The most delicious moist sourdough bread loaf, lightly spiced with ginger and nutmeg and studded with sweet dates that 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 & Date Sourdough with some butter makes a perfect breakfast! What is more, it goes beautifully with some cheese and charcuterie!
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 Coffee & Date Sourdough Loaf Recipe:
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).
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.
We hope you’ll love this loaf as much as we do. Let us know what you thought of this recipe in the comments below. Our other favourite Sourdough bread recipes include:
- Soft Sourdough Sandwich Bread
- Sourdough Pitta Bread | Overnight 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.
Coffee & Date Sourdough with Spelt Flour
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with Dough Hook Attachment (optional)
Ingredients
- 300 g strong bread flour
- 100 g spelt flour
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp 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
