Torta delle Rose

A brioche rolled, cut and stood on end so it bakes into a bunch of roses.

Egg. Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains egg, dairy (butter), dairy (milk).

Ingredients

• 500 g strong white flour
• 3 eggs
• 100 g caster sugar
• 10 g fresh yeast
• 120 ml warm milk
• 100 g butter, soft, for the dough
• 8 g salt
• zest of 1 lemon
• 180 g butter, soft, for the filling
• 150 g caster sugar, for the filling

Method

1. Make an enriched dough with the flour, eggs, sugar, yeast, milk, salt and zest, then work in the 100 g of butter a piece at a time. Knead until it clears the bowl.
2. Prove 2 hours, then chill it 1 hour. Cold dough is the only way this will roll thinly.
3. Cream the filling butter with the sugar to a spreadable paste — not melted, or it runs out in the oven.
4. Roll the dough to a rectangle 3 mm thick, spread the filling to the edges, and ROLL IT UP TIGHTLY from the long side.
5. CUT THE LOG INTO 4 CM LENGTHS AND STAND EACH ONE CUT SIDE UP in a lined tin, a finger apart. Each one opens as it proves and bakes, and a bunch of them is where the name comes from.
6. Standing them on end is the whole trick. Laid flat they bake into a perfectly good swirl bun and no rose.
7. Prove 90 minutes until they touch, then bake at 180C for 35 minutes. Brush with syrup while hot.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Italy · All recipes