Nutella Challah

Tada! Nutella Challah, made from the "other" loaf from my first batch of honey white dough. I knew it was going to be a bit of a challenge to make it because I don't like when things get messy in the middle of making something. And this got messy!

I started my process the same as the other loaf. Basic honey white dough mixed together and set to rise for about 2 hours. After the rise I divided the dough into three equal weight pieces. I then rolled them out the same way, a bit thicker in the middle compared to the ends.

So here is where it got a bit challenging, or at least messy, which challenged me! I made a dent (kind of like a trough or something) along the entire rope. I then spooned Nutella along the entire length. After I spooned on the Nutella I gently pulled the dough on each side of the Nutella up and around it and pinched the dough together. Let me just say that you definitely get better with practice. The first one was a bit touch and go, but by the time I got to the second one I was pretty comfortable with it and had figured out what method worked best to get the dough up and over the Nutella.

 

After all three ropes were filled and pinched I carefully moved them into position for braiding. I decided to do a three strand braid because the ropes were pretty thick with the filling and I didn't want to take a chance that more I braided the more the filling would leak through. I started braiding in the middle and went from the middle to one end, then from the middle to the other end.

There was a bit of Nutella leakage, but not much considering. I was pretty happy with how my braid turned out. This also sits and rises for about 30 more minutes and then gets baked for 30 minutes. It was pretty awesome right out of the oven.

 

Out of the four varieties this was my husband's favorite (mine will be next). It was surprisingly easy to make, if you can get over the bit of messiness that comes with stuffing filling inside of a braid. Enjoy!