Easy Chocolate Nutella Babka with Sugar Syrup
Fluffy, delicious and indulgent, this Chocolate Nutella Babka is everything you'll want to eat for every special occasion.
Ingredients
For the dough
- 530 g flour all-purpose
- 7 g instant dry yeast
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 80 g granulated white sugar
- 100 g unsalted butter room temperature
- 200 ml milk
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
For the filling
- 300 g Nutella
- 150 g dark chocolate roughly chopped
For the sugar syrup
- 160 g granulated white sugar
- 120 ml water
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Heat the milk until it's a little bit hot to the touch. Whisk in yeast and 2 tsp sugar. Cover the bowl with a clean towel and let it proof for 5-10 minutes until the mixture becomes foamy (that's how you know your yeast is still active).
- After the yeast has proofed, add remaining sugar, softened butter, vanilla extract and salt. Whisk it for 1-2 minutes until combined. Sift the flour and gradually add it in. Knead the dough until it starts pulling away from the sides of the bowl and looks soft and supple - about 7 minutes. If it looks too dry add a tablespoon of milk, or if it looks too wet add a little bit of flour at a time.
- Form into a ball and place into a large bowl greased with butter, cover with plastic wrap and place it in a warm environment to rise until doubled, about 90 minutes or until it doubles in size.
- After dough has risen, punch down the dough inside the mixing bowl. If you make both loaves, cover the bowl and place it in the refrigerator at least 4 hours, preferably overnight or up to 2 days. If you make only one loaf, cut the dough in half, the first one you refrigerate and the second one you place in the freezer.
- Take out the dough from the refrigerator and let it rest at room temperature for 30 minutes. Grease two 10x30 cm loaf pans with butter and line with parchment paper.
- Punch down the dough again, remove from the bowl and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Cut the dough in half and work with one loaf at a time, covering the second one with a clean towel.
- Shape the babka - on a slightly floured work surface, roll one dough half out into a 20x30cm rectangle. Spread with 150g of Nutella, leaving a ½ cm border uncovered. Sprinkle 75g roughly chopped dark chocolate on top of the Nutella layer.
- Tightly roll the dough into a log and place it on its seam. Using a sharp serrated knife, cut the log in half lengthwise. Place both halves with the chocolate filling side up and using a crisscross pattern, place one half on top of the other half, forming an X. Pinch the ends to secure the shape.
- Place in prepared loaf pan and cover with plastic wrap or clean towel. Repeat with the second half of the dough.
- Let both shaped loaves to rise for another 2 hours or until doubled in size.
- Preheat oven to 180°C and bake for 40-45 minutes or until babka is golden brown on top and when you insert a skewer in the dough portion comes out clean.
- While the loaves are in the oven, make the sugar syrup. In a small saucepan over medium heat, bring water and sugar to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat when the sugar dissolves, let it cool slightly and add vanilla extract.
- Remove loaves from the oven and brush syrup over them. Let them cool on a wire rack until they are warm, then remove from pans and serve warm or let cool completely.