Time for a tasty Twist Bread! Although it is mainly eaten at Easter time, why not at the rest of the year? Because this vegan babka tastes simply delicious and it would be too bad to bake it only once a year.
This yeast plait is not necessarily suitable for spontaneous baking. Because you need a lots of love and some patience. Because the yeast dough has to be prepared first, then needs some rest in a warm and dark place, then it is processed further and left alone again. But this procedure is worth it. Because in the end you have a wonderfully fluffy yeast plait that tastes incredibly delicious.
In this recipe I use mainly healthy ingredients. Instead of nutrient-free white flour I use (spelt) wholemeal flour. Instead of highly processed white sugar, I use coconut blossom sugar for the dough and date syrup for the filling. Only for the filling I used some "unhealthy" vegan butter. But fat is a flavor enhancer and in combination with the date syrup, cinnamon and pecans it tastes really delicious. Alternatively you could use coconut oil instead of vegan butter (this changes the taste a bit).
To show you how the yeast plait gets its shape, I have put together a mini step by step guide:
- First you should try to roll out the dough into a square and then spread it with your prepared filling. As you can see, rolling out into a square didn't work out very well for me, but in the end it's no problem at all. The important thing is that you have a long side. The dough should be about 0.25 cm high, so it should be relatively thin.
- In the next step, roll the dough together on the long side and cut it lengthwise. Then form a plait out of both halves and press both ends a little bit together.
- Fill the dough into a box form and let it rise for about half an hour until it has risen a little bit and looks like this. Then your yeast plait is ready for the oven!
In this recipe I used a small box form* from Coox with the dimensions 21x7x7cm. For a Twist Bread in a normal sized box form you can simply use double the amount of dough. I prefer to use the foldable moulds* from Coox as a box mould because they don't need to be greased, you don't need baking paper and because it's very easy to take the plait out of the mould after baking. I no longer use a metal box mould at home.
Do you know what else is good about such a plait? The filling is absolutely variable. For example, you could make a chocolate-hazelnut filling by mixing cocoa, hazelnut puree and date syrup. Or how about a fruity version made of blueberry or raspberry jam? There are really no limits to your fantasy or your palate.
If you like the recipe, please leave me a comment or a review and visit me at Instagram or Pinterest. I am very happy about any feedback! And now have fun baking!
