Peanut Butter Babka Buns #BreadBakers

These peanut butter babka buns have a tender crumb filled with a delicious ribbon of peanut butter in a slightly sweet dough. 

If you’ve never made babka before, these buns are an easier entry point to learn. In real babka loaves, the baker must stretch the dough out super thin but with these rolls, you can just roll the balls out with a rolling pin. 

My son-in-law was the babka master and it was such a pleasure to watch him in action. He managed to stretch the dough so thin you could see the grain in the wooden table below it. Truly impressive.  Like everything Dai did in the kitchen, he did it to the highest level possible. I give you example one: 

I hope he’d be proud of my buns, even if they are a sacrilegious flavor. Traditional babka are chocolate, as above,  or cinnamon. 

Peanut Butter Babka Buns

Like any enriched dough, that is one with eggs and/or butter, this one is quite sticky initially. You can make it by hand with great effort but I highly recommend the use of a stand mixer. 

Ingredients - for 6 buns

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

3 tablespoons lukewarm milk

1 2/3 cups or 208g all-purpose flour

1/8 cup or 14g nonfat powdered milk 

1/4 cup or 25g sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 large egg

1 egg white (save yolk for egg wash before baking)

4 1/2 tablespoons or 63g room-temperature unsalted butter

Canola or other light oil for drizzling the dough bowl and greasing the muffin pan

For the peanut butter filling:

1/2 cup or 125g peanut butter, slightly warmed

1 1/2 tablespoon dark brown sugar

3/4 teaspoon vanilla

pinch salt

Egg Wash:

1 egg yolk, whisked with drizzle of water

Method

In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the yeast with the warm milk and set aside for  few minutes to activate the yeast. You should start seeing some foaming and bubbles which tell you the yeast is still alive. 

Add the flour, powdered milk, sugar, salt, the whole egg, egg white and butter.

With the dough hook, mix together all of the dough ingredients to form a mostly smooth, shiny dough. Don't worry; what starts out as a sticky mess becomes beautifully satiny as it kneads. Knead this dough on medium speed for about 5 minutes.

Drizzle a little canola around your dough and use a spatula to lift the dough and coat the bowl under it so the dough ball isn’t stuck to the bowl. 

Cover the bowl with cling film and let it rise for 1 1/2-2 hours, until doubled, or overnight in the refrigerator.

To make the peanut butter filling: Place all of the filling ingredients in a bowl and beat until thoroughly combined.

On a liberally floured surface, dump the dough out and form it into a rectangle.  Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces and roll them into balls. Cover with a damp cloth. 

With the first piece of dough, roll it out into a 4 1/2-inch wide by 12-inch wide long rectangle. 

Spread a few teaspoons of the filling evenly onto the rectangle, stopping before the edge. 

Roll the rectangle tightly, in a horizontal fashion, into a log. 

Transfer the log to a platter that can fit in your freezer and put it in there. Repeat with the other pieces of dough. Transfer the logs to the freezer as you make them. 

Brush the muffin pan with canola and set aside. 

Remove the first roll of dough you made from the freezer and trim off the edges on both sides of the roll. Using your clean kitchen scissors, cut the roll in half, lengthwise, almost all the way to the end, so the striations of the dough and filling are visible. Leave the very end connected on one side. 

With the cut sides facing up, place the left side of the log over the right and then repeat with the right over the left until you've braided or twisted the two together. Pinch the cut end closed. 

Shape the braided dough into a circle, making sure the "ends" go past the circle and overlap one another. 

Tuck the long ends under the up through the center hole.

 

Transfer to the greased cavities of your muffin pan. Repeat with the remaining logs.  

Cover with a clean kitchen towel and allow to rise 1 hour or until the rolls have risen out of the muffin pan. Preheat the oven to 350°F or 180°C

Gently brush the tops of the buns with egg wash and transfer to the oven to bake for 15-17 minutes, until lightly golden brown.

Allow to cool in muffin pan for 5 minutes and then move to a cooling rack. 

Enjoy! 

It's time for my Bread Bakers group to share recipes for babka! Check out the links below. Many thanks to our host, Kelly from Passion Kneaded. 

• Baby Babkas from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Chocolate and Pistachio Babka from Passion Kneaded
• Chutney and Paneer Babka from Magical Ingredients
• Cinnamon Blueberry Babka from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Nutella Babka Buns from Sneha's Recipe
• Peanut Butter Babka Buns from Food Lust People Love
• Pecan Pie Babka from A Messy Kitchen
• Savoury Babka with Sun-dried Tomato, Feta, and Coriander Chutney from Cook with Renu

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

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