Hazelnut Babka

1. Into a mixing bowl of a stand mixer place luke warm milk, yeast, sugar, vanilla, melted butter, lightly beaten eggs, salt and flower. Mix with a stand mixer on low-medium speed or by hand for 10 minutes until smooth and not sticky to hands.  

2. Place the dough into a large bowl, greased with some butter, cover with cling film and let rest for 1 hour or until double in size.

3. For the filling, in a bowl combine soft butter, sugar and cocoa powder - the mixture will look like a chocolate paste.  

4. Punch the risen dough and roll into a 30x40 cm rectangular about 0.5 cm thick on a table surface, lightly sprinkle with flour. Spoon the filling across the surface, leaving 2 cm edges on each side. Sprinkle with 70 g chopped hazelnuts on top.

5. Roll up the rectangular into a tight roll, then cut lengthwise into two parts, leaving about 2 cm edge uncut. Twist the two halves together into a “tow”.

6. Line a 20-25cmx10 cm loaf pan with parchment paper and place the shaped babka into it. Cover with cling film and let rest for another 20 minutes.  

7. Preheat the oven to 180 C. Brush the babka with an egg white and sprinkle with the rest of hazelnuts.  

8. Bake for about 30-35 minutes until golden and the skewer comes out clean. If the babka gets too brown, cover with aluminium foil.

9. Leave the babka in the pan for 15 minutes, then transfer onto a wire rack.

10. For the glaze, combine milk with powdered sugar and drizzle onto the babka.