That time of year

And again, the last months of the year are coming closer and in Belgium that only means one thing...Speculaas! I'm gonna spare you from a big lecture about the whole history of Speculaas and the why's and how's, but for those who don't know, Speculaas is a typical, spiced cookie that's made during this time of year. The spices used are called "Speculaas spices" and consist of a mixture of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, cardamom, ginger and white pepper. The addition of other spices like star anise or coriander seeds are also possible. Speculaas is mostly known and produced in countries like France, Belgium and holland.

Of course it would be logic if a typical Speculaas recipe follows right now, but that's not what we are going to do. Here on the road to hell and sweetness we like to be different, so what we are going to do, is throw this amazing local product in the mix with another, maybe for some of us, less known traditional product... A Babka. Yes, you are reading this correctly, a Babka!

I'm not the smartest person in the world so my knowledge of babka isn't the greatest but as far as I know it's also called a yeast cake and it has it's roots in Eastern Europe, but others say it's more of an Arabic/middle eastern type of cake...so loads of different opinions but frankly at the road of hell and sweetness, we don't really care and we gonna make a Belgian Speculaas variety of a Babka. Starting of with the dough which to us is very similar to a brioche dough but probably with a bit more yeast in it.

580 gr flour
100 gr sugar
35 gr fresh yeast
2 orange zeste
150 gr eggs
120 ml water
4 gr salt
150 gr butter

You start by mixing the flour, sugar, yeast, orange zeste, salt, eggs and water with the hook on the slowest speed for 5min until all ingredients are coming together.
After you put the room temperature butter piece by piece with the dough and change to medium speed for 10 min until the dough is nice shiny and elastic. When the dough is ready you make a nice ball and place it on a floured plastic sheet and flatten it. Then wrap it up, not to tightly and leave it in the fridge overnight.

The next day you roll out the dough in a rectangular shape to 4mm. Then you spread it with 500 gr of speculaas paste but you keep away from the sides. Then you sprinkle some speculaas crumbs over the paste and roll the dough up nice and thight. Place the dough for a short while in the freezer to get it nice and cold.

When the dough is nice and cold, you cut it in half through the middle so you get two even long halves. With the insides facing up you fold them together by laying one half over the other. Grease some bread tins and cut the dough to shape and place them in the tin. Let them prove and bake at 170C for 30 to 40 min. Once out of the oven, brush the loaves with orange zeste infused sugar syrup and let them cool down before demoulding them.

That's it! Of course you don't have to make it with with speculaas as I did. You could easily make a nice spreadable ganache and sprinkle it with caramelised nuts or a smooth crème pat and sprinkle it with diced confit fruits. Impossible is nothing! And as always share and spread the blog and if there are questions or remarks, feel free to ask or tell.