Friulian gubana, the Cividale recipe: yeasted dough rolled into a spiral around walnuts, raisins, pine nuts and candied peel. Serves 12, in about 5 hours.
Introduction
Gubana is the dessert of Cividale del Friuli and the Natisone Valleys: a soft, buttery yeasted dough, rolled out thin and wrapped around a filling of walnuts, raisins, pine nuts, candied orange peel and sugar, moistened with grappa. The roll is then coiled on itself like a snail shell and baked until the crust is glossy and dark. Once cut, it shows the spiral of filling winding through the dough, and it is by that shape that you recognise it at a glance.
It was once made for Easter, for Christmas and for weddings; today it can be found all year round in the pastry shops of Cividale and the valleys, but making it at home is worth the effort. It is not a difficult dessert: it asks for time more than skill, because the dough rises twice. In return you get a dessert that keeps for days and is better the next day, when the grappa and butter of the filling have perfumed the whole dough. In Friuli it is eaten in slices, often moistened with a drop of grappa or slivovitz.
For the dough we use Aurum type 1 soft wheat flour from Mulino Terrevive, stone-milled and with a strength (W 300-320) that holds up the butter and eggs of a sweet dough and helps it rise well. In the glass, next to the gubana, we pour the Col Foscarin Recioto di Soave Classico by Gini, a Garganega passito whose aroma already carries the candied orange peel and dried fruit of the filling.
History of Gubana
Gubana was born in the Natisone Valleys, the strip of hills and villages between Cividale and the Slovenian border, where a Slovene dialect is still spoken today. The name, according to the most widespread theory, comes from the Slovene guba, «fold»: that is, the dough folded and wrapped around itself. It is related to the rolled desserts of all central Europe, from the putizza of Trieste to the presnitz of Gorizia, and like them it brings together the yeasted dough of peasant tradition and the dried fruit and nuts that were never lacking in mountain homes.
In Cividale they say that gubana was served in 1409 to Pope Gregory XII, who had come to the town for the council he had convened there: it is a tradition, not a document, but it shows how closely this dessert is tied to the town. For centuries it was the dessert of feast days and important occasions, made at home with walnuts from the yard and given as a gift to the families of the bride and groom. Every home and every pastry shop has its own version, with more or less candied peel, with biscuits or with cocoa in the filling, but the rule stays the same: plenty of filling and a tight spiral.
Ingredients
For the yeasted dough
- Aurum Type 1 Soft Wheat Flour400 g
- lukewarm whole milk150 ml
- sugar70 g
- eggs2
- softened butter80 g
- fresh yeast12 g
- grated lemon zest1 lemon
- salt1 pinch
For the filling
- walnut kernels200 g
- raisins100 g
- pine nuts40 g
- candied orange peel50 g
- plain dry biscuits50 g
- sugar50 g
- butter40 g
- grappa40 ml
- egg white1
- grated lemon zest1 lemon
To finish
- egg yolk1
- milk1 tablespoon
- sugar15 g
Nutritional Values per Serving
Values calculated from the recipe's ingredients using the CREA food composition tables, and from the labels of our products where available. They are an estimate per serving, not a laboratory analysis.
Equipment Needed
- Large bowl or stand mixer with the dough hook
- Rolling pin
- Large knife and chopping board
- Small pan
- 24 cm round cake tin, or a baking sheet lined with baking paper
- Pastry brush
Tip: The tin is not essential, but it helps. Gubana rises twice, and without a rim to hold it the spiral tends to spread in the oven and lose its tall, round shape. A 24 cm tin, buttered and floured, makes it grow upwards; if you use a baking sheet, coil the spiral very tightly and let it rise in a warm but not hot place.
