Gubana: The Easter Snail of Friuli

I first read about the Gubana in Carol Field's excellent book The Italian Baker. This delicacy is associated with Easter but also available throughout the year in Friuli, in northern Italy at the head of the Adriatic near Slovenia. It consists of a buttery yeast dough not unlike those for Panettone or the Colomba Pasquale of Milan, with a rich scroll of nuts and fruit hidden within.

This recipe is scaled down relative to Field's, and allows for a measure of improvisation around the filling. A mixture of available nuts, fruit and alcohol with cocoa is, I suspect, the bottom line!

Ingredients
Dough:
3 tsp active dry yeast
320g flour - I used 160g kamut and 160g plain/all-purpose flour
pinch of salt
1 egg
1 egg yolk (reserve white for brushing the top)
60g butter or margarine
60g caster sugar
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp vanilla essence
125ml (1/2 cup) milk, warmed

Filling
200g nuts, finely chopped: try hazelnuts and walnuts, with a handful of toasted pine nuts
80g cookie/biscuit crumbs (from plain "milk coffee" style biscuits, digestives, or savoiardi)
80g dried fruit - raisins, sultanas, currants
40g glacé citrus peel
1 Tbp cocoa
2 tsps cinnamon
2 tsps fresh citrus zest - lemon and/or orange
2 Tbps sweet wine - port, sweet sherry or similar
2 Tbps grappa or other spirits

Method
Combine flour(s), yeast and salt in a large bowl. Rub in butter, then add sugar and lemon zest. Beat egg and extra yolk lightly together, and add to dough with milk and vanilla. Mix well to combine, then turn out onto a floured surface and knead well. This sticky dough will need some flour to handle well. Knead for 5 minutes or more until the dough is smooth and elastic. Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover, and leave in a warm place until doubled (this could be closer to 2 hours than one).

Meanwhile combine all the ingredients of the filling and let them steep.

Grease a round cake tin. Take the proved dough and roll into a rectangle, 30cm by 45 (or a little longer). Spread the filling across the dough leaving 5cm around all the edges. Starting at one of the long sides, roll the dough up tightly capturing the filling inside; pinch the ends to close them. Curl the resulting "sausage" up into a tight spiral, place in the tin carefully and prove again for an hour or so; the gubana should expand to fill the tin, and the dough will rise and soften somewhat.

Brush the top with reserved egg white. Bake in a pre-heated 180C oven for 15 minutes; turn the heat to 160 and bake a further 15 minutes. Tip out carefully and check that the bottom is firm and sounds hollow when tapped; if doubtful give it 5 or 10 minutes more. Turn out and slice in wedges to serve.