Dates at market in Kuwait
By Cat, Oct 2007 (Photo, right, cropped form Wikimedia Commons)
- See also: 1. Breads & Rolls menu; 2. Orange Date Bread-I, with Softened Dates and Orange Zest; 3. Orange Date Bread-II, with Dredged Dates
I love date bread during the holidays, and these mini-loaves make excellent gifts. Dates and oranges together is a great flavor, and quite festive.
Orange-Date Bread Mini-Loaves
I don’t recall where I got this recipe. You do not need to make this recipe as mini-loaves; you can use a regular loaf pan. I usually use maple syrup and stevia, but I’ve included instructions to modify for using dried sugar cane juice (Rapadura sugar).
I’ve not yet tested this recipe with stevia and maple syrup (I’ve only made it with brown or Rapadura sugar).
Ingredients & Equipment:
- 1 cup chopped dates
- ½ cup boiling water
- 2 Tbsp coconut oil
- 1 orange (for 1 Tbsp grated orange zest and ½ cup fresh squeezed orange juice)
- ⅓ cup Rapadura sugar (or ⅛ tsp stevia extract powder plus 2 Tbsp maple syrup or molasses)
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1½ cup whole wheat pastry or sprouted wheat flour (or you can use whole spelt or sprouted spelt flour, but you may need to add more flour or less orange juice)
- ¼ cup unbleached white flour *
- ¼ cup coconut flour *
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp unrefined sea salt
- ¼ cup chopped walnuts (previously soaked and dried)
- Equipment:
- large bowl
- 1 regular loaf pan, or 2 small loaf pans (4½ x 2¾ x 2″); do not use aluminum pans.
* NOTE: If you don’t want to use the coconut flour (which is added to increase fiber), reduce the orange juice to ¼ cup and increase the unbleached white flour to ½ cup.
Method
- Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease bread pan(s) with butter.
- Pour boiling water over the dates and coconut oil in a large bowl; if using stevia, stir it into the water to dissolve. Cool.
- Grate 1 Tbsp orange zest and squeeze ½ cup juice. Add orange juice and peel to the date mixture. Let it rest a bit while you beat the egg.
- Stir in the beaten egg and the maple syrup or molasses (if using)
- Measure dry ingredients (including Rapadura sugar, if using) into a sifter, then sift over the date/egg mixture. Stir until moist, then gently stir in the walnuts.
- Turn dough into prepared pan(s).
- Bake 40 – 45 minutes if using small pans, or 60 minutes if using 1 regular pan.
- Cool on wire rack. Then wrap and store overnight before serving.
Assembly or Serving Suggestions
- Serve warm with softened cream cheese spread or butter.
- Wrap mini loaves in colorful cellophane, for gifts.
