Ingredients for 6-8 people250 g flour (plus a few handfuls for kneading and rolling out the dough)50 g cane sugar1 (optional: not foreseen in the original recipe, but it makes kneading easier)½ glass Extra Virgin Olive Oil½ glass white wine1 pinch of salt3-4 apples (approx. 700 g) if possible Golden Delicious2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder100 g raisins100 g pine nuts100 g shelled walnuts
2 tbsp Alchermes (plus 2 to brush on the surface)2 tbsp Vin Santo2 tbsp sugar
Soak the raisins in warm water for 10 minutes. In the meanwhile wash and peel the apples, core them, cut them into slices and then into small cubes. Put them, together with the other ingredients for the filling (the raisins well squeezed and the walnuts broken up coarsely), in a heavy-bottomed pan and cook over a low heat, stirring from time to time, until the pieces of apple are cooked. Taste the mixture and add sugar if necessary. Tip the flour into a large bowl and put the sugar, olive oil, wine, egg and salt in the centre. Start mixing with a fork and, when the dough has taken form, use your hands until you form a smooth compact ball. Leave it to rest for half an hour covered with a cloth. Then roll it out on a sheet of greaseproof paper with a rolling pin, using a few of handfuls of flour to help you; try to give it an elongated shape, and roll it as thin as possible. Transfer the pastry, with the greaseproof paper, onto a baking tray. Tip the filling (well cooled down) into the centre and spread it out evenly; leave roughly 10 cm free from filling along the longer edges, and 5 cm along the shorter ones. Using the greaseproof paper, fold one of the two longer edges of the pastry over on top of the filling and then the other one, overlapping the first. Close the ends by folding the pastry over carefully. Bend the roll that you’ve made into the shape of a snake and cook it in a preheated oven, at 180 °C, for 50 minutes. Let your Rocciata cool down and then brush the surface with Alchermes.