It was later, once the family had moved to Southern California, that its appeal grew. On trips back to New York, Pearlman was introduced to and fell in love with the classics that her Nana Mary had been baking decades earlier.
Meaning “little grandma” in Yiddish, the braided bread is said to be so-called because the swirls look like the pleats of a skirt. Its popularity has been on the rise ever since the famous 1994 Seinfeld episode The Dinner Party, in which Jerry and Elaine go shopping for a chocolate babka, but miss out on the last one, and are left with the “lesser” cinnamon version. It’s spread to the UK, too. It’s one of Waitrose Magazine’s most popular recipes, and the café chain Gail’s sells 5,000 of their chocolate babkas per month.
Originally, babka was a traditionally sweet dessert made from leftover challah dough spread with chocolate or an alternative topping such as fruit, and eaten during the holidays. Pearlman began to brainstorm flavour combinations, not just sweet but also savoury to accommodate her friends who weren’t keen on sugar.
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Her exciting flavours – all featured in the cookbook – include Cinnamon Raisin Pecan, Dulce de Leche, Mexican Chocolate Brownie, S’mores Strawberry Shortcake, Tomato Pesto, Pizza, and Grilled Cheese. The classics she grew up eating are there, too. Her great-grandmother’s favourite flavour features in the book as Nana’s Fave, and involves dried apricot with golden raisins, pistachio, and toasted meringue – “old fashioned, not too sweet, not too savoury”.
Pearlman says, “My whole thing was always: I want to be an individual. I want to show who I am. I said, why can't we do a savoury babka? Then it started a whole progression into, what else could you do with this bread?”
Inspired by the pizza roll her mother makes every Christmas, she created the pizza babka. “It was like, ‘OK, what other cool memories can I pull from?’ Things I like to eat I’d make into a babka and push that boundary a little bit.”
Pearlman had wanted a career in pastry since she was 12, and started her own company, Elana’s Cakery, baking for neighbours and friends.
“Cakes were always an obsession of mine,” she says. “And I was always drawing or painting. It was either culinary school or art school for me.”
Cookery school won. She applied to the Culinary Institute of America in New York as soon as she graduated from high school. It’s where she developed the knowledge and techniques required to create the distinctive flavours she has now become known for.
Those recipe cards were the catalyst for her fulfilling the dream that her Nana Mary had never been able to: to open her own bakery. In 2021, she founded Nana Mary’s Bakeshop, in Austin, Texas, where she lives (she also co-owns the Pig & The Pastry with her husband).
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“It's really amazing,” she says. “It's one of those moments of pure aspiration, and that I'm proud of myself for being able to do.”
Also, she feels proud to be able to incorporate her Jewish heritage into her delicious creations, while keeping the baking traditions of her great-grandmother alive.
“I’ve definitely been feeling connected to her,” she says. “Babka always been my heritage, and now be able to show it to the world and do in a way that is more ‘modern’ and approachable for people, it's huge.”
With Love and Babka aims to teach anyone how to bake babka, with instructions on everything from the equipment you need, to the best techniques, the pantry essentials and the optimal ingredients.
“It's meant for the home baker,” says Pearlman. “I know a lot of people are scared by bread sometimes – they think it's this big experiment because of the yeast. But everybody has their own imprint with babka. Everybody's going to roll it a little differently and twist it a little differently. It's not as scary as it seems.”
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Elana Pearlman’s tips on making babka
1. Read through the equipment and pantry list. It is so important to have your mise en place together before you begin.
2. Always read through all the instructions first so you can have everything ready. That's so important. Because I know me, I get very excited, and I want to just go.
3. Make sure your ingredients are scaled out properly, because that is a huge thing with baking. It is a science. If you have a little bit too much or not enough something, it can totally turn into a disaster.
4. Check to make sure your yeast is alive. If you started it and it doesn't bubble after you add the milk and sugar, you know to start again.
5. Take your time and have patience with it. It might turn out perfect the first time, but like anything, it takes trial and error to create those stunning swirls on the inside and top of a babka.
6. Spend money on vanilla. The difference in taste with whole vanilla beans or paste is profound. This is an ingredient whose quality I never sacrifice, and I encourage you to do the same.
7. The chocolate and cocoa powder you use makes a huge difference. While it’s a splurge, I highly recommend Valrhona.
8. Chill the dough of your choosing overnight for best results.
With Love and Babka (Simon and Schuster) is out now
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