Dough-Ka; [The crazy daughter of Mr Babka and Madame Donut]

 There is this one memory that is etched into my brain; the first time I ever "experimented" in the kitchen. I was about seven years old. I found a can of small potatoes in the pantry, I thought to myself, "wow! This is cool, baby potatoes in a can". I opened the can, put the potatoes into a pot with some cumin, paprika, too much salt and probably no oil because I clearly remember them being super dry. My father came into the kitchen surprised at what he was seeing and with excitement said, "You made that for me? Wow! These are the best potatoes I ever tasted". Only years later did I realize that he was lying. They were not the best potatoes he had ever tasted. He is just the best father and because of his love and support I was able to serve many horrible dishes that got 5 undeserved stars, which gave me the confidence to continue experimenting. So, thank you Abba for always believing in me. And thank you Imma for your support and allowing me to use your kitchen as my own private culinary school.

Now, back to Dough-ka. My cousin Sarah from Canada honored me with a challenge, which I oh, so appreciate, because this dessert is a delight! She sent me an article about a bakery somewhere [forgot where *embarrassed face*] that makes a crazy hybrid between Babka and Doughnuts. You heard correctly. Crazy. Mr. Google is my best friend, we have a special relationship, so the first thing I did was search, "BEST DOUGH-KA RECIPE", nada. Ok, "DOUGH-KA RECIPE?", NADA.

That is why I brought up the can of baby potatoes, time to experiment. 

That's when Dough-ka was born into my life. 

Please introduce this delight to your life. It's a Doughnut without frying and its a delicious, soft Babka for Babka lovers. 

What You'll Need for Dough:

• 2 1/4 Tsp Active Dry Yeast
• 1/2 Cup Warm Water
• 1/4 Cup Sugar 
• 1/4 Cup Warmed Milk - or Almond Milk [Parve]
• 1/2 Tsp Salt
• 1/4 Cup Room Temp Butter - or Margarine [Parve]
• 1/2 Tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1 Egg
• 1 Egg Yolk
• 2 1/2 Cups Flour 

What You'll Need for Chocolate Filling: 

• 1 Cup Chocolate of Choice [Chopped/Chips]
• 1/2 Cup Butter/Margarine [Parve] 
• 1/3 Cup Cocoa Powder
• 1/2 Cup Confections Sugar

Glaze:

• 1 Cup Confections Sugar
• 1 1/2 Tbsp Cocoa Powder
• 1 1/2 Tsp Water [more if needed, in small amounts]

Preheat Oven to 350 Degrees F [15 mins before baking]

Dough:

Set your KitchenAid or stand mixer with whisk attachment. In your mixer bowl, combine your yeast, warm water and 1 Tsp Sugar (from your 1/4 Cup Sugar above), let rise for about 7 minutes. Add your remaining Sugar, Milk/Almond Milk, Salt, Vanilla, Egg, Egg Yolk, Butter/Margarine and half of the Flour mix until smooth. At this point you might need to change from your whisk to hook because the more flour we add, the harder your machine will have to work, and the hook is just made for thicker doughs. If you do not have this setting you can use the best tool G-d gave you, your hands. Slowly add remaining Flour and kneed slowly with machine/hands for about 4-6 minutes, you can add additional Flour if you feel you must, just remember, this is a stickier dough. Transfer your dough to an oiled bowl, cover and let it rise in warm place for an hour and a half. This should, like any great dessert be eaten as fresh as possible, so if you are going to eat this dessert tomorrow, just punch down your dough, cover again and place in refrigerator until next day. If you plan on eating it today, punch down your dough, roll into an even layer on a slightly floured surface to about a 1/2 inch in thickness. 

Filling:

Melt your Chocolate and Butter until unified and smooth. Stir in Cocoa Powder and Confections Sugar. Should form a spreadable paste. [OR...You can use Nutella *wink*] 

Evenly spread your filling onto your sheet of dough, and roll length wise like a burrito and then slice through the middle, like you see in the picture below. [Don't feel discouraged if your Dough-ka doesn't look like that after rolling and slicing, in the photo below it's actually Babka, Dough-ka is stickier which causes it to be a bit messier. Just for explanatory purposes.]   

After we sliced our Dough-ka we're going to make a semi twist-braid.

 

Something like the photo above. Again, this is Babka.

 [Explanatory Purposes]

Place your Dough-ka into an oiled tray of your choice, I used my Bundt Cake Tray.

Let rise for an additional 30-40 minutes.

And into the oven for, I'd say 30 minutes. Its hard to say though because every oven is very different so you will have to keep an eye out. When your Dough-ka is ready it will still be very soft to the touch. Remember it's a Doughnut! Make sure to not over-bake. 

Glaze: 

Combine all your ingredients and stir with whisk until you get a velvety smooth texture. Pour onto Dough-ka right out of the oven. The glaze will create a barrier between the cake and oxygen. Yes, the cause to dry cakes. 

 

That, is the final product. 

Once cool cover to keep moisture, if it's not finished by then;)