Chocolate Babka • Living in Sugar

Hello! Its a gorgeous Sunday morning here in St Simons Island. Kory and I took the chance at the long weekend (presidents day is tomorrow — just FYI) to visit his parents at their cozy condo in SSI. So far we’ve eaten a lot of seafood and this morning we had a great breakfast at a place called Palmer’s Village Cafe. Super cute — if you’re planning to travel to the area I’d highly recommend stopping in!

Anyway, lets get to why I’m really writing this post. I made this bread a few weeks ago and it got rave reviews. If you’re looking for something that takes a while but comes out delicious and makes more than enough for your family and friends than this is the baked good for you!

Chocolate Babka is a sweet egg bread that is stuffed with chocolate — in this case Nutella. Topped with a chocolate cookie crumble it will satisfy any sweet tooth! You could start this bread tonight & finish it off tomorrow morning, if you’re like me and have a long weekend. If not, you could finish this bread today (though it won’t be as intense in flavor) and have it ready for breakfast tomorrow.

Here’s what you’ll need:

For the bread:

4 Cups All purpose Flour
1/3 Cup Sugar
2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1 Packet active dry yeast
1 large egg + 1 egg yolk
10 Tbls (1 stick + 2 Tbls) unsalted butter
1 Cup Milk

Filling:

1 large jar of Nutella

Crumble:

3-4 chocolate graham cracker cookie sheets, crumbled
1 Cup semi sweet mini chocolate chips
4 Tbls unsalted butter, melted
1/2 Cup Flour
2 Tbls sugar
2 Tbls Cocoa Powder

In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine flour, cinnamon, sugar & salt. Meanwhile, heat milk in a microwave safe bowl until luke warm. Add yeast packet to warm milk & set off to the side.

When the yeast/milk mixture is bubbly, add to the flour mixture along with the egg & egg yolk and mix with the dough hook attachment on low speed until a loose dough forms. Increase the speed & add the butter 1 tbls at a time, waiting until the butter is incorporated before adding more. This will take a bit of time, but your patience will be rewarded. Mix at low speed until the dough is tacky but smooth.

Place dough in a greased bowl, cover with a tea towel & allow to rise 1 hour in a warm location.

Once dough has risen, punch down the dough, cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight (in a pinch, you can allow it to rise in a warm location for 4 hours, but the flavor won’t be as developed).

For the crumble, combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix to combine. Can be made 1 day ahead and kept in an airtight container.

The next morning, turn out dough on to a work surface and divide in half. On a floured surface, roll out the dough to a 9×17 inch rectangle.

Spread with half the jar of Nutella, no need to leave a border. Roll the dough into a long log, starting on the long side of the dough. Wrap in plastic wrap & place in the freezer for 10-15 minutes. (You can prepare the other loaf during this time).

Remove chilled dough from the freezer & slice the roll in half length wise. Twist the halves together and place in a greased & parchment lined loaf pan. Repeat with the other loaf.

Cover and let rise in a warm location for 1 to 1.5 hours or until puffed (I usually place them in a cold oven with the light on, just remember to remove them before preheating) — it won’t quite double.

Preheat your oven to 350F during this time, and when the dough has risen, sprinkle the prepared crumble on the top.