Nutella Babka
This Nutella babka has a soft enriched dough, filled with Nutella, added chocolate chunks and roasted hazelnuts. Good on any day for breakfast with a cup of tea or coffee.
Babka is a sweet bread prepared from an enriched yeast-leavened dough with eggs and butter, similar to Brioche or Kalács. Originating in the Jewish communities, it is now popular the world over. Bakeries sell it filled with a filling such as cinnamon, fruit, or cheese and then rolled up and braided before baking.
Why not make it extra special and make my homemade Nutella, eats easy and I think it tastes even better than the original. You just need to own a mini food processor to make it. You can find my homemade recipe here.
If you decide to give this recipe a try, let me know! Leave a comment below and rate it – it’s really helpful to me and other readers knowing what you think! And don’t forget to take a picture and tag me @thegourmetlarder or hashtag it #thegourmetlarder on Instagram or Facebook. I love seeing what you’ve been baking! 🙂
INGREDIENTS
For this recipe all you need are these ingredients:
- Strong white bread flour (BL80)
- Granulated sugar
- Fast-action dried yeast or fresh yeast
- Milk
- Eggs
- Unsalted butter
- Homemade Nutella or store-bought
- Dark chocolate
- Roasted hazelnuts
Using fresh or dried yeast, click here for further guidance!
TIP: I highly recommend adding salt to your doughs and pastry. Salt helps balance out the sweetness and richness. It also elevates the other ingredients, bring out the best characteristics of any recipe. I recommend Maldon Sea salt flakes or Cornish sea salt.
EQUIPMENT SUGGESTIONS
This small pan is a great size for boiling small amounts of liquids and it has pouring lips built into the rim of the saucepan which makes it easy to use.
Not everyone is lucky enough to have one of these but they are useful if you do a lot of baking or making bread.
Perfect for banana bread, lemon drizzle, pound cake and traditional loaves.
Please check out my Shop for a curated collection of some of my favourite baking equipment. The Gourmet Larder is an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
TIP: I highly recommend using metric measurements and a digital kitchen scale, rather than cup measurements. If you have ever ended up with dry, dense or crumbly baked goods, it might be because of inaccurate volume measurements, not all measuring cups are made equally. All my recipes on this blog are carefully developed so that you can easily recreate them in your own kitchen with success, using metric measurements. It is also a lot easier, less messy and you will get far better, consistent results. 🙂
If you are interested in understanding conversions, here you will find the best conversion chart.
NUTRITION
Serving: one Nutella babka slice
Nutrition information can vary for a recipe based on factors such as precision of measurements, brands, ingredient freshness, or the source of nutrition data.
I strive to keep the information as accurate as possible but make no warranties regarding its accuracy.
I encourage you to make your own calculations based on the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
STORAGE AND FREEZING
This Nutella Babka will stay fresh for 24 hours in an airtight container at room temperature. Do not place it in the fridge.
Freezing: It also freezes well for up to 2 months. To defrost simply leave on the kitchen worktop for a couple of hours. Or you can pre-slice the whole Babka into 10 slices and freeze them individually. Perfect for a little treat now and again and you don’t need to worry about the leftovers drying up.
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Nutella Babka
INGREDIENTS LIST
Dough
- 280 g white bread flour (BL80)
- 15 g caster sugar
- ½ tsp fine sea salt
- 15 g fresh yeast (5g dried yeast)
- 100 ml milk
- 1 medium egg (50g total)
- 1 medium egg yolk (20g total)
- 60 g butter
Filling
- 150 g homemade Nutella
- 30 g dark chocolate (minimum 50% cocoa solids)
- 30 g whole roasted hazelnuts (without shell)
Sugar syrup: (optional, makes the babka shiny and keeps fresher for longer)
- 100 ml water
- 70 g caster sugar
Preparation
- Yeast: If your using dried yeast see step 2. For fresh yeast heat the milk gently in a small saucepan, until it reaches body temperature 37°C / 98°F. You should be able to comfortably put your finger in it and hold it there. (If it's too hot it will kill the yeast) Remove from the heat and stir in the yeast. Set aside until needed.
- Bread dough: In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, add the flour, salt and sugar. If you are using dried yeast add the yeast to one side and the sugar and salt to the other.
- Make a well in the centre and pour in the eggs and milk, then mix on a slow speed for 2–3 minutes, until combined.
- Next, cut the butter into 1cm cubes and mix into the dough a few pieces at a time. Allow the butter to incorporate fully, before adding more.
- Once you have added all the butter, continue through the sticky stage, until the dough is completely smooth, silky and elastic and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let the dough rest for about 15 minutes.
- Grease a 900 g loaf tin with a little butter or neutral oil and line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper, to help release it after baking. Set aside while you shape the dough.
- Shaping: Lightly flour a work surface and roll out the dough to form a 35×28 cm rectangle, with a long side closest to you. (See shaping post section)
- Using an offset spatula, spread the homemade Nutella spread over the rectangle, leaving a ½ inch/1 cm border all around.
- Break up the chocolate and hazelnuts into small pieces and sprinkle on top the Nutella.
- Starting from the long side closest to you, roll up the dough into a tight spiral like a roulade, with the seam underneath.
- Turn the roll through 90° clockwise so that a short end is closest to you and using a large sharp knife, slice lengthways down through the middle of the dough, cutting it into 2 long even pieces.
- With the cut-sides facing upwards, gently press the top end of each half together to seal, then lift the right half over the left half, followed by the left half over the right half. Repeat, twisting the dough to make two intertwined halves that form a stranded plait. Gently press the bottom ends together to seal.
- Carefully lift the loaf into the lined tin, don’t worry if there are gaps in the tin as the babka will rise and look good.
- Proving: Cover with a clean tea towel. Leave at room temperature for about 1-1½ hours until doubled in size. (In extremely warm weather it can take 45 minutes.)
- Fifteen minutes before the end of the proving time, preheat the oven to 200°C / 180°C fan 400°F / Gas Mark 6.
- Baking: bake the babka for 10 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 170°C / 150°C fan / 325°F/ Gas 3 and cook for a further 25–30 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
- Glaze: While the babka is baking, make the syrup. In a small saucepan over medium heat, bring water and sugar to a boil. As soon as the sugar dissolves, reduce the heat and simmer, without stirring, for 5 minutes, until syrupy.
- Once the babka is ready and is out of the oven, brush the syrup over the hot babka.
- Let the babka cool in the tin until warm enough to handle. Turn out onto a wire rack and serve warm or at room temperature.
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