* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
New York-style chocolate and hazelnut babka
Try this traditional Eastern European sweet yeast loaf, made even more delicious with a New York twist with the addition of chocolate and hazelnuts.
Prep Time2 hourshrs25 minutesmins
Cook Time35 minutesmins
Total Time3 hourshrs
Course: Dessert, Snack
Cuisine: American
Servings: 1loaf
Calories: 3123kcal
Ingredients
For the dough:
290gflour
1.5tspdried yeast
40gsugar
1generous pinch of salt
2eggs
60mlmilk
70gbuttersoftened
For the filling:
50ghazelnutsblanched, coarsely chopped
1tbspbrown sugar
70gchocolate (70% cocoa)
50gbutter
25gicing sugar
2tbspcocoa powder
Also:
Butter to grease the tin
Flour for dusting the work surface
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 one hour.
Meanwhile, for the filling, dry-roast the hazelnuts in a small frying pan. Add the sugar and caramelise lightly. Combine the semi-sweet chocolate and butter and melt over a double boiler. Set aside to cool, then stir in the icing sugar and cocoa powder.
Butter the loaf tin. Dust your work surface with flour and roll the dough out to a rectangle about 35 x 25cm. Spread the chocolate filling evenly across the dough, leaving a margin of about 1.5cm. Sprinkle with the caramelised nuts, then roll up the dough tightly and evenly, starting from the narrow side. Halve the rolled-up dough lengthwise with a sharp knife to allow the layers of dough and filling to fan out decoratively. Pinch the ends together and carefully intertwine the two strands, making sure that the cut surfaces always point upwards. Transfer the intertwined dough roll to the loaf tin, cover and set aside to rise for another hour
Make sure to preheat the oven in time to 175°C (330°F/Gas mark 4-5). Bake the babka for 30–35 minutes. If the surface gets too dark, cover the loaf with tin foil after about half of the baking time. Remove the tin from the oven and set aside to cool before removing the babka from the tin. Leave to cool fully before slicing.