Chocolate Babka

Name: Chocolate Babka
Yield: Makes 1 loaf (about 25 x 10 cm/10 x 4 inches)
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 290 g (10¼ oz) flour; 40 g (1½ oz) sugar; 1 generous pinch of salt; 70 g (2½ oz) high-quality semi-sweet chocolate (70% cocoa); 2 eggs; 50 g (1¾ oz) hazelnuts, blanched, coarsely chopped; 1½ tsp dried yeast; 25 g (1 oz) icing sugar (confectioner’s sugar); 70 g (2½ oz) butter, softened; 60 ml (2 fl oz/¼ cup) lukewarm milk; 1 tbsp brown sugar; Flour for dusting the work surface; Butter for the tin; 2 tbsp cocoa powder; 50 g (1¾ oz) butter

Preparation info

Makes
1
loaf (about 25 x 10 cm )

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

New York Christmas

By Lisa Nieschlag and Lars Wentrup

Published 2017

About

If you like your babka very sweet and moist, brush with sugar syrup after baking. To make the syrup, heat 100 g (3½ oz) sugar and 60 ml (¼ cup) water in a small saucepan. Briefly bring to a boil and set aside. Brush the babka with the syrup as soon as it comes out of the oven, then leave to cool a little.

Ingredients

For the dough

290 g (10¼ oz) flour
1½ tsp dried yeast

Method

For the dough, combine the flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl. Add the eggs, milk and butter and knead everything for about 10 minutes to make a smooth, pliable dough. Cover the bowl with cling wrap and leave the dough to rise for about 1 hour.

Meanwhile, for the filling, dry-roast the hazelnuts in a small frying pan. Add the sugar and caramelise lightly. Combine the semi-swe