Chocolate babka (2024)

Chocolate babka has been one of the major food trends in recent years, appearing on any self-respecting food blogger’s Instagram feed (and now on mine!). And yet, this incarnation of a traditional Jewish bread is pretty far removed from its original version. Food52 has an interesting article expounding its origins and the evolution of this bread/dessert/snack to its current day form.

So I’ve been meaning to bake this for ages, and even watched videos and read through different recipes to familiarise myself with it. But bread and I, we don’t get along. I excel in the consumption of it, and can wax lyrical over a beautifully risen and baked sourdough but the creation of a perfect loaf still somewhat eludes me. I made cinnamon rolls once and they rose to gargantuan proportions because I miscalculated the yeast I used. And so I kept putting the babka off.

Then an episode of Bake-Off had the contestants trying their hand at Paul Hollywood’s recipe in the technical round of Chocolate Week and I thought, hey I can do this too. Hah. Between a filling that was still too liquid, and a dough that was soft in a warm kitchen, it was a complete hassle to roll up and plait without making a complete mess. Top it off with a plait that ended up too long (reference Lottie’s loaf in the episode) and you had a glorious lesson in how not to make a chocolate babka.

So my tip if you decide to attempt this as well is, make sure the filling is slightly set with the consistency more akin to a chocolate spread and not a chocolate fondue fountain. To help it set quicker, place it in the fridge for a while. This should ensure you get more well-defined layers when you cut through the plait, without the filling spilling out. And if you end up in a plait that is too long, simply fold it in half on itself and and place it in the tin to rise.

I reduced the sugar for the filling, and also reduced the amount of syrup as I didn’t end up using all of it. I kept everything else the same though, after all it’s a Paul Hollywood recipe!

Chocolate babka

For the filling:

65g blanched hazelnuts
100g unsalted butter
80g 70% (or higher) dark chocolate, chopped
100g caster sugar
40g cocoa powder

For the dough:

275g plain flour
5g fast-action dried yeast
25g caster sugar
½ tsp fine salt
2 eggs, beaten
50ml whole milk
80g unsalted butter, cubed and softened

For the syrup:

75g caster sugar
75ml water

Make the filling

1. Heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/Gas 6. Roast the hazelnuts on a baking tray for 5-7 minutes, tossing occasionally until light golden. Roughly chop half, and finely chop the other half. I used a food processor for this, but feel free to use a knife. Mix together and place aside.
2. Melt the butter and chocolate in a pan over low heat, stirring until well combined. Add in the sugar and stir until fully dissolved. Remove from the heat and stir in the cocoa powder. Leave to cool and thicken slightly. Speed up the process by placing it in the fridge, and if you find it’s set too hard after just zap it in the microwave for 10 second increments.

Make the dough

1. Pour the flour into a stand mixer bowl, then add the yeast on one side with the sugar and salt on the other side.
2. Pour in the eggs and milk and mix for 2-3 minutes on low speed until you get a firm dough.
3. Increase the speed to medium. Add the butter a little at a time ensuring it gets incorporated fully each time. The dough will become very soft and sticky, but keep going until you get a smooth and shiny ball of dough.

Shape the babka

1. Grease and line a 900g standard loaf tin with baking paper. Ensure you have excess paper on all sides of the tin as the loaf will rise beyond the rim of the tin when baking.
2. Sprinkle flour on a work top and roll out the dough to 40x30cm in size, with the long edge closest to you.
3. Spread out the chocolate mixture, leaving a 1cm border all round. Sprinkle the toasted hazelnuts over the chocolate.
4. Starting from the long edge closest to you, roll up the dough into a tight roll, ensuring the seam is underneath at the end.
5. Turn the roll so it is vertically positioned, and with a sharp knife or pizza cutter slice it in half lengthwise all the way down to get two long pieces.
6. Turn each half-roll to face cut size up. Pinch the top ends of both together to seal, then lift one half over the other and keep going until you end up with a two-stranded plait. If you choose to start with the right half, then keep lifting the current right half over the current left half. If starting with the left half, then keep lifting the left one over instead. Pinch the bottom ends of the plait together.
7. Place the plaited loaf into the prepared baking tin. If your plait is too long, simply fold over in half before placing in the tin.
8. Cover with a tea towel and leave to rise for 2 hours at room temperature, or until the loaf has doubled in in size.

Bake the babka

1. Heat the oven to 190°C/170°C fan/Gas 5.
2. Bake the babka at this temperature for 15 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 170°C/150°C fan/Gas 3and bake for a further 25 to 30 minutes. To check it is baked through, an inserted skewer should come out clean (some chocolate might be stuck on, but there shouldn’t be any pieces of dough).

Assembly

1. While the babka is baking, prepare the syrup. Stir and dissolve the water and sugar together on medium heat, and bring to the boil. Once boiled, reduce the heat and simmer without stirring for 5 minutes until syrupy. Set aside to cool.
2. Once the babka is baked, transfer the tin onto a wire rack. Brush the syrup on the hot babka. When it is cooled down slightly, remove from the tin and either serve warm or at room temperature with a hot cup of tea or coffee.