum or fruit juice.
I was so excited about Babka and got everything ready for her…eggs and butter out the night before to have them at room temperature, the unearthing of my long-unused Bundt pan, the purchase of my choice of dried fruits — apricots and sour cherries — apple juice and rum flavoring on standby for the skirt-soaking syrup.
Oftentimes, I bake on Sunday morning, so that Saturday night, I fall into a deep yet anticipatory sleep. In the morn, birds awake, me not quite so, I begin the clattering that is my baking process and I am gone, in my zone. And so grateful for these times that are truly mine. And, on this day, babka’s.
Following a recipe is a true act of faith. I trust mostly that all will work out. When I have doubts, I improvise, using my own intuition and experience (such that it is) as a baker. Things rarely “fail,†though I’ve had some less-than-ideal results that have sent me grimly back to the baking board and starting anew.
I’ll admit that I had doubts about this babka, even though King Arthur Flour is usually a no-miss recipe option. For this babka, you put all ingredients in the mixing bowl, rather than proofing the yeast, then adding your butter, sugar, eggs, flour, etc. Having never made babka, what did I know? I pressed forward.
Once the dried fruit (and I added lemon zest) was added to the dough — the consistency of thick pancake batter — it was covered to rest for an hour. Even King Arthur said, don’t expect the batter to do too much. So I didn’t. And it didn’t really raise much at all. So I pressed forward, following babka’s skirt.
After the batter was scooped into the Bundt pan, it again had a covered resting time. It only filled up about halfway in the pan and after raising, was not much higher. It was a concern for me now. Was my yeast ineffective? Had I not mixed all long enough? Should I have let it raise longer the second time? I was tugging at Babka’s skirt and she was not here to reassure me. I pressed forward. Into the oven, Babka went.
My syrup was a bit my own invention. While a rum and sugar syrup are concocted in the recipe, they also suggested apple juice as a substitution. I mixed apple juice and sugar, as well as adding a squeeze of 
lemon juice. When the syrup had boiled a bit, I turned it off and added about 1/2 teaspoon rum flavoring.
Babka baked (and no deeper a skirt than when starting), I poked holes all over the surface with my cake tester. Then the glistening syrup was poured to soak in.
The babka came out of the pan perfectly, but upon seeing the “skirt†I nearly abandoned ship. It just didn’t seem high enough. I was ready to decry “fail†and not even make the glaze. But I thought of trust and faith and future babkas and appearances and then, maybe, what would be the last criteria of failing or not — taste. So I finished my babka with a beautiful glaze of powdered sugar, apple juice and milk, 
drizzling the skirt into a lacy completion.
Cutting into the babka was like slicing a moist poundcake. And it was absolutely delicious — tender, fine-crumbed and deeply flavored with that fruity syrup. It was yummy! It reminded me of Bundt cakes my grandma (who was never called Babka, yet was quite babka-like) made nearly every Sunday. When cooking, she never doubted herself or at least, didn’t say so. But as she told me, it took awhile to get to that point. I miss her.
I gave myself permission to doubt, but to also follow. Until you know, you don’t know. And once you know, you make it your own. I see future babkas, big and small, with different fruits and fruity syrups flavoring them.
I do have mini Bundt pans.
Polish Babka
From King Arthur Flour (www.kingarthurflour.com)
Makes 1 loaf, about 12 servings
Babka
1/2 cup lukewarm milk
3 large eggs, at room temperature
Heaping 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) softened butter
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons instant yeast
1/4 cup currants or raisins (golden raisins preferred)
1/4 cup candied mixed fruit or candied mixed peel; or mixed dried fruit, chopped
Rum syrup
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup water*
1 to 2 tablespoons rum*
*Or substitute apple juice for the water and rum.
Icing
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons milk; or a combination of milk and rum or apple juice
For baka: place everything except the fruit in a mixing bowl, and beat at medium speed until cohesive. Increase your mixer’s speed to high, and beat for 2 minutes.
Add the fruit, beating gently just to combine. Cover the bowl, and let the dough/thick batter rest/rise for 60 minutes; it won’t appear to do too much.
Scoop the batter into a greased 10-cup Bundt pan. Cover the pan, and let the dough rest/rise for 30 minutes, while you preheat your oven to 350°F.
Bake the babka for 35 to 40 minutes, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of the loaf reads at least 190°. While the babka is baking, prepare the rum syrup. Combine all of the syrup ingredients in a small saucepan set over medium heat. Bring the mixture to a boil, and boil, swirling the liquid in the pan, until the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat.
Remove the babka from the oven. Poke it all over gently with a toothpick or fork, and slowly pour the syrup over the babka’s surface.
When the syrup is fully absorbed (about 20 minutes or so), carefully loosen the babka’s edges, and turn it out of the pan onto a rack.
To make the icing: Mix all of the ingredients together, stirring until smooth. Drizzle over completely cool babka.
Note: The bread can be baked in an 8 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ loaf pan.
Blogger’s Note: King Arthur Flour sells an instant yeast, which I used. I cannot speak for other brands of instant yeast, as I have not tried them. For my babka, I added a tablespoon of lemon zest with the dried fruits mixed into the batter. My syrup consisted of about 1/3 cup of sugar, 1/4 cup of apple juice and about 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, brought to a boil until sugar dissolved. I then added about 1/2 teaspoon rum flavoring. I used apple juice and milk for icing, along with a few drops of rum flavoring.