Coffee Date Bread

I’ll admit, I’m kind of diggin’ this no-plan, casual mosey through Middle Eastern cuisine I’ve got going on here. It fits with the attitude of summer, as does this food. I’ve found so far it’s low-stress, low-prep, low-time, low-brain power (and, as it turns out, low-fat), just the way food should be when we all have better things to do, like go for a run outside, visit with friends, and sip on margaritas on outdoor patios. Or, in my case, also make this coffee date bread.

Yesterday was perfect weather here in the Chi- not at all humid, and the temperature where you could get away with a light sweater, or a sleeveless dress. I rocked both the past two days.  As I drove around the city, it was if every dwelling in Chicago exploded, tossing its residents onto the streets to mingle and mix and be. I honestly forgot how many people actually lived in this town, since we’ve all been hibernating the past 6 months.

Yesterday I slept in later than I had on any Saturday in recent memory, and as I sat enjoying my coffee and catching up on my favorite blogs,  I decided that I should dig into my cookbooks for inspiration this week. I’m actually not a cookbook hoarder. Sure, it is my favorite section in the bookstore, and I can get lost in thought for hours as I look at page after page and mentally bookmark all that I want to make, try and tweak for my own table. However, at the end of the day, only 8 occupy my shelves, and all but one was gifted to me.  No matter, it was time to ditch the digital and see what I could find in paper that channeled the Middle East. I did pretty well and so we’ll kick off this week with a different sort of quick bread adapted from David Loftus’ Around the World in 80 Dishes.

If you’ve been reading along, this book should seem vaguely familiar, and if you tried the Bengali Prawns or Chutney, you’ll trust anything that comes from these pages. Right now this book is 2-2, so I had no reason to think today’s would be a fail, a date and coffee loaf.

How exactly is this Middle Eastern, you may ask? Well, way back a year ago I made a Libyan Fig-Date bread and I noted that northern Africa drew flavors from not only Africa, but the Middle East as well, and, as such, the dates, milk, honey and bread that are so common in African food are also quite prevalent in my current location. So there’s that.

Also, in a nod to Oman, there is coffee in this. But not just any coffee, a special Oman-style coffee. I’ll explain.  Khawa is an Omani specialty and a symbol of hospitality throughout the country. The difference is in the details for this, and Omani coffee is Arabica coffee, strongly brewed and spiked with the flavors of cardamom and cloves…sort of like chai coffee.  I figured by adding Omani coffee rather than my regular Tim Horton’s (though- Tim Hortons is THE BEST) added a little more depth to this loaf. Not that it really needed it.  I will admit that just to drink, I wasn’t a fan, but then again I like my coffee the way I like my tea: milk and sugar. No flavors. No shots of anything. Plain Jane.

As I read the recipe, I was highly skeptical of the amount of flour that this called for…a mere five ounces.  I realized when putting this together that the bulk of the bulk comes from the dates – makes sense, since they are the start of the show. Wonderful as it is, or with a wee drizzle of honey for a nice finishing touch. Just the thing for a housewarming gift or brunch – everyone will love it.

Bread Head: Coffee-Date-Walnut Loaf

Chrissy

A nod to the flavors of Oman, this coffee date bread is a full of sweet dates with a hint of cardamom for a hearty snack.

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr

Total Time 1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Servings 1 loaf

Ingredients

  

• 1 cup strong coffee brewed and hot
• 9 ounces/2 cup pitted dates chopped as fine as you like (about 30 dates)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 TB cardamom powder
• 1 tsp ground cloves
• 2 TB unsalted butter softened
• 1 egg beaten
• 2 TB white sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 5 ounces/1 cup all-purpose)
• 1 tsp salt
• 5 ounces/1½ cups walnuts or pecans chopped

Instructions

 

• Preheat the oven to 350F.  Grease and sugar an 8 x 4 inch loaf pan and line the bottom with parchment.
• Put the dates into a bowl and sprinkle with the baking soda. Pour the hot coffee over the dates and set aside.  
• In another bowl, beat together the butter, egg and sugar.  Add the vanilla and salt.  Add the flour, cardamon, cloves and gently fold. Finally, add the date/coffee mixture and fold in the walnuts or pecans.
• Bake for 1 hour, or until a tester comes back clean.  Let stand for a few minutes and then remove from the pan to a cooling rack.  Give it some lovin’ with honey and eat.