Dark Chocolate Sourdough Zavyvanets
A Video Step-by-Step Guide to Making My Ukrainian Babka Recipe
Yes, this is THE dark chocolate sourdough zavyvanets (babka) that I used to sell out of every weekend. I honestly have no idea how many of these I baked during the first two years of the pandemic. My cottage bakery was set up as a curbside pick up from the very beginning, so when Covid-19 hit, while other restaurants or bakeries were pivoting, I had everything ready to go: online orders, contactless pick up, communication and so on. During those initial months of lock-down I was the busiest I have ever been as a baker. This was one of the most unexpected consequences of Covid-19. In a way, it allowed my tiny cottage bakery to thrive. Since people weren’t able to buy bread from grocery stores, they started to rely on local bakers for baked goods—a part of me really misses those days.
I adapted the recipe for the zavyvanets dough from my incredibly talented friend, Katrya. It is a beautiful and versatile enriched dough. The baked babka comes out super light, airy, and pillow soft. I was first introduced to her version while recipe testing for Olia Hercules’ masterpiece of a cookbook, Summer Kitchens. Katrya was one of the brilliant recipe contributors to Olia’s cookbook. Olia traveled far and wide, all over Ukraine for this book; collecting, researching, and developing recipes from the people and places she visited. Her book is a deep dive into the regional culinary culture of Ukraine. I would love to be able to do the same one day—write books focusing on preserving the baking traditions of Ukraine, Eastern Europe, Balkan countries, Central Asia, and Spain! You can support Katrya’s work over on her patreon where she posts monthly recipes in both English and Ukrainian. Katrya is originally from Kherson but due to the Russian occupation of her city, she had to flee to Lviv. She is currently working at a cottage bakery owned by another very talented baker, Vasylyna Veselovska. Their creations are stunning.
The recipe for the chocolate filling is from one of my favorite cookbooks that came out back in 2012 by Sami Tamimi and Yotam Ottolenghi called Jerusalem: A Cookbook. My personal favorite chocolate to use for the filling is the Callebaut Recipe No. 811 Finest Belgian Dark Chocolate. My favorite cocoa powder is the Callebaut 22/24 High Fat Cocoa Powder. It’s a dutch-processed (alkalized) cocoa powder with 22% to 24% cocoa butter content. It’s divine! If you can’t find it, don’t worry. Any good quality dutch-processed cocoa powder will do.
