Savoury Walnut & Pesto Babka with Organic Seven Seed
Ingredients
The Babka:
300g Organic Seven Seed & Grain Cotswold Flour
100g Organic Strong White Cotswold Flour
7g Dried active yeast
1 tbsp golden caster sugar
1½ tsp salt
50ml olive oil (and a little extra for oiling the bowl)
1 medium egg beaten
180ml lukewarm water
Sea salt flakes to sprinkle
The filling:
50 g walnuts
30 g Parmesan cheese (I used a Vegetarian alternative)
80 g basil leaves
1 clove garlic crushed (more if you like!)
100 ml olive oil or rapeseed oil
Juice of half a lemon
Salt & pepper to taste
Method:
- Add both the seven seed & grain flour and strong white flour to a mixing bowl.
- ·Add the sugar, salt and dried active yeast to the bowl, ensuring to keep a little distance between these ingredients.
- To the lukewarm water add the oil and beaten egg, ensure the water is not too warm or the egg will cook.
- One all the wet ingredients are mixed, add slowly to the dry, mixing with a spatula/spoon until all the dry bits are combined.
- You are looking for a soft dough, at this stage it may be slightly sticky but don’t be tempted to add more flour.
- If using a mixer pop the dough hook on and knead for 8-10 minutes until soft and no longer sticky to touch. If you prefer the more ‘hands on’ method you can knead on a lightly floured surface for the same amount of time.
- Lightly oil a clean bowl and gently transfer the dough, cover with clingfilm or a clean, dry cloth and set aside for roughly 45-60 minutes. During this time the dough should double in size.
- Whilst the dough is relaxing you can move onto making the walnut pesto.
- Using a blender or food processer pop all of the ingredients in and blitz/blend until you have achieved your desired consistency.
- At this stage if you feel the pesto is too ‘dry’ you can add more oil, you might also wish to add more garlic if this is your preference.
- Cover the prepared pesto and store it in the fridge until needed.
- Once the dough has doubled in size, turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead three times to remove large air bubbles.
- Roll out the dough into a rectangular shape roughly 40cm x 30cm.
- Spread the chilled pesto over the dough and leave a 2cm border to ensure the filling doesn’t spill out when shaping.
- At this stage you can scatter some additional fillings if you wish, I sprinkled some extra chopped walnuts and a few fresh basil leaves.
- Roll the dough into a tight sausage shape starting from the long edges, once rolled pinch the ends and tuck them under the dough.
- Cut the dough in half lengthways and gently twist the two strips together, it will look a little messy but that’s fine! Pinch the ends together and tuck under the Babka.
- Lightly oil a loaf tin and gently transfer the platted Babka into the tin, making sure the ends are still tucked under.
- Cover with clingfilm or a cloth and set aside again for 30-45 minutes to double in size.
- Pre-heat the oven to 180°C fan/gas 6.
- Once the Babka has doubled in size you can gently brush the surface with milk (2 tbsp if measuring) then scatter the sea salt flakes on top before popping into the oven for 20 minutes.
- After 20 minutes has passed, check the Babka, if it’s browning quickly, gently cover with foil and cook for a further 20-25 minutes.
- Once baked let the Babka cool for 10-15 minutes and turn out onto a rack so the underneath can cool also.
- Slice, serve and enjoy!
Thank you to the @mindfulnessbaker for this delicious recipe. If you’d like to see more, please visit her on instagram.
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