Rocciata di Assisi

 












On the Italian forum on Egullet it is the month dedicated to Umbria, so, yeasterday, invited for brunch at a friend house, I thought of bringing over this dessert: Rocciata di Assisi.
It's a strudel with a rich dry fruit filling, shaped into a coil.
Oretta Zanini Devita in her collection of regional recipes gives some history of this dessert. In Assisi "roccia" means round, hence the origin of the name comes from the shape. It is an ancient cake born in Medioeval times with a legacy coming from the Ostrogoths and Longobards. Although she talks about an ancestor of rocciata, in the Tavole Eugubine on which habits and costumes of 2000 years ago are drawn, "tensedio" , giving no description but just saying it was in honor of the God Hondo Ceffio. Through these tables was possible to describe the umbrian cesna, the banchet.

I've seen so many different versions of rocciata on the web. Next time, I think I will bring down the dry fruit to 350 and make up the difference to 500 asked in this recipe with more apples, in any case it's a good dessert for a dry fruit lover.

Filling

500 g of mix dry fruit (zibibbo, sultanas, dry figs finely diced, dry prunes finely diced, walnuts and almonds coarsely chopped)
one apple, peeled and diced
100 g sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
lemon zest and some juice
2 tablespoons vinsanto

Mix and let rest covered for couple hours.

For the dough

250 g flor
50 g sugar
salt 1/2 teaspon
2 tablespoons of oil
water enoght to form a silky smooth dough.

Let rest under a bowl for 1/2 an hour.

Roll out the dough as thin as possible. I streched with my fists under the dough as for a strudel. Spread the filling leaving little space at the hedges, roll with the help of a kitchen towel, shape into a coil, brush with evo and bake in a preheated oven at 190, for about 30 minutes or more, until nicely golden. When cold dust with 10X.