Babka has been on my “to-make” list for so long! The seemingly intricate swirls and layers of chocolate and yeasted brioche-type bread make it so impressive and beautiful. When I started to research good Babka recipes to work from, I remembered that there was only one recipe I hadn’t yet tried from Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi’s Jerusalem cookbook, the Chocolate Krantz Cake (Babka)! Just like every other recipe in their book, I knew this would be amazing, and my Gd, it is. I adapted it just slightly, then swapped Nutella (angels singing) in, and it’s a dream come true.
I know Spring/Summer are around the corner, and we are all also making Green Smoothies and doing squats, but life is about balance, and you need this Nutella Babka in your life and it should be made year-round! K? So, I actually didn’t grow up eating Babka, it was more Yemenite Jachnun on the weekends at our house. It wasn’t until I got to college (hey Brandeis!) and met my Ashkenazi tribe of friends that introduced me to gorgeous, twisted Babka filled with chocolate or cinnamon (in my opinion Ashkenazis’ greatest culinary accomplishment). I fell in love, but was pretty intimidated by all of those layers. Turns out, if you can roll up dough for cinnamon rolls, you can roll up Babka dough, twist it up, and voila!
In my mind, Babka is somewhere between a cake and a sweet yeasted bread, so the appropriate time to eat Babka is all-the-time: for a sweet weekend breakfast with lattes, after a light meal for a rich dessert, an afternoon pick me up, perhaps? You choose, you can’t go wrong.
Here are a few notes:
- The dough has to “rest” for at least 6 hours, so I like to mix it up the night before, pop it in the fridge, then roll it out and bake the next morning.
- Use an offset spatula to spread the sticky Nutella.
- After you roll up the dough, throw it into the freezer for about 10 minutes before you slice it down the middle. Cool dough and Nutella will give you a much cleaner, easier cut.
Nutella Babka
Next level swirls of rich Nutella layered between buttery yeasted cake
Ingredients
- 4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tsp dry active yeast,
- Grated zest of 1 small lemon
- 3 large eggs
- 1/2 c room temperature water, and up to 1 to 2 tablespoons extra, if needed
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 2/3 cup unsalted butter at room temp
- 1 1/2 c room temperature Nutella
- Syrup: 1/3 cup water
- 6 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
Directions
- Step 1 Combine the flour, sugar, yeast and zest in the bottom of the bowl of a stand mixer. Add eggs and 1/2 cup water, mixing with the dough hook until it comes together, this may take a few minutes. It’s okay if it’s on the dry side, but if it doesn’t come together at all, add extra water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough forms a mass. With the mixer on low, add the salt, then the butter, a tablespoon at a time, mixing until it’s incorporated into the dough. Then, mix on medium speed for 10 minutes until dough is completely smooth. Scrape the bowl down a few times. After about 10 minutes, the dough should pull away from the sides of the bowl. If it doesn’t, you can add 1 tablespoon extra flour to help this along.
- Step 2 Lightly coat a large bowl with oil and place dough inside, cover with plastic and refrigerate. Leave in fridge for at least 6 hours, preferably overnight, and will rise about 1/3 of its size.
- Step 3 Coat two 9-by-4-inch loaf pans with oil or butter, and line the bottom of each with a rectangle of parchment paper. Take half of dough from fridge (leave the other half chilled). Roll out on a well-floured surface to about a 10×12″. Spread half of the Nutella evenly over the dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border all around. Brush the end farthest away from you with water. Roll the dough up tightly. Seal the roll by pinching the dampened end of dough on. Place the dough on a parchment lined baking sheet in the freezer for 10 minutes while you prep the second half of dough. Chilled dough is much easier to cut cleanly. Repeat with second half of dough.
- Step 4 Trim last 1/2-inch off each end of log. With a sharp chef’s knife, cut the log in half lengthwise, leaving about an inch attached at the top. Lift one side over the next and begin to twist, trying to keep the cut sides facing out, which looks super pretty. Don’t worry if this step makes a mess, just transfer the twist as best as you can into the prepared loaf pan. Cover the loaf pans loosely with plastic wrap, and let rise for 1-1 1/2 hours depending on the room temp temperature.
- Step 5 Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Remove the plastic wrap and bake 25-28 minutes. While babkas are baking, make the syrup: Bring sugar and water to a simmer until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. Add the vanilla and mix in. As soon as the babkas come out of the oven, brush the syrup all over each. It may seem like too much syrup, but it’s not. It’s perfect and glossy. Let the babkas cool about halfway in pan, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool the rest of the way before eating.