Since its Xmas.....Gubana

Gubana…Friuli Venezia Festival Bread

Now this beauty LOOKS complex but I promise it’s not.

A little time is needed but you can come and go in between , so are you ready?

Gorgeous!!

Jam packed with fruit, nuts, rum and spices, it is delicious.

A wonderful combination of bread dough spiked with liquers….Not too buttery and yet still moist with a gorgeous flaky like crust.

It sort of looks like a pie but when you slice it, it’s surely a bread!!

Keeps like a dream,I am on day 4 and it’s still good and I am not toasting it yet:)

Not a greedyboy concoction, as they don’t like nuts but more for me to eat.

Definitely a greedygirl bread!!

Just like a snail but MUCH more delicious:)

So lets stop waffling and let’s get YEASTY!

What will you need?

A bit of patience to make it, as there is 3 stages but you know what they say!!

Patience is a virtue….

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OOPS,  THIS MAKES TWO BIG GUBANA’S SO YOU COULD HALF THE RECIPE IF YOU WANTED!! 

Stage one:

2 tablespoons of dried yeast

3/4 cup warmed milk

1 tsp sugar

1 cup of Strong bakers flour.

Stage one sponge

Stir the yeast and sugar into the warmed milk and leave to become frothy.

Usually 10 minutes does the trick!

Stir in the flour and cover tightly and leave for an hour.

STAGE 2:

2 eggs

2 yolks

1 cup of sugar

1/4 cup of milk

4 cups of Strong bakers flour

Pinch of salt

Zest of 2-3 lemons

3 tsp of vanilla essence/ extract

150g softened butter.

Dough all elasticy…

Add the eggs , yolks, sugar and milk to the yeasty beasty mix and stir well.

Add in flour, 1 cup at a time.

Stir in the salt, lemon zest, vanilla and a little more milk if needed.

Combine well and knead for about 5 minutes.

Place dough in well oiled bowl.

Cut up the butter(as below) and place on top of the dough, slightly pressing into the dough.

Cover and allow to rise for 3 hours in a warm place.

I usually  always use the hot water cupboard in winter.

Place the butter on top

STAGE 3:

Now its gets VERY interesting!

2 cups of chopped hazelnuts

1 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup of chopped almonds

1 & 1/2 cups of cookie, cake or sweet bread crumbs

1 cup of raisins

1/2 cup of apricot jam

zest of one lemon

2 tsp of cocoa powder

2 tsp cinnamon

4 tbsp of sherry/ Marsala or similar

2 tbsp grappa

4 tbsp of rum

2 tbsp of amaretto

1 tsp of cherry liqueur

1 large egg

Fruity, nutty mix

Combine all the fruit, zest, nuts, jam, crumbs, liqueur and alcohols in a bowl and mix well.

On a lightly floured board/ area, work the butter into the dough and knead for 2-3 minutes to get a nice consistency.

On the lightly floured board,  cut the dough into two pieces.

Roll dough to about 35cm by 20 cms rectangular.

Beat the egg with a little milk and brush on the rolled out dough.

Spread the fruity mix on the rolled out dough (see below).

Dough already to go…

Roll up the dough

Then from the longest width, roll up the dough tightly as you would a Chelsea bun .

You should then have a big long log of dough.

I did one bread in a cake tin to help retain the shape and one free on a baking tray.

The one on the baking tray was not less formed than the cake tin one.

So grease a cake tin well if you use it.

I lightly egged the inner side of the log that I would roll up to help it stick.

Roll the log up like a snail, pinching the ends in and place in a tin or on a tray.

In the cake tin or….

or not……..freestyle!!

Cover bread with tea towels and place in warm area to rise for 2-3 hours until puffy but not quite doubled.

Preheat the oven to 200 celsius.

Lightly poke a few holes in the bread with a skewer to let air escape as we don’t want pockets of air.

Lightly egg wash the bread when its ready and pop into the oven.

Bake for 25 minutes on 200 celsius and then reduce heat to 170 for a final 25 minutes until golden brown.

Remove from the oven and cool on racks.

When cool or at least sliceable….have a piece and ENJOY, ENJOY, ENJOY!!

M mmm ready

Freestyle cooling …

Have a slice:)

Love the spiral…