Slavic Word “Guba” Describes the Snail Shape of this Bread

This bread keeps really well because of all the enrichments. Sliced thin with butter at hand is the way to enjoy it. Perhaps with a nice cup of coffee or tea. Redolent and a creamy sweet crumb.

Gubana
Adapted from The Italian Baker by Carol Field
Makes 2 round loaves

Sponge:
·2 tbsp instant yeast (we use SAF-instant)
·¾ cup warm milk
·1 cup plus 1 tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour

Prepare yeast in warm milk. Let sit till creamy. Add ingredients and stir till smooth, cover, and let sponge
rise 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Dough:
·2 eggs
·2 egg yolks
·½ cup plus 2 tbsp sugar (130 g)
·3 to 4 tbsp milk
·3 ¾ cups (500 g) unbleached all-purpose Flour
·1 ¼ tsp (7 g ) salt
·Grated zest of 2 lemons
·2 ½ tsp vanilla extract
·1 stick (115 g) unsalted butter, room temp.

Add eggs, yolks, sugar and 3 tbsp milk to the sponge and stir until smooth. Stir in the flour (1 cup at a time) and the salt and keep stirring until smooth. Stir in the lemon zest and vanilla (and 1 tbsp milk if necessary). The dough will be sticky at first. Knead on a floured board about 8-10 minutes (velvety & supple strong gluten). If your dough is too slack add quarter cup more flour and knead in. As the butter is 18 % water. The butter is soft now. Add the butter all at once and knead into the dough. As a note your dough will act quite unruly and not accept the butter, but keep at it pulling the dough up over the butter and continue to knead. It will eventually incorporate into the dough yielding a beautiful supple dough. Cover well, and let rise 2-3 hours (double in size).

Filling:
·2 ¾ cup (300 g) hazelnuts, toasted, skinned and chopped
·¾ cup (90 g) walnuts, toasted and chopped
·1/3 cup (35 g) pine nuts, lightly toasted
·2 tbsp (20 g) blanched almonds, chopped
·1 ½ cups (160 g) crumbs from leftover sweet breads, cookies, and/or homemade breads
(we used amaretti italian cookies)
·Generous 1 cup (180 g) raisins (we used currents
instead of raisins)
·½ cup plus 1 tbsp apricot jam (we used tangerine preserves—home made by dieter’s mom)
·½ cup (70-80 g) candied orange peel, chopped (we used citron in place of orange peel)
·Grated zest of 1 lemon
·1 ½ tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
·1 tsp ground cinnamon
·3 tbsp sweet Marsala
·2 tbsp plus 1 tsp grappa (we used 1/4 cup grappa and soaked the currents for three hours
covered. we only used the currents that were soaked and not any of the additional liquid )
·2 tbsp rum
·1 tbsp amaretto liqueur (we used galiano)
·1 tsp maraschino (cherry) liqueur

For egg wash + sealing dough edges:
·1 egg
·2 tsp water

Shaping + second rise:
Combine nuts, bread crumbs, raisins, jam, orange peel lemon zest, cocoa powder, cinnamon, Marsala, grappa, rum and liqueurs. This will look like a huge amount of filling, but it will all go in.

Cut the dough in half on a lightly floured surface. Roll out each piece into an 18 X 12 inch rectangle. If the dough resists rolling cover with a piece of plastic wrap and let the gluten rest for ten minutes then try rolling again. Spread the filling over the dough, leaving a 2-inch border on all sides. Mix the egg and water in a small bowl, and brush the edges of the dough with the egg wash. Starting at one long edge, roll up dough rectangle and pinch the ends. Shape each log into a spiral, so that it looks like a big snail. Place each dough spiral in a lightly oiled nine inch spring form pan. Cover lightly with plastic wrap or a towel and let rise until well puffed, but not doubled, 2-2 ½ hours.

Baking:
Preheat oven to 375°F
Just before baking, brush the tops of the loaves with egg white, and poke several holes in the tops with a skewer to let air escape from any air pockets. Bake 25 minutes. Reduce heat to 325°F (at this time you want to loosely tent the gubano and cook tented so the top does not become too dark.) and bake until deep golden, 25 minutes longer. Remove the form carefully and let cool completely on racks. Because the bread is so rich, we cut it into two pieces and froze half of it to have for later. Yum Yum... Read more about this bread and see some nice photos at The Fresh Loaf.