TABELIAAUTHENTIC RECIPE
Babas au RhumRum Babas with Raisins
- Total
- 14 hr 5 min
- Difficulty
- ★★★☆☆
- Serves
- 8 servings
- Prep 25 min
- Cook 1 hr 40 min
- Rest 12 hr
A yeasted dough with rum-soaked raisins is baked in small molds and soaked with hot syrup scented with citrus peel, vanilla and rum. Finish with unheated rum, without flambéing.
AUTHENTICITY SCORE
Authenticity Score
This is the standard recipe, exactly as it’s made where it comes from — the highest Authenticity Score possible. Substituting ingredients changes this score; the app shows exactly how, ingredient by ingredient.
Ingredients (8 servings)
100Authenticity- Raisins50 g
- Dark agricole rum240 ml150 ml for soaking raisins, 50 ml for syrup and 40 ml to finish. The remaining soaking rum can be used to finish, so about 200 ml need be purchased. Use a dark aged agricole rum if available.
- Bread flour125 gSift before using
- Fresh compressed baker’s yeast5 gUse fresh compressed cake yeast; check seasonal local availability before starting.
- Lukewarm water15 ml
- Granulated sugar260 g12g for the dough and 250g for the syrup
- Salt1 g
- Eggs2 eggsBring to room temperature
- Unsalted butter75 g50g for the dough, softened at room temperature, and 25g for the molds, melted
- Water500 mlFor the syrup
- Lemon0.5 lemonsPeel thinly without the white pith Use unwaxed fruit when the peel is needed; wash before peeling.
- Orange0.5 orangesPeel thinly without the white pith For peel use, choose unwaxed oranges and wash before peeling. Check seasonal supply of unwaxed fruit before starting.
- Vanilla bean0.5 beanSplit lengthwise
Method
Soak the raisins in rum the day before
- 1 Put 50g raisins in a container, add 150ml dark rum, cover and leave at room temperature overnight.
Ready when
Continue when the raisins have absorbed rum and become plump.
Knead with eggs added one at a time, then mix in butter and raisins
- 1 Dissolve 5g fresh yeast in 15ml lukewarm water.
- 2 Put 125g bread flour in a bowl and make a well. Add 12g sugar, 1g salt, 1 egg and the dissolved yeast; mix with a wooden spatula, drawing in the flour.
- 3 Knead for about 10 minutes until elastic and pulling away from the bowl, then add the remaining 1 egg and knead until incorporated.
- 4 Mix in 50g softened unsalted butter completely, then add the drained raisins. Reserve the soaking rum.
Ready when
Continue when the butter and raisins are evenly distributed and the dough is glossy and very sticky.
Butter 8 molds, divide the dough and proof until doubled
- 1 Brush the insides of 8 baba molds, each 55mm across and 92ml in capacity, with 25g melted unsalted butter.
- 2 Divide the dough into 8 portions, about 45g each, and place in the molds. Cover with plastic wrap and leave for about 45 minutes in a warm place no hotter than 30°C.
- 3 MeanwhileDuring the final 20 minutes of proofing, preheat the oven to 200°C.
Ready when
Continue when the dough has doubled and risen nearly to the mold rims.
Caution
A place above 30°C makes the dough slack and its crumb coarse.
Bake at 200°C for 18 minutes, then unmold and cool
- 1 Bake in the oven at 200°C for 18 minutes.
- 2 Immediately after baking, use oven mitts to unmold and place on a rack to cool.
Ready when
Continue when the cakes are deep golden all over and do not shrink after unmolding.
Caution
Leaving the babas in their molds causes them to deflate.
The molds and cakes are very hot. Unmold them away from your body.
Boil the syrup with citrus and vanilla, then add rum off the heat
- 1 Put 500ml water, 250g sugar, lemon and orange peel and the split vanilla bean in a saucepan over medium heat.
- 2 When the sugar has dissolved and the syrup boils, take off the heat and stir in 50ml dark rum.
Ready when
Continue when the sugar is completely dissolved, the syrup is clear and the citrus and vanilla are fragrant.
Immerse cooled babas in hot syrup until bubbles stop
- 1 Use a slotted spoon to immerse the cooled babas in the hot syrup, 1 at a time.
- 2 When bubbles stop rising, turn the baba and leave briefly, then lift out with the slotted spoon and arrange in a deep serving dish.
- 3 Collect syrup that drains into the dish and repeatedly pour it over the babas.
Ready when
Continue when syrup has reached the centers, the babas are soft and heavy, and syrup seeps out when pressed.
Caution
The syrup is very hot just after boiling. Use the slotted spoon and do not put your hands in it.
Cool briefly and pour over unheated rum
- 1 When the babas are warm to the touch, pour 5ml reserved soaking rum or dark rum over each 1 cake.
Ready when
They are ready when the rum has soaked through the surface and the babas are moist and glossy.
Caution
Alcohol remains in the syrup and finishing rum. Do not serve to children or teenagers, pregnant or breastfeeding people, or anyone who will drive.
Refrigerate and eat within 2 days.
About this dish
Stanisław, the Polish king exiled in Lorraine, is said to have thought of pouring alcohol over a kugelhopf that had become too dry, naming it after Ali Baba in his beloved One Thousand and One Nights. Accounts differ on whether he used wine or rum.
Stohrer, a pastry cook from his court, is said to have made baba a specialty at his shop on Rue Montorgueil in Paris. The shop still operates on the same street, with baba on its menu.
In the 19th century, Auguste Julien, who had also worked at Stohrer’s, opened a shop with his brothers. Their crown-shaped savarin, soaked in a secret syrup, is said to have threatened Stohrer’s business.
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