How to Make Gubana — Friulian Recipe
The dough
Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm milk with a teaspoon of the sugar. In a bowl mix the flour, the rest of the sugar and the lemon zest, then pour in the milk with the yeast and the eggs and knead for about ten minutes. Add the softened butter in small pieces, a little at a time, and the salt, and work the dough until it is smooth, elastic and comes away from the sides of the bowl. Shape it into a ball, cover it and leave it to rise for two hours in a warm place, until doubled.
Chef's tip: Add the butter only once the dough has already come together, and one small piece at a time: added at the start it stops the gluten from developing and the dough stays slack. If the dough sticks to your hands, do not add flour, but keep working it: it dries out by itself as the butter is absorbed.
The filling
Soak the raisins in the grappa for half an hour. Melt the butter in a small pan and toast the pine nuts for a couple of minutes, until just golden. Chop the walnuts coarsely with a knife and crumble the biscuits. Put everything in a bowl with the sugar, the diced candied orange peel, the lemon zest, the raisins with their grappa and the butter from the pine nuts. Mix and bind the filling with the lightly beaten egg white.
Chef's tip: Chop the walnuts by hand and not in a food processor: they must stay in small pieces, because they are what gives the slice the texture of gubana. Chopped very fine, together with the butter and the sugar, they turn into a greasy paste that soaks the dough. The biscuits are there to absorb the grappa and the butter.
Rolling
Roll out the risen dough with the rolling pin into a rectangle of about 30 by 50 centimetres, half a centimetre thick. Spread the filling over the whole surface, leaving a two-centimetre border free, and roll the dough up from the long side into a tight cylinder. Coil the cylinder on itself like a snail shell, seam side down, and place it in the buttered tin. Cover and leave to rise for another hour.
Chef's tip: Roll it up tightly at every turn, without squashing: a loose spiral leaves gaps between dough and filling, and in the oven the slice separates into layers. Seal the edge of the cylinder by pressing it with your fingers, so the filling does not escape during the second rise.
Baking
Heat the oven to 170 °C, conventional setting. Beat the egg yolk with the milk, brush the top of the gubana and sprinkle it with the sugar. Bake it for about 45 minutes, until well browned and glossy. Let it cool in the tin for a quarter of an hour, then turn it out and leave it to cool on a wire rack. Serve it in slices, as it is or with a drop of grappa.
Chef's tip: The crust darkens before the inside is cooked: if after 25 minutes it is already very brown, cover it with a sheet of foil and finish baking. To tell whether it is done, insert a long skewer into the dough, not into the filling: it must come out dry.
Wine to Pair with Gubana
Gubana is a yeasted cake, but the point is not the dough: it is the filling, rolled into a spiral and as plentiful as the dough itself. Walnuts, raisins, pine nuts, candied orange peel, sugar and butter, moistened with grappa. So three things reach the palate together: the concentrated sweetness of the raisins and candied peel, the fat of the butter and the walnuts, and the slightly bitter, faintly tannic note of the walnut skin. The wine is asked to be at least as sweet as the dessert, because a dry wine next to raisins turns sharp, and at the same time to have enough acidity to cut through the butter of the dough. We suggest two routes: a Recioto di Soave, which already holds the candied citrus of the filling in the glass, or a Recioto della Valpolicella, red and darker, for those who want to side with the walnut.
Recommended Dessert Wine
Col Foscarin Recioto di Soave Classico DOCG — Gini — The **Col Foscarin by Gini** is a Recioto di Soave Classico made only from Garganega grapes from a single vineyard in Monteforte d'Alpone, about two hectares facing south on basaltic tuff soils of volcanic origin, in certified organic farming. The best bunches rest for five or six months in the drying loft, then the must ferments slowly in barriques, with no added sulphites, until the sugar itself stops the yeasts at around 13 degrees. On the nose it has candied orange peel, apricot jam, honey and dried fruit: that is, almost literally, the filling of the gubana. The pairing works by similarity, and it holds because beneath the sweetness Garganega brings a lively acidity, which cleans away the butter of the yeasted dough and keeps each mouthful from becoming cloying. The limit has to be said: it is a rich, long wine, and on a slice moistened with grappa, as is the custom in Friuli, the alcohol of the spirit covers its finesse. It goes with gubana served as it is, at the end of a meal or with coffee, and half a glass is enough. Serve it at 12 °C, in a small glass.
