((PKG)) BAKING BABKA
((TRT: 04:00))
((Topic Banner: Baking Babka))
((Reporter/Camera: Genia Dulot))
((Map: Los Angeles, California))
((Main character: 1 male))
((MUSIC/NATS))
((NATS: Shimi Aaron and participants))
Hi, guys. Good morning, afternoon, wherever you are in the world. Hi. How are you, guys?
((Shimi Aaron
Chef))
Today, I am going teach you how to make my babka, which is very different than the original babka that they do make in other places.
((MUSIC/NATS))
((Shimi Aaron
Chef))
Babka was invented in the 19th century in Eastern Europe by Jewish women who had leftovers of their challah bread
and decided to stuff it with fruits and cinnamon. And there was no chocolate back then. It was very expensive. They just used fruits that they cooked and added to the babka, to the challah bread and just baked it. And this is how the whole thing started. I feel that the original babka doesn’t have balance. You take a bite and it’s too heavy for me.
((Shimi Aaron
Chef))
And with this one, I am warning you, you are going be able to eat all of it today. So, don’t. Just don’t do that.
((Shimi Aaron
Chef))
I think it started with aesthetics. You know, I was very fascinated with the aesthetics of it and the way it looked. And I thought, “Oh, my God. I can dress it up. I can make it look like this. I can make it look like that”, you know. And I think the reason it became so successful is because I was able to take something that was so old fashioned, you know and you look at it and it looks like a grandma’s house, which is the meaning of babka, you know, it’s a grandma.
((Shimi Aaron
Chef))
And I think unconsciously, I did something that made it more contemporary. I am going to go over the ingredients that we have for the ganache. So, we have 250 grams of dark chocolate. I use 72%. We have 150 grams of butter, 40 grams of cocoa powder and 50 grams of sugar powder.
((Shimi Aaron
Chef))
The 90s were difficult times to grow in Israel as a gay kid, when you are being bullied and you’re being beaten up. My dad didn’t think that, you know, having a gay kid in the house is the right thing.
((Shimi Aaron
Chef))
So, I was asked to leave the house when I was 17. Despite of going through everything that I went through, I was still the one who made everybody laugh. I was singing for everyone. I was performing for everyone. I was cooking for everyone. And since then, you just move around and you realize that this is the best thing that ever happened to you.
((Shimi Aaron
Chef))
The guts that I have to do the things that I do today, I wouldn’t have the same guts to like, move to Los Angeles in the middle of pandemic and try to turn what I do into a career, if I wouldn’t be going through the things that I went through as a child.
((Shimi Aaron
Chef))
It needs to be happy. The colors, they make me happy. And I know if something that I look at makes me happy, it would probably make someone else happy. It’s really, really important to do it with love.
((MUSIC/NATS))
Okay, guys. So, this is how you want it to look like.
So, you want it to be on the dough, to be golden.
((Shimi Aaron
Chef))
I was fascinated by the braiding and, you know, the yeast, the balance between the sweet and the dough. And then the candied oranges and the scents of the roses.
((Shimi Aaron
Chef))
And suddenly, it became like a painting or a song, you know, when you write a song and you put one note, and another note, and another note, and then you have like a song. And this is how I feel about the babka. It’s like writing a song.
((MUSIC/NATS))
((Shimi Aaron
Chef))
Just make sure to use a serrated knife when you slice it and slice it like bread. You don’t want to press it because it is going to ruin the texture inside and it’s not going look as beautiful. So, just slice it nicely.
Wow, it looks so beautiful. Rachel, thank you.
((MUSIC/NATS))