Pumpkin Babka with Walnuts and Cinnamon

Recipe:

Ingredient notes:

• Pumpkin puree. To make it, you need to puree the cooked pumpkin with a blender. There are three ways to do this: roast in the ovem, boil, or cook in the microwave oven. I usually roast the pumpkin – it gives the puree a more concentrated flavor and less excess moisture.
• Flour. The recipe calls for regular all-purpose wheat flour with 10% protein. If you use a stronger bread flour, remember that it will absorb more moisture, so you will need a little less by weight.
• Butter. You can use butter with a fat content of 72% or more. If you want to replace it with vegetable oil, add 40 g and 10 g more milk.
• Yeast. The recipe uses instant dry yeast. If you replace it with fresh yeast, add three times the amount of dry yeast to the dough.
• Nuts. The recipe calls for walnuts, but you can use hazelnuts, cashews, or pecans.

Let’s start cooking.

Pour slightly warmed milk into the mixing bowl. The temperature should not exceed 45°C (113°F), otherwise the yeast will be destroyed. Sprinkle the yeast on the surface of the milk.

Let stand for 5 minutes to moisten the yeast, then stir until dissolved. Add the sugar, salt, pumpkin puree, and melted but not hot butter.

Stir. Gradually add the flour and knead to a smooth, not very stiff dough. You may need more or less flour, so keep an eye on the consistency of the dough as you add and knead.

Form the dough into a ball, cover and let rise in a warm place. Depending on the temperature in your kitchen, this may take 1-2 hours. During this time, the dough should double in volume.

Prepare the filling. Chop the walnuts. I do this in a food processor.

Add sugar and cinnamon and mix.

Put the dough on the table, knead and roll or stretch into a rectangle of about 35*45 cm.

Grease the surface with very soft butter.

Spread the filling evenly.

Roll up from the wide side.

If baking in two pans, cut the loaf in half across the middle. If baking in one pan, leave it as is. Cut the roll in half lengthwise, leaving one end intact.

Twist the cut ends together.

Transfer to parchment-lined pans.

Cover the surface with plastic wrap and let them proof, which will take 30 minutes to an hour. During this time, the babka should increase in volume by at least one and a half times.

Place in an oven preheated to 180°C (355°F) and bake until done and golden brown, about 30 minutes.

You can glaze the finished babka with warmed apricot jam for a glossy finish.

Allow the babka to cool completely on a wire rack, then slice and serve.

Enjoy!