Babka Pizza Loaf

In this savoury Babka recipe, the rich and buttery swirl bread meets the best of Italian flavours, making it a perfect combination of the brioche bread, marinara and mozzarella cheese or better yet it is more like a pizza stuffed brioche.

‍Recipe Card

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‍Method of Preparation

‍For Biga dough

• Mix all the ingredients together and let it rest to ripen for at least 12 – 16 hours.

For Final Dough

• Mix all the ingredients with the biga dough except the butter in medium speed. When combined well add the butter.
• Transfer the dough to a large lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap and set aside to rise at room temperature for 1 hour.
• After 1 hour, transfer the bowl to the refrigerator and set aside, still covered, for an additional hour, or until the dough has doubled in size and is firm to roll.
• Grease two 9x5-inch loaf pans. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and gently punch it down.
• Roll the dough into a rectangle, approximately 12 inches long.
• Spread half the tomato sauce over the dough, leaving a slight border along the edges.
• Top it with chicken mortadella and mozzarella.
• Working from the long side of the dough, roll the dough into a long cylinder.
• Place this cylinder seam-side down on a baking sheet and refrigerate for 15-20 minutes, until dough is firm.
• Use a sharp knife to cut the dough in half lengthwise down the cylinder to expose the filling, creating two long logs of dough.
• Twist these two logs together and place the dough in the prepared loaf pan.
• Cover loaf pans with plastic wrap and set aside to rise at room temperature for an hour.
• Preheat the oven to 160 °c. And bake the loaves for 20 to 45 minutes, until the top of the loaf is golden brown.
• Allow the bread to cool in the pans for 15 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool for an additional 15 minutes before serving.

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‍Chef Sally Handoko

‍Sally Handoko is a popular name in the Dubai culinary industry. She started her career in the Four Seasons in Indonesia and edged into the pastry kitchen. From a very young age itself, Sally was fond of baking cakes and it was only natural for her to choose baking over cooking. Her passion for learning more and her love for world-class patisserie led her ways to Dubai after working in Indonesia for a few years.

In Dubai, Sally worked with JW Marriot, Fairmont, and The Conrad before her current position with ICCA Dubai as a Pastry Chef Instructor. She left the kitchen at the peak of her career as an Executive Pastry Chef to pursue her long term interest in teaching. Despite her successful position in the kitchen hierarchy, Sally always wanted to develop her career as a culinary instructor so that she could share knowledge and inspire the next round of professionals in the field.