Nutella Babka

• Bring the eggs and butter up to room temperature before beginning
• Warm the milk either in the microwave or in a saucepan until it is warm to the touch, but not too hot
• To the warm milk, add 1 tablespoon of the sugar and the yeast. Give it a little stir and let the yeast activate for about 10 minutes, or until it is foamy and fragrant
• In a KitchenAid or stand mixer, add the flour, salt, sugar, vanilla and milk/yeast mixture. On low-medium speed, mix all of those ingredients until well incorporated
• Add in eggs one at a time and let the dough mix
• After the eggs are incorporated, add half of the softened butter and mix for several minutes
• Add the rest of the butter and run the mixer for about another 3 minutes
• If the dough seems wet or sticks to the sides of the bowl, add 1 tablespoon of flour at a time and mix for another minute or so, until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
• Transfer the dough to a large buttered mixing bowl and cover with plastic. Place it in a warm place and let it rise for 2 hours. It won't quite double in size, but it should rise a little.
• Punch the dough down, re-cover it and place it in the fridge for at minimum 4 hours, preferably let it rest in the fridge overnight.
• After it has rested, take half of the dough and place it on parchment paper. Roll it into a thin rectangle (about 10"x18" and ⅛" thick roughly). It will be a stiff dough, so you will have to use a rolling pin and it may take a few minutes.
• Spread ½ cup of the Nutella evenly on the rolled babka dough even up to the edges.
• Tightly roll the babka lengthwise and pinch all of the seems closed
• Place the rolled babka into the freezer for 10 minutes while you work on the other half of the babka dough
• Repeat the steps for rolling out the babka
• Pull the first prepared Nutella babka dough out of the freezer and with a serrated knife, cut it lengthwise so that you have 2 long halves.
• Braid the babka by placing one of the halves across the other and twisting them together (video in post)
• Place the braided babka in a well butter bread loaf pan
• Repeat with the other babka loaf
• Cover and let the babka loaves rise in a warm place for another 1-2 hours
• Preheat the oven to 350° and bake the babka bread loaves for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown on top

For the babka syrup

• While the babka loaves are baking, prepare the syrup by boiling the water, sugar and lemon juice together for about 7-8 minutes or until it just starts to thicken
• As soon as the babka comes out of the oven, pour the warm syrup over the top of both loaves, brushing it to make sure it glazes the tops
• Let it cool for about 20 minutes before removing it from the pan. Serve and enjoy