Baba au Rhum
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.
