Baba is the yeast pastry that became familiar in Lorraine in the early nineteenth century and is eaten, as described above, by the Jews of Alsace for Purim breakfast; it was sometimes confused with Kugelhopf. The French gilded the lily, dousing the dry baba with rum—a novelty from America. Today babas are baked and served two ways, in either a large or a tiny bulbous mold. I adore baba soaked in rum and order it whenever I can. After tasting an especially light baba in a tiny sixteen-seat restaurant called Les Arômes in Aubagne, I asked the chef, Yanick Besset, if he would give me his recipe, and here it is. As you can see, a good baba dough itself contains very little sugar, the sweetness coming from the sugar-rum bath spooned on after baking.
Recipe information
Yield
8 to 10 servings, or 12 small babas
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Generously butter one large or twelve small baba molds or muffin cups.
Step 2
Pour the milk in a small bowl, and stir in 3 tablespoons of the sugar. Sprinkle the yeast over the milk and sugar, and let stand for 10 minutes.
Step 3
Using an electric mixer equipped with a beater, cream the butter. Add the salt and the eggs, one at a time, mixing well between additions. Add the milk-yeast mixture, blending until smooth.
Step 4
On a low speed, add the flour little by little, mixing until you have a thick, creamy batter. Pour it into the prepared pan, gently spreading it out. If using greased muffin cups or small baba pans, scoop out about a half cup of batter, roughly the size of a golf ball, and put it in one of the cups or pans. Repeat with the rest of the batter. Allow to rise at room temperature for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
Step 5
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees, and bake the big baba for 25 to 30 minutes and the little ones for 20 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
Step 6
While the baba is cooking, make the syrup. Mix 1 1/2 cups water and the remaining 1 cup sugar in a saucepan. Stir until the sugar is dissolved, bring to a boil, remove from the heat, and stir in half a cup of the rum. Pour the rum mixture over the large baba in the baking pan. If making mini-babas, turn them out into a large bowl. Prick the babas all over with a skewer or a fork, then spoon the syrup all over them. It may seem like a lot of syrup, but babas can really drink. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or up to 2 days, before they are to be eaten. Just before serving, unmold the large baba onto a rimmed serving plate and spoon on more rum as you wish. Serve with berries, whipped cream, or vanilla ice cream.
