Kokosh

Babka dough, delicious, buttery and golden, is wrapped around a sumptuous filling of poppy seeds, cocoa, sugar and butter–gently crunchy and bittersweet, and aromatic with orange zest and vanilla. Dusted with powdered sugar to finish, and best enjoyed still slightly warm from the oven.

Kokosh feels like babka’s lesser known, but equally delicious, cousin. It is described as the Hungarian version of babka, and is very reminiscent of it in terms of flavour, but the texture is where it differs. The dough is less pillowy than that of babka, since in a slice there is less of it, and so the ratio of dough to filling is different, meaning the latter has a bit more time to shine. When I’ve made babka in the past, I haven’t made the filling with poppy seeds, since it isn’t typical to do so, but I adore the flavour of poppy seeds in bread, so to have it as an addition here was very welcomed. Whatsmore, where a chocolate babka’s filling generally sticks to cocoa, sugar and butter, with the occasional inclusion of chocolate, vanilla and a little cinnamon, this kokosh filling tastes a touch more nuanced, with the brightness of orange zest, the nutty undertones of the poppy seeds, and the more caramelised notes of light brown sugar in addition to caster.

Some kokosh recipes feature a crumble topping, which I’ve no doubt would be delicious and I trust I will experiment with in the future, but for this recipe I kept it simple, finishing it with a dusting of powdered sugar, and allowing the flavours of the dough and filling to sing true.

I recommend eating it an hour or so after baking, when it is still warm and the filling slightly gooey, but it stays fresh up to two days afterwards. You can easily refreshen slices with a quite blast in the microwave, or, it is beautiful toasted, and served with a little scraping of butter.