Date & fig bread

A sourdough-style bread that’s just bursting with fruit and flavour – it bakes in just 20 minutes

  • Prep:50 mins
    Cook:20 mins
    Plus overnight proving and 2 hours for final dough
  • More effort

Nutrition per serving

  • kcal 248
  • fat 7g
  • saturates 4g
  • carbs 43g
  • sugars 1g
  • fibre 4g
  • protein 7g
  • salt 0.6g

Ingredients

  • 400g wholemeal flour
  • 7g sachet fast-action yeast
  • 300ml water
  • 175g wholemeal flour
  • 400g strong white flour
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 7g sachet fast-action yeast
  • 140g butter, melted
  • 1 tbsp treacle
  • 225ml water
  • 200g figs, coarsely chopped
  • 100g dates, coarsely chopped

Method

  1. Mix the starter ingredients together in a bowl. Turn out and knead for 10 minutes. Place in a lightly oiled bowl and leave to rise overnight in the fridge.

  2. To make the second dough, mix the remaining flours, salt and yeast in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre, stir together the butter and treacle, then pour in the dry ingredients along with almost all the water. If the dough seems a little stiff, add the rest of the water. Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead the starter into the dough and knead for 10 mins. Put the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and leave to rise for 1 hour until doubled in size.

  3. Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface. Press the dough out into a rectangle about 2.5cm thick and sprinkle over the figs and dates, then roll up like a Swiss roll, kneading to combine evenly. Cut into 20 pieces and shape into rolls. Leave for 1 hour to prove until doubled in size. Heat oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas 7. Bake for 18-20 mins, until the rolls sound hollow when tapped underneath. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

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