The most delicious sourdough bread loaf, lightly spiced with ginger and nutmeg and studded with sweet dates also features the signature chewy crust! We added some spelt flour for the extra nutrition and nuttier flavour profile! It is more versatile than you may think: a slice of Coffee and Date Sourdough with some butter makes a perfect breakfast! What is more, it goes beautifully with cheese and charcuterie!
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What Does Date Sourdough Taste Like?
I know I say this about a lot of my recipes, but this one is definitely worthy of the Best Sourdough Loaf award, at least in our household! When I first made a version of this Coffee & Date Sourdough, I said: "Oh my, sticky toffee pudding meets sourdough!". It has such a soft and moist texture inside, but still retains a chewy crust that is created with the help of the steam in the oven.
Step-by-Step Method
Day 1
Mix the strong bread flour, spelt flour, ginger, nutmeg, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl of your stand mixer (or any other bowl if kneading by hand).
Pour in the active sourdough starter, milk and cold espresso coffee. We use a De'longhi Coffee Maker, but you can use whatever means to make 30ml of very strong espresso.
Using a dough hook attachment in your stand mixer, knead for about 5 minutes. Then bit by bit add the softened butter and keep on kneading until all the butter is incorporated into the dough, at least for another 5 minutes. The dough should be soft but not too wet.
Tip the dough onto a clean lightly dusted surface and form a ball.
Place the ball into a clean bowl and cover it with a tea towel or cling film. Leave to rise until doubled in size in a warm spot (it normally takes about 5-6 hours, but highly depends on the temperature and your starter).
When the dough has risen, tip it onto a surface and stretch it out into a rectangle with your hands. Scatter half of the dates. Fold the top third into the centre and then the bottom third over the top (like a letter or a pamphlet). Stretch the dough again and scatter the rest of the dates and fold the dough into a pamphlet again. This is done to distribute the fruit more evenly.
Now shape the dough into a tight round ball.
Place it in a well-floured proving basket or a bowl lined with a tea towel and cover the top with a tea towel. Leave it at room temperature for 2 hours, then pop in the fridge to cold-proof overnight (or up to 16 hours).
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Day 2
In the morning, preheat the oven to 240° C Fan and put an ovenproof dish full of water on the bottom shelf. Place a cast-iron skillet or a baking tray you will be baking on in the oven to preheat too.
Take the cast iron pan/ tray out of the oven. Take care not to burn yourself, invert the ball of dough out of the proving basket onto the hot cast iron pan/ tray. Dust the top of the loaf with flour. Work quickly to slash the loaf using a razor or a very sharp knife, making sure you don't accidentally touch the hot pan.
Cook for 20 minutes in the centre of the oven. Then turn the heat down to 200°C and bake for another 12-15 minutes until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped underneath.
Once baked, transfer the loaf onto a cooling rack to cool completely before slicing. Learn how to best store your sourdough bread here.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, you can! But make sure to make the coffee very strong, just like espresso, otherwise, you won't get any coffee flavour in your sourdough!
If your dates are too exposed on the surface of your loaf, they are likely to burn and taste bitter. When shaping your date and coffee sourdough, we recommend making a conscious effort to hide the dates inside the dough, so that not many are exposed. However, we find that a few charred dates on top add a nice flavour overall!
Other Sourdough Recipes
We hope you'll love this bread as much as we do. Let us know what you thought of the Coffee Sourdough recipe in the comments below. Our other favourite Sourdough bread recipes include:
- My Everyday Sourdough Bread (Step-By-Step Recipe)
- Soft Sourdough Sandwich Bread
- Walnut and Cranberry Sourdough Bread Recipe
- Sourdough Pitta Bread | Overnight Recipe
- Rustic Seeded Sourdough Bread Recipe
- Crusty Sourdough Baguettes | Overnight Recipe
We are excited to share more of our Sourdough creations over the next couple of months, so keep an eye on our Sourdough Section for Chilli & Cheese Tear & Share Bread, Green Olive Sourdough Loaf and a very zingy Sourdough Lime Drizzle Cake.
Christmas Sourdough ebook
Celebrate the holiday season with a unique twist this year with our 24 Christmas Sourdough recipes! Discover the magic of using active sourdough starter, sourdough discard, and leftover baked sourdough bread to create a memorable and flavoursome Christmas feast.
