This recipe showcases the best of Englands end of summer seasonal produce, using gorgeous British apples and blackberries, and all the necessary extras to make a gorgeous crumble, and twisted it to create a gorgeously light, sweet and rich babka loaf, that does everything you want a crumble to do, and so much more!
Method
For the dough: Alright, we’re back with another baking recipe! We’re gonna speed through this dough method, but if you want to check out a more detailed method, have a look at our amazing Blueberry Cheesecake Doughnuts recipe!!Get all your ingredients ready, activate the yeast with your water with a pinch of sugar in your stand mixer. Mix your dry ingredients together, and add half the dry to the wet, start kneading on low, and add the rest of the dry in a second round.Once the dough has come together, and is not sticky, add your butter a couple cubes at a time, until the dough has come together again, and has become super soft, and releases from the bowl clean. Bring the dough into a neat ball on your counter, place back into your bowl, cover and let rise for 2 hrs or until doubled in size.Whilst we wait, we’re going to make the filling. Firstly, mix together your cubed apples with your sugar, salt and cinnamon. Place on a small baking tray and cover with foil. Bake at 170°c for 20 mins, until the apples are soft but still hold their shape. At the same time, add your blackberries and caster sugar to a small saucepan, and let simmer for 30 mins until the blackberries soften, and the syrup has thickened.Once the dough has rested, punch it down and on a nicely floured surface, roll it out into a rectangle about 1cm thick. Spread on the blackberries and the apples, making sure not too much liquid gets onto the dough. From furthest away from you, start to roll your dough, making sure it is as tight as possible. Once you have a lovely sausage of dough and filling, cut into the size of your baking tin, and with a pizza cutter, cut along the centre of the dough, to expose the filling.In your loaf tin, line the bottom with baking paper, and sprinkle some brown sugar on the bottom, and layer on your thinly sliced apple, and coat with more sugar. If you can, plait the two pieces of babka together and place them closed side up in your baking tin, on top of your sliced apple. Cover with a lid and let rest for 45 mins. Remember this dough will rise again, so only fill the tin till about half way up.Once proved, bake at 180°c for 30mins, until your babka has developed a light-brown crust, and sounds hollow when tapping the bottom. Once cooked, let sit for a bit, and then slide your load onto a chopping board, exposing the beautiful upside-down apple topping.Whilst the babka is baking, we're going to make a streusel. Combine all the ingredients together with your finger tips, making sure you leave it pretty coarse. Place in an oven at 180°c for 15 mins, until the streusel becomes crispy, like the top of a crumble.Sprinkle your streusel on top of the caramelised apple topping of the babka, and we're all ready to eat!! Generously top a slice of babka with your favourite vanilla ice cream, and some extra streusel (and this is even better as an ice cream sandwich!).
