Sourdough Babka with Chocolate Hazelnut Filling
This Sourdough Babka recipe is stuffed full of a rich chocolate and hazelnut filling. You've never know that this rich bread if egg and dairy free!
Servings: 12 slices
Ingredients
For the dough
- 300 grams strong white bread flour
- 100 grams sourdough starter well fed and active
- 125 grams warm oat milk
- 75 grams melted butter
- 35 grams light brown sugar
- 1 pinch salt
For the filling
- 20 grams cocoa powder
- 100 grams dark chocolate roughly chopped
- 25 grams maple syrup
- 90 grams non-dairy butter
- 75 grams hazelnuts chopped
Instructions
To make the dough
- Place the flour into a large mixing bowl and make a well in the middle.
- Add the starter into the well along with the warm milk, melted butter and sugar.
- Mix well bringing the flour in from the sides of the bowl until a dough has begun to form.
- If using an electric mixer with dough hooks, mix on a low speed for 5 minutes then high for a further 5 minutes. If mixing by hand, stretch and fold until the dough is elastic and beginning to hold its shape.
- Cover the the bowl and leave to prove for 6 hours or until doubled in size.
To make the filling
- Place the butter, maple syrup, chopped dark chocolate and cocoa powder into a bowl. Place into the microwave for 15 second bursts (stirring each time) until the butter and chocolate have melted and you have a thick but runny chocolate filling.
To shape the loaf
- Before shaping the loaf line a loaf tin with grease proof paper.
- Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll out into a long thin rectangle. (The shortest edge should be roughly the same length of your loaf tin).
- Spread the filling over the dough and then sprinkle over the chopped hazelnuts.
- Starting on one of the short sides of the rectangle, tightly roll the dough into a log.
- Seal the dough by pinching the dough together to create a seam.
- Place the dough seam side down and then cut in half lengthways so that you have two long halves of dough with the filling exposed.
- Pinch the top two ends together and then criss-cross the two lengths of dough over each other to form a two stranded plait.
- Pinch the bottom two ends together and scoop the loaf into the lined loaf tin.
- Cover the dough and leave to rest for another 30 minutes - 1 hour until the dough has risen to fill the tin.
- While the dough is rising for the second time, pre-heat your oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4.
To bake the loaf
- Place an oven dish filled with 200 millilitres of water into the bottom of the oven.
- Bake the loaf in the middle of the oven for 45 minutes or until the bread is springy to the touch (or a thermometer shows the internal temperature of the bread to be at least 95C).
- Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a cooling rack.
To glaze
- Heat the sugar and water together in a small saucepan, stirring until the sugar is dissolved.
- Once the sugar has dissolved bring the syrup to the boil for 1-2 minutes and then take off the heat.
- Pour over the simple syrup and let it soak in before serving.