A Red Passito as an Alternative
Recioto della Valpolicella DOCG — Tenuta Trabucchi — The second route is a red passito, and it looks to the walnut more than to the candied peel. The **Recioto della Valpolicella by Tenuta Trabucchi** is made from native Valpolicella grapes dried from September to March, until they lose about 80% of their weight, and fermented slowly in steel and then in new barriques. It has an almost inky colour, a clear note of dried blackberry and a pronounced sweetness held up by a fresh acidity. On gubana it works through affinity with the darker side of the filling: the fruit and light tannic texture of the wine meet the bitterness of the walnut skin and the raisins, and the acidity does the same job on the butter as the Recioto di Soave. The limit is the opposite of the white's: faced with a gubana strongly scented with orange and lemon, the blackberry of the wine covers the citrus, and the 14,5 degrees make themselves felt. It is the right wine for versions with more walnuts, or with a spoonful of cocoa in the filling. Serve it at 14-16 °C, in a small glass.
Craft Beer as an Alternative
Reckless Bock Beer — Norah's Farm — Gubana is a border dessert, between Friuli and Slovenia, and a dark malt beer sits beside it as it would in a mountain home. The **Reckless Bock by Norah's Farm** is a bottom-fermented strong beer in the Dunkel Bock style, deep copper in colour, with notes of caramel and dried fruit and a light bitterness that supports the malt. The caramel meets the raisins and the sugar on the crust, the dried fruit meets the walnuts and pine nuts, and the carbonation with its creamy head carries away the butter of the dough. The limit: the finish is soft and a little sweet, so it refreshes less than a wine with the acidity of the Recioto, and the 7% vol makes itself felt on an afternoon dessert. Serve it at 8-10 °C.
Want to know more about the style? dark beers and doppelbocks
Variations
- With cocoa: in many homes in the valleys one or two tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa are added to the filling, or a little chopped dark chocolate. The filling becomes darker and less sweet, and the walnut comes through more.
- With puff pastry: towards Gorizia and in the Collio there is a gubana made with puff pastry instead of yeasted dough. It is crisper and flakier and takes less time, but it is a different dessert, closer to the presnitz.
- With rum or Marsala: those who do not like grappa can soak the raisins in rum or Marsala. The aroma becomes softer and less dry, and the dessert loses a little of its Friulian character.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between gubana and putizza?
They are two desserts from the same family, that of yeasted doughs rolled around a filling of dried fruit and nuts. Gubana belongs to the Natisone Valleys and Cividale, and its filling is made mainly of walnuts, raisins, pine nuts and candied peel; putizza comes from Trieste, and cocoa and chocolate go into its filling more often. Home recipes, however, are very similar, and the boundaries are not sharp.
How is gubana eaten?
In slices, at the end of a meal or with coffee. In Friuli it is traditional to moisten the slice with a drop of grappa or slivovitz, the plum spirit, poured straight onto the dessert just before eating it. It can also be served as it is, alongside a sweet wine.
How do I store gubana?
It keeps for about a week at room temperature, sealed in a food bag or under a glass cake dome. The butter and grappa in the filling keep it soft, and the day after baking it is more fragrant than when it has just come out of the oven.
Can gubana be frozen?
Yes, once baked and completely cool. Wrap it in cling film, whole or in slices, and freeze it for up to two months. Thaw it at room temperature, still wrapped, and before serving you can warm it for a few minutes in the oven at 150 °C.
Can the dough be made the night before?
Yes. After kneading, put the dough in the fridge, covered, overnight: it rises slowly in the cold and becomes easier to roll out. In the morning let it come back to room temperature for an hour before rolling it out and filling it.
