The Golden Date bread won my pick by virtue of hitting the trifecta of being a recipe I haven't tried yet, have all the ingredients for, and not being overly complicated or onerous. It is very similar to the Basic Whole Wheat Bread, but uses dates, rather than honey as the sweetener. The sort of melt into the dough to produce a relatively sweet, moist loaf. They certainly have a very noticeable effect, but not much... presence? You definitely wouldn't bite into a slice and go, "Yum! Dates!" It's more of a subtle, "Oh, this bread is just slightly denser and sweeter than a plain whole wheat loaf."
Golden Date Bread
Slightly adapted from the Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book
Ingredients
- 1 c. pitted dates, cut into large pieces
- 1 c. water, plus extra (see recipe)
- 1/2 c. warm water
- 2 tsp. active dry yeast
- 900g hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour
- 2 tsp. coarse sea salt
- 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
Directions
- Simmer the dates in 1 c. of water until very soft. Remove from heat and pour into large measuring cup. Add cold water to bring the total volume up to 3 c. Set aside.
- Dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Set aside for 10 minutes.
- Combine the flour and salt and mix well.
- Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour in the yeast mixture (after its 10-minute rest).
- Check to make sure the date mixture isn't too hot for the yeast (it should be about body temperature) and pour that into the well also.
- Mix everything together working from the centre outward.
- Once most of the flour has been incorporated, turn the dough out onto your work surface along with the remaining flour and begin to knead it. It will be quite wet and soft and sticky at this point, but will become less so as the gluten is developed.
- After 5-10 minutes of kneading, check the consistency and see if more flour or water needs to be added. Resist the temptation to add a lot of flour and make the dough too tight. It will probably still be a little sticky at this point and that's okay.
- Knead for another 10 minutes, then smear the butter on the work surface and place the dough on top of it. Continue to knead for another 5-10 minutes until butter is well-incorporated and dough is silky and elastic.
- Form into a ball and place in a covered bowl to rise. Check after an hour, but it will probably need at least 90 minutes for the first rise. To check, press a wet finger ~1cm into the dough and see if the hole fills in. If it does, give it some more time to rise. If the hole doesn't fill or if the dough sighs and/or sinks back around your finger/the hole, then it's ready to be knocked back.
- Knock back the dough, pressing out any gas pockets and large bubbles. Knead it a little bit if you feel like it (just a minute or two). Form it into a ball again and place it back in the bowl, covered, for its second rise. Check after 45 minutes, but it may take an hour or more.
- Knock the dough back again, then divide it into two equal portions and shape each one into a ball. Stretch the gluten taught to form a smooth surface across the top. Cover the balls and rest for 10 minutes.
- Working with one dough ball at a time, turn over so the smooth side is down and press into a large, flat round. Fold the round into thirds to form a long (roughly) rectangular shape. Grab a short side and roll the dough up to form a cylinder. Place seam-side-down into a greased loaf pan.
- Cover filled loaf pans and set aside to rise for at least 30 minutes and up to 60 minutes. This rise is finished when a 1cm hole very slowly fills in. If you wait 'til it no longer fills in at all, then the loaves will be over-proofed by the time they get up to temperature in the oven.
- If the loaves have risen very well, you may wish to slash the tops to give them room to spring in the oven.
- Bake at 325°F (160°C) for ~1 hour.
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