Description
Makes 8 Individual Babkas
Ingredients
Scale
For the Dough
- 2 tsp Dried Fast Active Yeast
- 330g Strong White Bread Flour
- 40g Caster Sugar
- A Pinch of Table Salt
- 1 Large Free Range Egg
- 85ml Whole Milk, at room temperature
- 90g Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
For the Filling
- 65g Unsalted Butter, melted
- 125g Caster Sugar
- 50g Cocoa Powder
- 55g Hazelnuts, skinned, toasted and roughly chopped
- 35g Dark Chocolate, roughly chopped
For Finishing Touches
- 2tbsp Apricot Jam
- 2 tbsp Hazelnut Spread
- 8 Guylian Sea Shell Chocolates
Instructions
- First, make the dough. In a stand mixer bowl, mix the yeast, flour, sugar and salt with a hook attachment. Add the egg, milk and butter to the flour mixture, mix until combined at a medium speed and starting to form into a ball. Knead the dough for 5-6 minutes. Cover the bowl and chill in the fridge overnight.
- The next day, make the filling, mix all the ingredients in a bowl except the chopped hazelnuts and chocolate, to a spreadable paste.
- Roll the chilled dough on a lightly dusted surface and roll into a rectangle about 50cm x30cm. Spread the cocoa/sugar/butter filling over half of the dough, along the width of the dough and right into the corners. Scatter over the chopped hazelnuts and chocolate.
- Carefully lift the dough with no spread, up and over to cover the spread and hazelnuts, lightly press down. Using a pizza cutter or sharp knife, trim the two edges. Then measure out strips of the dough measuring 4cm in width.
- Keeping the fold at the top, cut along the middle of the dough but keeping the dough intact for 1cm at the top. Fold the two sides up so the filling is facing upwards. Plait the dough over each strand and press the ends together.
- Gently stretch the plait to be approx. 25cm in length, form the strand into a circle. Take the right side end over the left and tuck the end under the bun to the middle. Then take the remaining end up and over into the hole of the circle, pressing firmly together with the other end on the bottom of the bun. Some filling will fall out but you can tuck in any nuts or chocolate.
- Place the buns into a giant muffin tin tray or on a parchment-lined baking tray. Loosely cover with cling film. Leave to prove, until doubled in size, this can take up to 2 hours if you’re kitchen is cold, but normally takes about an hour and a half.
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4. Remove the cling film from the babka’s and bake for 20 mins until golden, if it looks at any point they browning too quickly, cover with some foil so it doesn’t catch early. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before removing from the tin to a cooling rack.
- When cooled, gently warm the apricot jam in a small pan and brush over the babkas for a shiny glaze. Dab on half a teaspoon of the hazelnut spread on the top of each babka and add the finishing touches of a Guylian Sea Shell Chocolate to each one.
- Serve as the perfect afternoon tea treat.
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Chocolate, Bread
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: British