Nutella Babka

I'm in a baking mood at the moment. It can probably be put down to the cooler weather creeping in. Even though I'm pretty flat out with work (what's new?) I'm really loving the few moments I can steal away to have a slice of babka, spiced banana bread or even a bagel with a hot cup of tea on the couch with the kitties. The kitties are also feeling the cold because when they are napping, the puff themselves up to keep warm..my heart melts every single time! They look like little chubby furry puddings <3 I've since allocated some knitted blankets for them to curl up under at night because there's nothing better than being a snug little bug in a rug! 

..Sorry you can totally tell me I'm a proud kitty mama! Apologies to all the dog lovers out there who read this.

Alright so babka! I made this a couple of times and god it was just so crap. I really disliked the chocolate centre when made traditionally. I might have been doing it wrong but the powdered cacao and coconut sugar kept falling out everywhere (I mean everywhere) when I was trying to roll and braid it. I caved in and thought, well if it's not be traditional, it'll have to be delicious. I had a cup of homemade nutella (I use I Quit Sugar's recipe but I roast my hazelnuts - it's silky and beautiful) in the fridge and quickly spread it on and shoved the loaf in the oven only moments before becoming fed up with the whole process. To give you an idea of how frustrated I was getting, the local birds had babka for morning tea at least 3 times last week.

When it was time to take the loaf out of the oven, I immediately noticed a difference and cut it while it was still hot to see the middle. The nutella had worked perfectly! So swirly and chocolately. Yassssssss.

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Nutella Babka

by Melanie Lionello April-1-2016

A wholesome take on a New York classic

Ingredients

• 90ml lukewarm milk
• 1 tbs lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
• 1 egg + 1 egg yolk
• 125g butter, melted
• 300g white spelt flour
• 3/4 tsp dried yeast
• big pinch salt
• 50g rapadura sugar
• 1 cup homemade nutella (see link in post)

Instructions

Place everything except for the nutella into a mixmaster with a dough hook. Knead for 10-12 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic.On a lightly floured surface, roll dough out into a large 40cm rectangle. Spread your nutella evenly over the entire rectangle.Roll the dough up along its length so that you have a short roll instead of a long one. Slice down the middle with a knife, keeping about 5cm at the top connected. You should have one roll but with two legs now if that makes sense. Then braid your two legs by passing one over the over until the entire loaf is twisted then pinch the end to join it again. Have the intersection of the loaf (the chocolatey part) facing up for a pretty, swirly loaf. There's lots of great videos on YouTube about wrapping a babka if you have trouble.Place in an 8 inch loaf pan, cover with cling wrap and let it prove in a warm spot for 90 minutes.Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. After it has proved, bake for 50 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

Details

Prep time: 2 hour Cook time: 50 mins Total time: 2 hour 50 mins Yield: 1 loaf

This recipe was inspired by 'New York Cult Recipes' and chatting with an avid-babka maker.