Nadiya Hussain’s Sprinkle Butter Babka Loaf Is Almost Too Pretty To Eat

If you asked Nadiya Hussain, season six winner of The Great British Baking Show, cooking show host and bestselling cookbook author, what type of baker she was, she’d tell you that it depends on the day. Is it a chill-out day? An outdoor day? A celebration day? There are baking recipes for every kind of day and mood, and her new cookbook is filled with them. Nadiya’s Everyday Baking: From Weeknight Dinners to Celebration Cakes, Let Your Oven Do the Work is coming out on September 27, but Nadiya has graciously shared a sneak peek at one of her recipes below.

In Everyday Baking, Nadiya hopes to show people that anyone can bake. “You don’t have to have a fancy kitchen, an oven in the wall, expensive equipment, a TV show,” she wrote in the book’s introduction. “Anyone can bake—you, even me—all you need is an oven. You don’t even have to love baking, as it’s a love that grows with time, with every baked you undertake, and before you know it you’ll be hooked on the sweet smell of baking in the kitchen.”

The cookbook is organized by occasion, from “Everyday Kind of Days” to “Rainbow Days” (when you want something healthier) to “Happy Days.” You’ll find sweet and savory recipes, including Whole Roasted Onion Curry, Tandoori Chicken Naan Sando, Butterscotch Cheesecake Coconut Bars and Coffee Cake with Dalgona Coffee Cream. The recipe that caught my eye was in the “Chill-Out Days” chapter: Sprinkle Butter Babka Loaf. It’s perfect for children and kids at heart, and the rainbow sprinkle filling is sure to delight.

Reprinted with permission from Nadiya’s Everyday Baking: From Weeknight Dinners to Celebration Cakes, Let Your Oven Do the Work. Copyright © 2022 by Nadiya Hussain. Photographs copyright © 2022 by Chris Terry. Published by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

It’s traditional in Holland to have a slice of white bread buttered and sprinkled—and when I say sprinkled, I mean doused in chocolate sprinkles. Take me to Holland! They had me at bread and butter, let alone sprinkles. So, this is my all-in-one version: a rolled babka bread dough with colored sprinkles swirled through, then braided and baked. Based on the traditional Jewish sweet bread, it pleases not only the baker in me, but also the eight-year-old in me!

Sprinkle Butter Babka Loaf

Serves 8-10

Ingredients:

For the dough

2 1/4 cups (275g) all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting

1 3/4 teaspoons fast-acting dried yeast

2 tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs, beaten

3 tablespoons whole milk

6 tablespoons (80g) unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing

For the filling

7 tablespoons (100g) unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup (100g) sugar

3/4 cup (140g) rainbow sprinkles, plus 2 tablespoons extra for the top

For the syrup

3 tablespoons golden syrup or light corn syrup

1 tablespoon hot water

Directions:

Start by lightly greasing and lining the inside of a 9 x 5-inch (900-gram) loaf pan.

Now, let’s make the dough by placing the flour in the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl if you are making it by hand. Add the yeast and sugar to one side of the flour and the salt to the other.

Give it a quick mix and make a well in the center. Add the beaten eggs and the milk and mix till the dough starts to come together. If you’re using a stand mixer, attach a dough hook and start to bring the dough together.

Slowly start adding the butter in clumps till fully incorporated. Knead on high speed for 6 minutes. If you are kneading by hand, use as little flour as possible and knead for about 10 minutes till the dough is smooth and shiny and stretchy. Lightly flour the work surface and roll out the dough to a rectangle of 8 x 12 inches (20 x 30 centimeters).

Make the sprinkle butter by mixing the soft butter with the sugar and half the sprinkles.

Orient the dough rectangle with one of the long edges closest to you. Spread the sprinkle butter all over the rectangle, leaving an edge of 1/2-inch (1-centimeter) all the way around. Take the rest of the sprinkles and spread all over evenly and push into the dough.

Now, roll up the dough like a cinnamon bun, starting at the long edge. Make sure to roll tight. Lift the roll and place it in front of you vertically, seam-side down. Using a sharp knife, start at the top of the roll and cut it in half vertically all the way down, all the way through. So now you should have two long pieces of dough. Turn them out so you can see stripes of dough and sprinkle butter.

Make a large cross using the two dough strips. Crisscross the whole thing like a two-strand braid till you reach the end. Gently lift and pop into the prepared pan, making sure to tuck under the ends. Cover with a piece of greased plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place till doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Bake the loaf in the oven for 15 minutes. Lower the heat to 350°F and continue to bake for 20- 25 minutes, making sure the top of the loaf doesn’t get too dark. Take out and let cool for 15 minutes before removing from the pan.

Make the syrup glaze by mixing the golden syrup and water. Brush the loaf all over with the sticky glaze and scatter with the extra sprinkles.

Once the loaf has cooled down, slice and it’s ready to eat. Nobody is stopping you from adding more butter and sprinkles, if you so wish, in fact I highly recommend it!