The Key For A Perfect Pizza Babka Is All In The Sauce

Forget the sweet ingredients like chocolate and cinnamon, why not experience babka through a whole new savory lens? If you've only had the braided bread in its original, sweet manifestations, then it's definitely time to experience the pizza-inspired version. Pizza babka is the best of both worlds — it keeps fluffy delicious bread as the base but makes it suitable for lunch or dinner instead of dessert by adding sauce, cheese, meat, and plenty of other potential toppings. Although it is more difficult to make than a standard pizza, it is well worth it.

However, in order to keep the process as smooth as possible, there is one key thing to keep in mind when making a pizza babka. It's all about the amount of sauce that gets slathered on the dough. Getting that part right will make all the difference in how it rolls together. Too much and you'll end up with a mess and a bunch of wasted sauce.

Aside from preparing and rolling out the dough, spreading the pizza sauce is the first step in creating a pizza babka, so you'll want to get it right. If it helps, you might want to think of the sauce as a sort of less is more type of scenario. Now that's not to say that you should skimp on it, but do keep it to a thin layer across the dough. You don't want to drench the babka dough by any means and you certainly don't want it forming a lake in the middle or spilling over the sides.

Take a note from the original braided bread, which only gets a light dusting of sweetness before it's rolled. Any more and it would be a sticky mess. The same is true with the pizza version. If you try to smear on a thick layer of sauce most of it is going to seep out when you go to roll and braid the dough.

Another key tip to keep in mind has to do with the bulkiness of the ingredients, including the sauce itself. The thinner your ingredients are, the easier the babka will be to roll and the better it will look. For this reason, you'll want to use smoothly pureed pizza sauce, not anything with a bunch of chunky tomatoes. You'll also want to go for thinly sliced pepperoni and ensure that the mozzarella is distributed evenly, watching out for clumps. Or consider using sliced cheese instead of the shredded stuff, as it will lay flat and won't escape the dough during braiding.

That's not to say that you absolutely cannot use thicker ingredients. If you're craving sausage or jalapeños then, by all means, go for it. Just be aware that it will impact the aesthetic of your final babka, making it bumpy and lumpy in the process. It will also require some care to ensure that the lumps don't break through the dough during rolling and braiding, but if you can manage that aspect it will probably be worth it for the flavor — even if it's not the prettiest or most symmetrical pizza babka.