Subject: Searching for a recipe...
From: Matthew
Date: 11/19/2020, 8:10 AM
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com
On 11/19/2020 8:10 PM, Matthew wrote:
Hi! I grew up south of Boston. The bakeries sold a sweet “bread,” with raisins & cinnamon.
Those bakeries are gone, but on a visit back I found a bakery at Putterham Circle in
Brookline that sells something pretty close. (I’m going to enclose a photo below).
I’d love to make this, but my dilemma is, the “bread” isn’t like traditional babka. To me,
it’s in-between a bread & a cake. I’ve never found anything that seems to come close. And
that round shape? There aren’t too many round bread pans around. Any thoughts?
Thanks!
Matthew
On Nov 20, 2020, at 6:51 AM, Phaedrus wrote:
Hi Matthew,
A couple of questions before I begin:
What did those Boston bakeries call this? Babka or what? What did you ask for when you bought it there or
in Brookline? Perhaps you just pointed to it in the display case? What was the name of the bakery on
Putterham Circle in Brookline?
Phaed
On 11/20/2020 10:04 AM, Matthew wrote:
Hi! I’m not sure what the bakeries called it. My family called it Bupkie.
And yes, I pointed when I bought the loaf. I’m not sure, but the bakery
may be Cheryl Ann’s. Sorry I’m not more helpful.
Hi Matthew,
I've looked at dozens of raisin bread photos and cinnamon bread photos with raisins this morning and I must
say that in all of them the raisins appear much darker than those in your photo, which are very pale. Perhaps
they are golden raisins?
Also, "Cheryl Ann's Bakery" in the "Shops at Putterham" is a Jewish bakery. Were those Boston bakeries that
you mention all Jewish bakeries or other ethnicity such as Ukrainian or Polish? There is a menu for Cheryl
Ann's Bakery here. Please look at it and see if your bread is one of those listed there:
Cheryl Ann's Bakery
The bread in your photo looks to me to be what I would call "cylindrical" rather than round. Cylindrical loaves
are baked in a special pan that is not used so much anymore or in 1 or 2 pound coffee cans. I'm thinking you
might find the same bread in another shape rather than cylindrical.
However, I found a photo and a recipe for "Ukrainian Babka" that is cylindrical. It is baked in a coffee can
for the cylindrical shape. It has raisins, but it does not have any cinnamon. For flavoring, it has rum and
orange zest. It is described as being sweeter and richer than "paska". For the photo and recipe, see:
Traditional Ukrainian Babka
There is another photo and recipe here: Ukrainian Babka
and another one here: Ukrainian Easter Babka
I did not find any cylindrical babka with cinnamon, just with lemon or orange zest or no special flavoring at all.
Hope this helps. Please let me know. I'll post this for reader input.
Phaed
Hello Matthew,
I was reviewing some of my recent searches this morning and yours was one of them. I noticed that you
said your family called it "bupkie." I went back to the menu for Cheryl Ann's Bakery, and I see that
there is a listing there for "Bubkie, Cinnamon Raisin – Tube shaped". Perhaps "bubkie" is what your
family was saying. I could not find enough information about it to determine whether "bubkie" is just
another name for "babka" or if it is a different bread with a different recipe.
Searching for "bubkie", I found a photo here: Weinberg's Bakery
(scroll down the page).
That bakery and a couple of other kosher bakeries in MA appear to be the only places that offer bubkie,
and it is not always tube-shaped.
The only recipe that I can find for "bubkie" is neither tube-shaped nor is it cinnamon-raisin. See here: Bubbie's Bubkie
I could not find anything else about it. Your post will be on my site in a couple of days. Maybe a reader
can help.
Phaed
Hi Phaed! Thank you so much for your hard work!! OF COURSE bubkie & bupkie are one
and the same. And I love that you found that bakery in Nantucket. Used to be a major
destination for jews in the summer. There had been an amusement park (Paragon Park)
known far & wide.
I will give that recipe a try!! Thanks again & stay safe!!
Matthew
