We will start preparing our babka dough. We will mix in our stand mixer or a bowl the flour, salt, sugar and fresh yeast. If we use instant yeast we must let it rest for some minutes in two tablespoons of milk before adding.
Next, add the rest of the warm milk and the egg yolks and start kneading.
Now we add the butter bit by bit while we keep kneading until we have a nice dough that doesn’t stick to our hands or the stand mixer bowl. It’s a dough with butter and yolks, very rich, so kneading for 10 or 15 minutes is not too much.
Let the dough rest for 1 hour covered with film.
Once the dough has risen knead it with your hands and extend it with a rolling-pin forming a rectangle.
Extend the chocolate praline using a spatula or a fork.
Roll the dough.
Use a knife to cut the roll in a half and braid the two halves together forming a “braid”.
Place the babka braid into the mold and let it rest again covered for 1 hour.
Preheat the oven 345º Fahrenheit (180º centigrades)
Brush the babka with the egg withes we had set aside.
Bake for 40-45 minutes. You can cover it the last minutes not to burn the top at the end of baking.
To prepare the syrup (optional) use a pan to cook medium heat water, sugar and a orange juice tablespoon until we have the sticky consistency we are looking for.
Brush your babka with syrup. This step os opcional but will help your babka to stay fresh longer and look brigther.