Babka Dough

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix sugar, warm water (105ºF to 110ºF or 40.5ºC to 43ºC) and yeast together. Allow yeast to bloom for 8 minutes. It should be foamy and double in size.
2. Add olive oil, salt and all of the bread flour into the bowl and with a wooden spoon or spatula, combine until a rough ball of dough forms.
3. Fit your stand mixer with the hook attachment and mix the dough on medium for 8 minutes. The dough should pull away from the sides of the bowl, but may still stick to the bottom of the bowl. IF it’s still sticky, you can add 1 tablespoon of flour.
4. The dough should be somewhat sticky. With oiled hands, remove the dough from the mixer and place in a large oiled bowl and cover with cling wrap. At this point, you can either let it slowly rise in the fridge overnight or allow to rise in a warm place for 1 hour.

Shaping the Dough

1. Drain your sun-dried tomatoes well from the oil mixture. Roughly chop and set aside.
2. Drain your marinated artichokes well and finely chop them and set aside.
3. Gently punch the dough to release the air and roll out to 12 x 18 inch (30.4 x 45 cm) rectangle.
4. Evenly spread sun-dried tomato garlic spread onto the dough, leaving a half inch (1.27 cm) border all around. Then, add your chopped artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes and crumbled goat cheese.
5. Tightly roll the dough into a log, starting with the shorter end.
6. Cut log straight down the middle leaving the top uncut. Twist the dough onto itself.
7. Carefully transfer the bread into a lined 9×5-inch loaf pan and cover loosely with a  tea towel and allow to proof for 30 minutes.
8. 20 minutes into the bread proofing, preheat your oven to 350ºF (176ºC).
9. Right before I pop it in the oven, I like to lightly brush it with oil from the sun-dried tomatoes. It’s totally optional but adds a tad more favor! Bake for 40 to 45 minutes and serve completely cooled. Enjoy!