Chai and Chocolate Babka

Did you even truly experience isolation if you didn’t bake? I decided to put a twist on the classic Chocolate Babka recipe, by incorporating the deliciously aromatic, Prana Chai into a chai-inspired babka.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons Prana Chai original blend

70g full cream milk

1 tsp active dry yeast

250 g all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting and kneading

1 egg

35 grams caster sugar

1 pinch salt

40 g butter, room temperature and cubed

200 g Nutella + 50 g chocolate chips

Cinnamon Streusel

25 g dark brown sugar

15 g all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

30 g unsalted butter, cold and cubed

METHOD

1. Mix Prana Chai and milk in a small saucepan and bring to boil. Let it until room temperature then strain.
2. Lightly whisk 5 g sugar, yeast and the chai milk together and rest for 5 minutes until yeast is bubbling. Pour into a stand mixer fixed with a dough hook.
3. Add the flour and start mixing on the lowest speed – gradually adding in egg, sugar, salt, and butter until dough is smooth.
4. Gently knead and shape the dough into a smooth ball before placing it into an oiled bowl, covering the top.
5. Rest dough at room temperature for 30 minutes then shape it into a 1 inch thick rectangle.
6. Wrap dough in plastic and place it in the fridge for 1 – 2 hours.
7. Roll the chilled dough out into a long rectangle about 20 cm long and spread the Nutella all the way across, even to the edges. Sprinkle on chocolate chips.
8. Roll the dough into a long scroll and cut it in half lengthwise.
9. Twist the two strands of dough together into a spiral and twist the ends tightly.
10. Place it into a greased loaf tin and cover with a towel to rest for 2 hours in a warm spot.

Cinnamon Streusel (Optional)

1. Combine the brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon together in a medium bowl
2. Using fingers, mix the butter into it until coarse crumbs are formed.

Baking

1. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius.
2. Sprinkle the cinnamon streusel onto the babka and bake for 40 minutes.

Head to the Prana Chai website here for their incredible products: PRANA CHAI