feed me classics
Babka with Pesto and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
Babka is a beautiful braided bread. This time it’s filled with grass-green pesto, making it taste like a bite of summer. Everyone starts eating immediately as soon as it’s on the table. But if you can manage to restrain yourself, it’s also ideal for a picnic.
door Selisa Moorlag
How to make babka
- In a mortar, pound the basil, garlic and pine nuts into a coarse pesto. Gradually add the olive oil while stirring. Stir in the Parmesan, lemon zest and juice, pepper and salt, and set aside.
- Mix the flour, sugar, salt and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. In another bowl, whisk together the oil, egg and water.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and knead or mix everything on low speed; a dough should form. Add a little more water if necessary – the dough should become soft but not sticky.
- Knead it on a floured work surface for 8–10 minutes until smooth and elastic; or do this in the stand mixer on medium-high speed until it pulls away from the bowl.
- Shape the dough into a ball. Grease the mixing bowl with a little oil and place the dough in it. Cover with a tea towel and leave in a warm place for 1 hour; the dough should have doubled in volume.
- Knead the dough briefly again on a floured work surface and roll it out into a rectangle measuring approximately 40 × 25 cm. Spread it with the pesto, leaving a 1 cm border all around.
- Scatter the sun-dried tomatoes over it and roll it up from the long side into a tight log. Gently press the seam closed.
- Take a sharp knife, dust it with flour and cut the ‘log’ in half lengthwise. Braid the two pieces together into a kind of rope, and if necessary press any protruding tomatoes back into the dough.
- Carefully place the braid in a greased 900-gram loaf tin and tuck the ends underneath. Cover with a damp tea towel and leave the dough to rise in a warm place for 40 minutes; it should have doubled in volume.
- Preheat the oven to 200 °C. Brush the bread with a little milk. Bake for 35–45 minutes; cover with aluminium foil halfway through if it becomes too brown.
- Leave it to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn it out onto a wire rack. Wait until it has cooled, slice and serve.
Title: Comfort & Joy
Author: Ravinder Bhogal
Price: €32.50
Publisher: Cosmos Uitgevers
In Comfort & Joy, Ravinder Bhogal shows how exuberant, decadent and affordable vegetarian and vegan cooking can be. Comfort & Joy contains dishes for every occasion, from a quick weekday bite to dips and stews for a real dinner party at the weekend. Sesame tofu toast, KFC (Kentucky Fried Cauliflower), delicious Pesto Babka or Green Goddess Dahl – these are vegetables at their very best.
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