Homemade Nutella Babka with Chocolate Chips
The first babka I rolled from a warm rise tore in three places, and half the Nutella ended up on the counter instead of inside the spiral. Cold dough fixes that. I let this one sit in the fridge overnight, so it rolls out firm and the filling spreads without dragging the layers apart.
The chocolate chips are the other trick. Nutella on its own melts into a soft brown streak, but the chips hold their shape in the oven and give you those dark, glossy pockets you see when you slice into the loaf while it’s still warm. I cut the log lengthwise with a sharp chef’s knife in one long stroke, and a messy twist still bakes up fine. We eat the first slices warm with coffee.
This homemade Nutella babka with chocolate chips is a buttery yeast bread twisted around a hazelnut-cocoa spiral. A quick sugar syrup goes on the moment it leaves the oven. That's where the sticky shine on top comes from. The recipe makes two 9x5-inch loaves, and they keep 3 days tightly wrapped at room temperature.
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Warm the milk in the 1-quart saucepan over low heat until it reads about 100°F on an instant-read thermometer. Pour it into the bowl of the stand mixer, stir in the yeast with a wooden spoon, and let it sit for 5 minutes. Rinse and dry the saucepan, since it's used again for the syrup.3/4 cup whole milk, 1 tbsp instant yeast
- Add the 4 cups of flour, the 6 tablespoons of sugar, the salt and the eggs to the mixer bowl. Knead with the dough hook on low speed for 3 minutes, until no dry flour remains. Raise the speed to medium-low and add the butter a few cubes at a time, letting each addition disappear before the next. Knead 8 to 10 minutes more, until the dough is smooth, glossy and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.4 cups all-purpose flour, 6 tbsp granulated sugar, 1 1/2 tsp fine salt, 2 large eggs, 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- Rub the inside of the 4-quart mixing bowl with half the oil, about 1 1/2 teaspoons. Scrape in the dough, turn it once to coat, and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 8 hours or overnight, until the dough has risen by about half and feels firm.1 tbsp neutral oil
- Grease the two 9x5-inch loaf pans with the remaining oil and line each with a strip of parchment paper that covers the bottom and both long sides. Divide the cold dough in half and return one half to the refrigerator. Dust the counter with half of the 2 tablespoons of flour and roll the first half with the rolling pin into a 15x11-inch rectangle, a long side facing you.2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- Spread half the Nutella, about 2/3 cup, over the rectangle with the offset spatula, leaving a 1/2-inch bare border along the far long edge. Scatter half the chocolate chips, about 1/3 cup, over the Nutella. Roll the dough up tightly from the long side closest to you into a 15-inch log and pinch the seam closed along the bare border. Set the log on a sheet of parchment paper, then roll out the second half of the dough on the counter dusted with the remaining flour and fill and roll it the same way with the rest of the Nutella and chips.1 1/3 cups Nutella, 2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- Cut each log in half lengthwise with the chef's knife to expose the layers. Lay the two halves of one log side by side, cut sides up, pinch them together at one end, and twist them over each other, keeping the cut sides facing up. Push the ends toward the middle to shorten the twist to about 9 inches and lift it into a prepared pan, then repeat with the second log. Cover both pans loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature for 1 1/2 hours, until puffy. During the last 20 minutes of the rise, heat the oven to 350°F with a rack in the middle.
- Uncover the pans and bake the loaves side by side on the middle rack for 35 minutes, until deep golden and the instant-read thermometer reads 190°F in the center.
- While the loaves bake, combine the water and the 1/3 cup of sugar in the saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring with the wooden spoon until the sugar dissolves, then simmer for 1 minute and take the pan off the heat.1/3 cup water, 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- As soon as the loaves come out of the oven, brush all of the syrup over both of them with the pastry brush, letting each coat soak in before the next. Cool the babkas in their pans on the wire rack for 30 minutes, then lift them out by the parchment and cut each loaf into 8 slices with the chef's knife.
Nutrition
Notes
Swap the chocolate chips for 1 cup (100 g) of chopped toasted hazelnuts, scattered over the Nutella in step 5. For a darker filling, use the same amount of bittersweet chips instead of semisweet. This is a homemade version and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Nutella.
You might also like our Yeasted Chocolate Rugelach.
chilled the dough overnight like you said and it rolled out to 15×11 with zero tearing. the chips stayed in little pockets, my kids picked those out first lol
pulled mine at 35 min right when the thermometer hit 190 and the middle was perfect. one star off only bc my twist split on one side, my fault for rolling the dough too thin
swapped the chips for chopped hazelnuts per the note and the crunch with the nutella is so nice. sliced it after the 30 min cool and the center was still gooey