- 1
- 25 mins
- 50 mins
Ingredients
- 400 g/ 3 1/3 cups strong bread flour
- 100 g/ 3/4 cup rye flour
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 2 tsp quick action yeast
- 30 g/ 2 tbsp caster sugar
- 320 ml/ 1 1/3 cups tepid whole milk (or 50:50 milk and water)
- 30 g/ 2 tbsp butter - softened
- 30 ml/ 2 tbsp strong espresso coffee - cold
- 150 g dates - chopped
Preparation
Step 1
Homemade Coffee Date Rye Bread is worth taking your time over. Enjoy it fresh and thickly sliced. A dab of butter is all it needs. The combination of sweet dates, bitter coffee and sour rye makes a great simple breakfast.
I like to enjoy my Coffee Date Rye Bread as fresh as possible and just as it is… plus that lick essential of butter. The loaf is large so there’s often a little left over for the next day. I toast a few slices on day 2, so that I can marvel at how the heat of the toaster transforms those dates into soft, squidgy nuggets of sweet goodness.
Hmm… for another 6 months we let the machine do the mixing and kneading of the dough and taking it through the first rise. But then we’d set an alarm, whip that dough out of the machine, knock it back, shape it, prove it and bake it in the oven. Phew.
Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes). Don’t take shortcuts and don’t think 2 or 3 minutes must surely be enough. It is not. I love to feel the dough changing consistency as I knead it and it’s actually quite a therapeutic thing to do if you’re feeling a little hacked off
Allow plenty of time for the dough to rise. In the winter I’ve been known to leave dough for 3-4 hours on the first rise and a further 1 ½ hours to prove. The bonus is that the longer the dough takes to rise the better the flavour
Ensure that the bread is cooked throughout before you turn off the oven. You can either give the base a firm thump with your thumb and listen for a hollow sound or take the internal temperature of the bread using a probe thermometer – most breads are cooked when the temperature hits 90C/190F. (For more information visit
For a crisp, crusty top create some steam in the oven by filling a preheated roasting tin with water and placing it on the bottom shelf of the oven as the bread bakes. Once the loaf is cooked, turn off the oven, leave the oven door ajar and let the bread cool completely in the oven
Whether you are a first time breadmaker or Olympic champion, enjoy taking your time over this Coffee Date Rye Bread.
Yields
Homemade Coffee Date Rye Bread is worth taking your time over. Enjoy it fresh and thickly sliced with a dab of butter. The combination of sweet dates, bitter coffee and sour rye makes a great simple breakfast.
Put the flours, sugar and ginger into a large mixing bowl and stir to combine
Add the salt, yeast and butter, then pour in the cold espresso coffee and 3/4 of the milk
Stir with your hands to form a dough, adding more of the milk as required - the dough should be soft and not flaky, but it should also not be too wet or sticky
Tip the dough onto a lightly floured worktop and knead for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic (or use the dough hook attachment on your mixer)
Put the dough into a clean bowl and cover with a clean tea towel. Leave to rise until doubled in size (approx 1-2 hours depending on how warm your kitchen is)
Shape the dough into a round or an oval. Lay it onto a floured baking sheet and put it inside a large plastic bag to prove for another hour or so until nearly doubled in size
Meanwhile, heat the oven to 220C/ 425F/ GM7 and put a roasting tin into the bottom shelf
Put the loaf into the oven and at the same time fill the baking tin with water
Cook for 20 minutes then turn the heat down to 200C/ 400F/ GM6 and bake for another 5-7 minutes until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped underneath
Leave the loaf in the oven, but turn off the heat and let the bread cool down in the oven with the door ajar
E-Mail Address
E-Mail Address