Orange Marmalade Bread

 Babka Bread recipe using Orange Marmalade is a sweet bread that gives you ready-to-eat slices with marmalade  already laid on it. Very delicious bread for breakfast with a mild touch of marmalade.

This bread is perfect to have at breakfast or to be packed in the lunch box as well.

How do you like to have orange marmalade? On a slice of bread? But isn’t it too sweet? Yes,  that tastes good but is too sweet and may not be liked by everyone. What about marmalade applied on bread dough and then baked? This gives bread with a mild sweetness. Also, it is ready to eat. Just gobble the slices and you are good to go.

When my sister in law, gifted me a big jar of orange marmalade, I just didn’t know what to do with it. Then she only suggested that I could use it in baking cakes etc. I liked the idea and decided to bake bread using it. I bake Chocolate braided bread and thus decided to follow the same recipe and just swap chocolate with marmalade. What a brilliant idea that was and the bread came amazing!

Thereafter I baked another loaf but this time, inspired by my Orange Blueberry Cake,  used blueberries along with the orange marmalade. Obviously, the taste was much better and what I liked was its looks. Blue-colored blueberries added a vibrancy to the otherwise sober Orange bread. Well, blueberries can easily be replaced by Choco chips or tooti fruiti or nuts.

So, you can say that this Orange Bread is a mix of my 2 recipes, namely, Chocolate Braided Bread and Orange Blueberry Cake.

Orange Marmalade Bread Or Babka Bread?

When I baked chocolate braided bread almost 3 years back, at that time I just didn’t know that the official name of this bread is Babka Bread. But now I do, so this Orange marmalade bread can very well be called Orange Babka Bread. But what is Babka bread? What does this word Babka mean?

What Is Babka Bread?

Babka is a Polish Jewish bread originating from the lands of Poland and Ukraine. It is a sweet swirled bread with some type of filling inside. The filling is generally chocolate or cinnamon. However, with time there have been many sweet fillings like jam, marmalade etc. It is braided before baking only and has a nice smooth texture once it is baked. So, now whenever you see a swirled bread, the baker may give any fancy name to it but you know that its Babka!

Now what I am going to share with you will definitely make you nostalgic. Grandmothers are known for their unconditional love towards their grandchildren. They make all sorts of goodies for their darlings. You must be thinking why am I discussing grandmothers in midst of a bread recipe? And that’s because the word “babka” comes from the Slavic word babcia, which means grandmother. The bread was named after grandmothers as they are known for making lots of goodies and desserts for their grandchildren. Isn’t it interesting? You can read more here about it.

Lessons Learnt with Various Trials 

I have baked 3 loaves of Orange Babka bread in the last one month. And each subsequent bake has come out better as I learned something or the other from each bake.

• The first and foremost lesson I learned was that you need to spread the dough really thin before laying the filling. Because if not thin, then the filling gets somewhere lost in the big loaf and thus tastes more like a bread rather than sweet bread. When I baked it the first time then I rolled the entire dough, and since there is a limitation of how much you can spread it out, my rolled dough was quite thick. I applied the filling, rolled it, and baked it. And after baking, though the bread came out good but the taste of marmalade was nowhere.

So, this was lesson number 1 that dough should be rolled out thinly.

•  Then, last time when I baked chocolate braided bread, it came out very good. I had baked two loaves which means the dough was rolled out thinly. But as it was a sleek log, it rose but still up to a limit only and the slices remained small. The taste was excellent but the slices were sleek, though even that is a style.

So, learned from my 2 trials, I tried this particular loaf and it was excellent. I divided the dough into 2 parts. Made 2 braided loaves of bread and then kept them in the loaf tin one above the other. Yes, kept the first braided bread and on it placed the other braid and left for second proofing. No need to press it, as the loaves of bread rise during the second proofing they very well stick to each other and form one loaf only.

And the resultant bake was beautiful!

