Gluten-free Cinnamon and Orange Babka Buns
Photography by Simeon Crofts
DIETARY – Gluten-free, Vegetarian, Nut-free
I hadn’t heard of babka until recently; I spotted a recipe for a babka loaf in one of my favourite British food magazines and thought it had potential to work as a gluten-free recipe. A bit of experimentation and three batches later, I settled on making individual babka buns flavoured with cinnamon and orange – a favourite flavour combo of mine. Typically, most babka recipes include some kind of chocolate, whether that’s chocolate fudge sauce or Nutella, but years ago I used to make and sell cinnamon and orange buns and couldn’t resist trying it out to flavour this recipe, seeing as the internet is already full of chocolate babka loaves!
Babka is made from a yeast-risen enriched dough and derives from an authentic Jewish bread called challah. Traditionally during Shabbat, any leftover challah dough would be braided and filled with nuts, seeds, jam or cinnamon and baked as a sweet loaf. Babka can be made with a variety of different fillings, so if you don’t fancy cinnamon, try something else. I am pretty confident whatever you choose will taste delicious!
To come up with a gluten-free version of a somewhat traditional babka was a little tricky at first as, of course, it doesn’t have the gluten to give the bread that well risen, beautifully soft finish. However, after writing a recipe and revisiting it a few times, I managed to perfect a soft, manageable dough that wasn’t sloppy and sticky or tough and rubbery, which are often the two extremes you get when making gluten-free bread doughs.
The trickiest part of the whole thing is shaping the buns, but honestly, it doesn’t matter if they look a bit rustic, they will still be packed with flavour! One thing to be mindful of is that gluten-free dough doesn’t have any stretch or elasticity to it as it hasn’t got the proteins to form gluten and therefore cannot be kneaded and developed into the stretchy, pliable dough you might be used to. However, that does mean the dough is quicker to make as you don’t need to go through the lengthy kneading process. What it also means is, once you have added the filling and folded and cut the dough, you will need to be careful when twisting the strips as they will be very delicate and it won’t take much to break them.
Traditionally, babka is topped with streusel, a crumbly topping made from butter, flour and sugar. I tried adding this to mine with gluten-free flour instead of wheat flour, but it melted and went a bit hard in the oven, so I chose to omit it from my recipe but let me know how you get on if you decide to include it in yours.
Gluten-free Cinnamon & Orange Babka Buns
Ingredients:
- ½ cup whole milk, warmed
- 60g granulated sugar
- 7g fast-action dried yeast
- 330g gluten-free plain flour, plus extra for dusting
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp xanthan gum
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 75g unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
- 80g unsalted butter, melted
- 45g granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- Zest of 1 orange
- 1 egg, beaten (to glaze the raw dough)
- 50g caster sugar
- 50ml water
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
Method:
- To make the sweet bread dough, first, make your yeast starter by adding the sugar and yeast to the lukewarm milk. Stir and cover with clingfilm then set aside for 5-10 minutes until the liquid forms a foam head.
- In a bowl, mix the remaining dry ingredients.
- To your flour blend, add the milk, vanilla extract, eggs and melted butter and mix until combined. You can either use your hand or the dough hook on an electric mixer.
- Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl and cover with clingfilm. Leave to rise in a warm place for 1-1½ hours until doubled in size.
- Once your dough has risen, tip it out on to a well-floured surface and knead lightly a few times just to smooth out the dough and reduce any stickiness. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out into a large rectangle shape.
- Now make your cinnamon and orange filling by melting the butter and mixing in the cinnamon and sugar.
- Pour the filling mixture over your rolled out dough and use a spoon to spread evenly over the whole thing, right up to the edges.
- Sprinkle the zest of 1 orange over the top then fold the dough in half from top to bottom to form a smaller rectangle. Using a knife, cut the rectangle into 12 even strips (cutting from long edge to long edge with the dough facing you horizontally).
- One at a time, take each strip and twist it then curl into a round shape. You can do this however you like, but for mine I curled the twists then laid the end of the strand over the top of each bun. Set the buns aside to proof for 30 minutes.
- Pre-heat the oven to 180°C (160°C Fan)/ 350°F/Gas Mark 4.
- Brush the buns with egg wash and bake for 40-45 minutes. Take out of the oven once golden and risen and leave to cool for a few minutes while you make the sugar glaze.
- To make the glaze, put all of the ingredients into a small saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer for 2 minutes. Take off the heat and immediately brush the syrup generously over each bun. Enjoy the buns warm or cold and dust with a little icing sugar if desired. The buns will keep for up to three days but are at their best when eaten within the first 24 hours.