Coffee and Date Sourdough
Ingredients
- 300 g strong bread flour
- 100 g spelt flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- 30 g caster sugar
- 200 ml milk
- 200 g active sourdough starter 100% hydration
- 30 ml espresso cooled down
- 30 g butter softened
- 150 g pitted dates each chopped into 3 pieces
Instructions
Day 1:
- Mix the strong bread flour, spelt flour, ginger, nutmeg, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl of your stand mixer (or any other bowl if kneading by hand).
- Pour in the active sourdough starter, milk and cold espresso coffee.
- Using a dough hook attachment in your stand mixer, knead for about 5 minutes. Then bit by bit add the softened butter and keep on kneading until all the butter is incorporated into the dough, at least another 5 minutes. The dough should be soft but not too wet.
- Tip the dough onto a clean lightly dusted surface and form a ball.
- Place the ball into a clean bowl and cover it with a tea towel or cling film. Leave to rise until doubled in size in a warm spot (it normally takes about 5-6 hours, but highly depends on the temperature and your starter).
- When the dough rises, tip it onto a surface and stretch it out into a rectangle with your hands. Scatter half of the dates. Fold the top third into the centre and then the bottom third over the top (like a letter or a pamphlet). Stretch the dough again and scatter the rest of the dates and fold the dough into a pamphlet again. This is done to distribute the fruit.
- Now shape the dough into a tight round ball.
- Place it in a well-floured proving basket or a bowl lined with a tea towel and cover the top with a tea towel. Leave it at room temperature for 2 hours, then pop in the fridge to cold-proof overnight (or up to 16 hours).
Day 2:
- In the morning, preheat the oven to 240° C Fan and put an ovenproof dish full of water on the bottom shelf. Place a cast-iron skillet or a baking tray you will be baking on in the oven to preheat too.
- Take the cast iron pan/ tray out of the oven. Taking care not to burn yourself, invert the ball of dough out of the proving basket onto the hot cast iron pan/ tray. Dust the top of the loaf with flour. Work quickly to slash the loaf using a razor or a very sharp knife, making sure you don't accidentally touch the hot pan.
- Cook for 20 minutes in the centre of the oven. Then turn the heat down to 200°C and bake for another 12-15 minutes until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped underneath.
- Once baked, transfer the loaf onto a cooling rack to cool completely before slicing.
Nutrition
Toni says
Thank you so much for this step by step recipe! It is really easy to follow! It turned out so good! Thank you!
Ieva says
Thanks, Toni! So glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Helen says
Love the coffee and spices in this - delicious!
Ieva says
We love a subtle hint of coffee in this! Great to hear that you did too!
Kali Alexandria says
This recipe was next level good! Thank you!
Ieva says
Wow, Kali! Wonderful feedback - thanks so much! 🙂
Holley says
Such a flavorful bread and easy to follow! Great recipe!
Ieva says
Thanks, Holley! 🙂
Tayler Ross says
I tried this sourdough over the weekend and omg was it delicious! Thanks so much for sharing the recipe!
Ieva says
You are most welcome, Tayler! It's one of our favourites, so we couldn't keep it to ourselves 😀
Melissa says
I made this bread, exactly as directed, using Deglet Noor dates. The bread turned out beautifully and was delicious. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
Ieva Greber says
Thank you so much fo the kind feedback, Melissa! So glad you liked the recipe. And thank you for the inspiration to try Daglet Noor dates - I never tried them before! 🙂
Sonja says
Your recipe just motivated me to bake a bread again after a bit of a lazy phase. The coffee date combo was just too good to pass. It came out utterly beautiful, with the perfect ratio of crisp crust to chewy-soft inside with those caramelized date pieces teasing in every bite. Thanks for this one. 🙂
Ieva Greber says
Thank you so much for giving it a go! So so glad you enjoyed! 😀
Sheila says
This sounds delicious. I’ve been trying to find a way to add dates to my sourdough bread. Most call for nuts, but I’m not a big fan of nuts in bread. I don’t love nutmeg. Can you suggest something to replace it with?
Ieva Greber says
Thank you so much — I’m glad it caught your eye! Dates are brilliant in sourdough, especially when paired with coffee, and you definitely don’t need to add nuts if you’re not a fan. If you’d rather skip the nutmeg, a little cinnamon or mixed spice (or pumpkin pie spice if you're in the US) works well, or you can keep it simple with just a touch of vanilla.
One small tip when baking with dates: try to keep them tucked inside the dough rather than sitting on the surface, as they can burn quite quickly in the oven.
Hope you enjoy your bake, and let me know how it turns out! 🙂