How To Make 

• While making this Orange Babka bread I mixed whole wheat flour and semolina in equal quantities, that is 1 cup each. After adding yeast, sugar, salt, etc, I just formed a rough dough by mixing water into the flour and covered it for 15 minutes or so. It was like using the autolyse (not exactly) method of kneading dough. After 15 minutes, when I started kneading the dough the best part is that it was not sticking. The dough was rough but not sticky. I kneaded it for just 5 to 7 minutes by stretching and folding it and it soon became shiny and smooth. This was the magic of autolyse. I will discuss the details of autolysed dough separately otherwise this one will get too long.
• After I got a smooth dough I covered it with a plastic sheet and left for proofing which took almost an hour as the weather is now warm here. As you know, it takes anywhere between 1 hour to 2 hours to rise to double.
• Once risen, just knock down the dough to release all the gases that have accumulated in the dough.
• Knead it lightly for 20 to 30 seconds and divide it into 2 parts. You may divide into 3 parts too.
• And then each part was rolled, the filling was spread. It was then rolled.
• The rolled log was cut lengthwise and braided so that the marmalade shows up in the swirls. It really looks beautiful.
• This is placed inside the loaf tin.
• Similarly, one more braided loaf is made from the other part and it is kept over the first braided loaf.
• The loaf tin is then covered with a damp cloth and left for second proofing.
• 5 to 10 minutes before the second proofing gets complete, start preheating the oven. As I bake in microwave convection, so I start just 5 minutes before.
• Then brush the loaf with milk and bake for 40 minutes approx till the top gets golden brown.
• Lastly, once the bread is baked, take it out and after waiting for 5 minutes, loosen the sides with a knife and invert it on a wire rack.
• Cover it with a damp cloth till cools down completely.

 Step By Step Recipe

A. For The Dough

• Take wheat flour, semolina, salt, brown sugar and yeast in a bowl and mix everything.

• Take everything on the sides and in between add lukewarm water and milk together.
• Mix everything using a wooden spoon or with your hands. Cover it and keep it aside for 15 minutes.

• After minutes, add butter and start kneading. Because of the resting time given to it, the dough will be manageable, that is, less sticky though very rough only.
• Knead it for 10 to 15 minutes by stretching and folding method till the dough becomes smooth and shiny.
• You need to be patient at this time and just keep on kneading. Soon, the dough will be smooth.

• Take a bowl, grease it with oil. Put the dough in the greased bowl, flip it so that gets greased from all sides.
• Cover it with cling film or lid or just a plate.
• Keep the bowl in a warm place, better inside the Otg or Microwave oven. Do not switch on these appliances.
• Let the dough rise for an hour or so. Keep an eye on the dough 45 minutes onwards. Whenever it gets double its ready to be knocked down. Time varies according to weather, the quantity of yeast used, warmth in the kitchen etc., so, don’t go by the clock but by the size of the dough. It should get double.

B. For the Bread

• Punch the dough to release the gases accumulated therein.
• Make a log and cut it into 2 parts. Do not tear the dough as it may destroy the gluten developed in the dough.

• Take one part of the dough. Keep the other part in the bowl and cover it.
• Sprinkle flour on your work surface. Put the dough and spread it into a rectangle. Try to keep the width of the rectangle according to the length of your baking tin so that it fits in easily in it.
• Ensure that the rolled dough is moving freely and is not sticking to the work surface. If sticking, then dismantle it, put more flour and then again roll it.
• Spread Orange marmalade on the rolled dough.

• You may sprinkle blueberries or tutti fruiti also on the marmalade.

• Start rolling from the bigger side and form a tight log.

• Where the edges meet, from there only, split the log into 2 parts. Keep the starting portion intact.

• Start braiding with the two parts. Take care that the marmalade portion comes on top every time.
• When finished, cut the starting portion also and braid it.
• Carefully lift this braided loaf and keep it in the greased baking tin.
• Similarly, make the braid with the other portion of the dough.

• Place this second braided loaf on the first dough in the baking tin.

• Do not worry to press these. Just cover the baking tin with a cloth and leave it for the second rise, which takes about 20 to 25 minutes.
• 10 minutes prior to baking, preheat the oven to 190 degrees for 10 minutes.
• Milk wash the braided bread, that is, brush milk on the loaf.
• Bake for 25 to 30 minutes till you can smell the lovely orange bread and the top gets golden brown.

• After taking out of the oven, wait for 5 minutes and then invert it on a wire rack.

• Brush little butter on it. Cover with a damp cloth and let it cool down completely.
• Once completely cool, cut slices and enjoy.

• Serve with love, cold coffee optional.

Related Recipes:

• Chocolate Braided Bread
• Orange Blueberry Cake

Let’s Connect!

I hope you have liked this Orange Babka Bread recipe and will surely try it out for your loved ones.

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