Homemade Nutella Babka (with spelt or regular flour)

This post for homemade Nutella babka originally appeared on my first blog, The Culinary Jumble. The recipe has been amended to include spelt flour and the content of the post has been updated.

Just lately, the blog has been all about the bread. We’ve had caramel apple sweet buns, cardamom bread and chocolate cinnamon rolls.

I try to vary things up a little but I was so, so pleased with this recipe that I wanted to let everyone share in its total amazing glory. 

I have many a kitchen failure. Really I do. But sometimes, everything falls so perfectly into place, just as though that’s exactly how the universe always intended things to be.

Like this glorious homemade Nutella babka from scratch. Ah-huh. Soft, mildly sweet cinnamon infused bread with rich, velvety Nutella. What a combo.

So, what is a babka? Most of you are probably fully aware of these doughy treats but up until recently, they were unknown to me. Or so I thought.

When researching how and where babka originated, I came across a clip of a Seinfeld episode, one I’ve seen many times, where they are talking about babka. I recall that at the time, I thought babka was just a loaf of bread. How wrong was I?

Up until a few years ago, babka really wasn’t mainstream and could only be found in Jewish or eastern European bakeries. It was then given a stunning makeover and the world began to fall at its feet. Although, as Food52 explains, the babka of today is nothing like traditional babka.

I’ve mentioned before that we don’t have Nutella in our house very often. My kids’ eyes were like saucers when I took the jar out of my shopping bag and I felt the need to hide it away so that it was still full when I came to use it.

Although I couldn’t eat it out of the jar with a spoon like they would (if I let them), I certainly understand the appeal. Especially when warm bread is also in the equation.

The dough for this Nutella babka was made in my bread machine. You guys know how much I love my bread machine, seeing as I wax lyrical about it. Every. Single. Post.

If you like this recipe for homemade chocolate babka, you might like my raspberry version. It’s available in my e-book, Baking with Spelt.

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Homemade Nutella Babka

Ingredients

Dough

• 1 egg
• 250ml milk
• 50g butter
• 400g spelt flour (see notes)
• 7g dried yeast
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
• 1 teaspoon sea salt

Additional Ingredients

• Nutella (see notes)
• Honey (to brush over warm bread)

Instructions

• Make the dough in your bread machine as per manufacturer's instructions.
• Prepare one (or two) bread loaf tins and pre-heat the oven to 185ºC (365ºF). Remove the ready dough from the machine (it is on the sticky side so add a bit of flour to your surface to make it easier to work with) and divide into two.
• One at a time, roll out the dough until you are left with a large rectangle (roll out the dough until it is thin). The dough will bounce back so you may need to roll several times.
• Spread over as much Nutella as you like bearing in mind that the more there is, the trickier it is to handle. As you spread the Nutella out, leave around 1-2cm at the edges clear as this will make it easier to roll.
• Starting from the side nearest to you, carefully roll the dough over and continue until you are left with a large roll. Finish off with the seam facing down. Take a sharp knife or pizza cutter and cut right down the length of the roll so you are left with two pieces.
• Take one piece and lay over the other bit making a cross sign. Then, twist the two bits of dough around each other both at the top and bottom. Push the dough together a bit so it isn't as long and tuck the bottoms under on both sides. Place in your prepared pan, cover and leave for around 30 minutes.
• Bake for around 20 minutes until the bread is golden brown. Leave to cool for around five minutes and then lather over some honey using a brush. Slice when the bread has cooled but still a little warm and enjoy!

Notes

The instructions above are for a bread machine. Results can't be guaranteed if you make the bread by hand.

• I use metric measurements in my recipes. If you prefer imperial (cup) measurements, Cook it Simply offer a handy conversion tool.
• You can use plain (all purpose flour) if you prefer. Just add an extra 20g flour (using a total of 420g).
• I didn't weigh out my Nutella - use as much as you need to get a good, even coverage.