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Pesto Babka Bread
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Vegan Pesto Babka

Bake this Fresh Savory Vegan Pesto Babka Bread with a homemade pesto sauce made with Fresh Basil. This Pesto Babka bread will steal your heart.
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time30 minutes
Passive Time10 hours
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Jewish
Servings: 1 Loaf

Ingredients

For Dough

  • 300 gm Semolina superfine, unroasted
  • 1/2 tsp Dry Yeast
  • 1/2 tsp Brown Sugar
  • 1/2 tsp Salt
  • 1 tbsp Olive Oil
  • 190 ml Water

For Pesto Sauce

  • 250 gm Basil leaves
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • 1/4 Cup Olive Oil
  • 6-7 pcs Soaked Cashew
  • 4-5 pcs Garlic Cloves
  • 1 tbsp Lemon Juice

Instructions

  • In a bowl take ½ tsp brown sugar and ½ tsp yeast. Add lukewarm water, stir it and let the solution rest until it froths.
  • In a kneading bowl, take semolina, salt and add activated yeast solution to it. Start binding the dough by adding water little by little.
  • Once you bind the dough, take it out on the counter for further kneading. Add 1 tbs olive oil in-between. Knead it until it becomes smooth and soft.
  • Keep the dough in a bowl and let it rest until it becomes double in volume.
  • Meanwhile, prepare the pesto sauce.
  • For pesto sauce, in a mixer jar take basil leaves, soaked cashew, garlic cloves, salt, lemon juice, and olive oil.  Grind it and your vegan pesto sauce is ready.
  • Once dough doubles, punch it to release the air. Take the dough out on the lightly floured surface.
  • Using a rolling pin roll it into a rectangular sheet of 8 x 12 inches and thickness should be ¼ inch.
  • Spread an even layer of prepared homemade pesto sauce all over the rolled sheet.
  • Roll the dough sheet tightly starting from the short end just like a roulade.
  • Using a sharp knife slice the shaped log into two lengthwise.
  • Then twist the two lengths together and seal both the ends properly.
  • Place the shaped babka into a 6x3x3 inches greased loaf tin and cover it with cling wrap. Keep the tin in the refrigerator for 8-9 hours.
  • After 10 hr of resting take the bread tin out from the refrigerator and let it rest on the counter for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, keep the oven for preheating at 200 °C.
  • Bake the bread in a preheated oven at 200 °C for 30 minutes.
  • Once baked, take the bread out from the oven and demould it. Let it cool down before slicing.

Notes

  1. This is a tried and tested recipe. In case you want to change any ingredient, then the final outcome will also change.
  2. 10 hr refrigeration helps to enhance the flavor.
  3. Use fine unroasted semolina only. In case you don’t have fine semolina, you can pulse regular semolina to make it super fine.
  4. It’s a vegan recipe that is why I haven’t used butter, milk, etc. However, if you want you can replace olive oil with butter.
  5. Every oven behaves differently and you are the best judge for your oven. So baking time can vary depending upon your oven size and model.