Cheese, Red Pepper Pesto & Walnut Babka

My recipe today for Cheese, Red Pepper Pesto & Walnut Babka is made with my Classic Sourdough Bread made Easy recipe, cheese, pesto & walnuts.

An Easy to make Savoury Sourdough Babka

My recipe today for Cheese, Red Pepper Pesto & Walnut Babka is a dream to make, bake and eat. It’s made with my basic Classic Sourdough Bread made Easy recipe, with two types of cheese, a roasted red pepper pesto and walnuts.

I am aware that an authentic Babka is an enriched dough, with eggs and butter, and is baked as a yeasted cake, plus, it’s usually sweet too; but, with so many sweet treats over the festive period, I fancied a change. So it was my daughter that suggested we make this savoury Cheese, Red Pepper Pesto & Walnut Babka, and, I am so glad she did as it is utterly sublime.

Not only does this Cheese, Red Pepper Pesto & Walnut Babka look good and taste good, but it’s REALLY easy to make. You just need to have a bowl of lovely, bubbly sourdough, some cheese, pesto and walnuts, and you’re good to go.

You can use any pesto you like, but we really loved the idea of the Roasted Red Pepper Pesto that I had in my pantry, as well as some walnuts left over from Christmas and Cheddar and Red Leicester cheese too.

I’ve added some ideas for other flavour combinations in the notes below. You can also add some eggs and butter to the dough, if you want a richer and softer crumb. However, we found that the oil in the pesto (and the cheese) made for a wonderfully rich and indulgent savoury version of a traditional sweet Babka.

Serve this Cheese, Red Pepper Pesto & Walnut Babka with soup, a cheese and charcuterie platter, antipasti or cold cuts and meats for a delightful luncheon or supper.

I hope you enjoy making this, and eating it as much as we did. Using sourdough bread as a base gives such a wonderfully light crumb and texture, plus the sourdough holes allow all the cheese and pesto to melt into them. Enjoy! Karen

Alternative Ingredients

• Use any pesto you have to hand, such as traditional basil pesto, truffle pesto, sun-dried tomato pesto or a walnut pesto.
• Any hard cheese can be used, but try to use a mature or vintage cheese for extra flavour.
• Spread the Babka dough with cream cheese, then add fennel seeds and/or fresh fennel and use smoked salmon in place of cheese.
•  Add chopped sun-dried tomatoes to the filling.
• Add diced olives to the filling.
• Chopped cooked ham or grilled bacon lardons would also be lovely in this savoury Babka.
• For a lighter and softer crumb, add 320ml tepid milk in place of the water, 80g melted butter and 1 large free-range egg. Do this in step 2 of the recipe and proceed as normal.
• I used all white bread flour, but you can experiment with ancient grains, such as spelt or Kamut, using a 50/50 mix of flours.

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Step-by-Step Shaping and Baking Process

• In the morning, the dough will have risen overnight and you will have a large, round ball of smooth dough that’s ready to bake. Pre-heat the oven to 230C/220C Fan/450F/425F Fan/Gas mark 8. Grease and line a long loaf tin.

•  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and using the palm of your hand, gently press it out into a large rectangular shape, about 14″ x 10″ (35cm x 20cm).

•  Spread the pesto over the dough, then sprinkle the walnuts over and finally scatter the two cheeses over the pesto.

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•  Roll the dough up from the long side, so you have a long sausage shape.

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• Cut the rolled and filled dough in half right down the middle, so you have 2 long cut lengths, and then turn the filled dough over so the filling and layers are exposed.

• Twist the 2 lengths together into a simple plait shape.

• Carefully lift the plaited dough into the prepared loaf tin, turning over the ends if necessary. Sprinkle the Nigella seeds over the top of the Babka.

• Bake in the pre-heated oven for between 35 and 45 minutes, until the Babka is golden brown, well risen and sounds hollow when you tap it from underneath.
• Carefully invert the Babka onto a wire cooling rack with the top side still facing upwards and allow to cool for 30 to 45 minutes, before cutting into slices and serving.

More Bread Recipes

• Sourdough Pizza Bread Rolls
• Cheese and Garlic Sourdough Bread
• NO-KNEAD SOURDOUGH PUMPKIN BREAD
• YORKSHIRE STICKY FRUIT BUNS – SOURDOUGH

• YORKSHIRE STICKY FRUIT BUNS – SOURDOUGH
• How to make a Sourdough “Focaccia Garden”
• Cheese, Fennel and Sun-Dried Tomato Sourdough
• Pull-Apart Buttery Garlic Dinner Rolls

Recipe for Cheese, Red Pepper Pesto & Walnut Babka

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