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.
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One of my guilty pleasures at the weekend is homemade bread slathered in cold, slightly salty butter. If that bread is slightly on the sweet side, I say all the better. Weekends are my time to relax the healthy eating a little. This Coffee, Date Rye Bread fits the bill perfectly. It is just the right side of sweet, with a bitter hint of coffee and a smidgen of sharpness from the rye. This loaf can wake me up any Saturday morning it pleases.
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.
Making bread at home can seem a little intimidating, but really there is no need for it to be something sinister.
Confession: I dabbled in bread making in my late teenage years. I was young (sigh) and had absolutely zero knowledge or experience of bread making. I don’t think I even had bread flour (so naïve). Obviously, I ended up with a lump of heavy, barely edible carbohydrate loosely labelled as ‘homemade bread’ if anybody was brave enough to ask me what it was.
For close on 2 decades I ignored homemade bread. I was happy. But then one Christmas, about 6 years ago, completely unaware of my teenage disasters, Chris presented me with a bread making machine. I was instantly and unexpectedly thrilled and immediately found it a home on my kitchen worktop.
This machine sat there proudly kneading and baking loaf after loaf of great bread for about 6 months. But then Chris confessed that he wasn’t completely happy with the way the machine baked the bread. Eh?!?!?!? He is relentlessly fussy when it comes to bread. It has to be spot on.
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.
We are not normal people.
But then I got impatient with this machine. Not only was it taking up valuable space in my kitchen, it was taking me more time to programme the machine than was worth the effort… I would get brain ache trying to calculate the times in my head whilst simultaneously serving breakfast to my pre-schoolers, unloading the dishwasher, setting the washing machine going… you know the drill.
So we started making bread by hand. After all, that is the way I like to do things in my kitchen anyway.
After a few months of inactivity the breadmaking machine took a one way ticket to the charity shop. But I remain thankful to Chris for buying it for me. It was a present from the heart and without it, I would not have got around to mastering homemade bread. I’m also secretly pleased he’s so picky, picky, picky about his loaf as I do love making bread. And I doubt very much if this Coffee Date Rye Bread would have evolved if I’d carried on with the bread making machine. It’s so much easier to gauge the dough when you are actually in contact with it.
Homemade bread is a labour of love, but one that is worth the effort. My advice to anybody new to breadmaking is not to rush it:
- 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 can 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 The Kitchn)
- For a crisp, crusty top create some steam in the oven. Fill 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.
If you enjoy baking bread then take a look at my Cheesy Jalapeño Beer Bread, Cinnamon Cherry Tea Bread and my Lincolnshire plum loaf – they are all beautiful loaves. And for the ultimate sweet indulgence, take a look at my easy jam doughnuts – gone on, I dare you.
Coffee Date Rye Bread
Ingredients
- 400 g/ 3 ⅓ cups Strong bread flour
- 100 g/ ¾ cup Rye flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Ground ginger
- 2 teaspoon Quick action yeast
- 30 g/ 2 tablespoon Caster sugar
- 320 ml/ 1 ⅓ cups Tepid whole milk (or 50:50 milk and water)
- 30 g/ 2 tablespoon Butter – softened
- 30 ml/ 2 tablespoon Very strong espresso coffee – cold
- 150 g/ ⅞ cup Dates – chopped
Instructions
- 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 ¾ 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)
- Knock back the dough in the bowl using your fist and then tip it onto a worktop. Flatten it out to a rough rectangle, scatter the chopped dates over it, fold it up and knead for a few minutes to distribute the fruit throughout the dough
- 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
- Slash the top of the loaf with a very sharp knife (or a razor blade) and sprinkle with a little flour
- 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
- Eat as soon as possible and within 3 days
Taryn Neuhaus
Amazing loaf!! I bake sourdough regularly for our daily bread and I was looking for something special as a treat for my husband. I doubled the recipe, and good thing I did, he ate one whole loaf in minutes. May not even make it to breakfast. Thanks! Love it
Jane Saunders
Thanks so much Taryn. Thrilled to hear it went down so well.
Chelsea
Thanks for the recipe — this looks great. I’ve had sort of the opposite experience with breadmaking throughout my life. My dad loves to bake and taught me to bake bread as a kid. I made homemade bread on and off through my life, whenever I was able to find the time, but working full time made it difficult to do it as often as I wanted. Then a few years ago I was gifted a bread maker and it completely changed my life. Yes, if you let it bake the loaves, they come out kind of steamed and spongy. But mine actually has a “dough” setting that takes it through the first rise and then stops, so I can form the loaf and bake it properly in the oven (my cast iron skillet doubles as a bread stone). It has taken all the time and hard work out of baking bread and I now bake a loaf at least once a week. No matter how you do it, though, homemade bread really is the best. Thanks again for the recipe. This is going to be breakfast for this week!
Minoo
Hi,
I really like to make this bread. Have you ever made this bread with brewed coffee or instant dark roast coffee?
Jane Saunders
Hi Minoo. I’m so pleased you want to make this bread. I’ve only ever used espresso to make it, however, there is nothing wrong in experimenting with different coffees. Just ensure that whatever type you use is nice and strong when brewed so the coffee flavour comes through.
Minoo
Thank you so much! I will!
Azza
This bread looks amazing,,I love bread, and very addictive to bread recipe,thank you for sharing the recipe,I made this bread using fresh yeast based on your conversion chart given,the bread is awesome,thank you again,
Jane Saunders
Azza, thankyou so much for coming back to let me know how you got on. It’s always lovely to hear that somebody has tried a recipe and loved it. I really appreciate you taking time to do this.
Azza
Hi, again, made this bread again,but this time, I used the Arabic coffee which paired very good with dates, cause it’s loaded with cardomum,thank you again, delicious ….
Jane Saunders
Ahh, thankyou Azza. I haven’t made this loaf in a while but I’m feeling I want to soon. A touch of cardamom in there does sound lovely – great call.
Helena / Rico sin Azúcar
Gorgeous bread, Jane! Love the coffee flavour and the dates inside (perfect to make some toast for breakfast 😉
Very nice blog of yours!
Jane Saunders
Thankyou so much, Helena. So pleased you like it.
Julia @ HappyFoods Tube
OMG! This is a beautiful loaf! I have not been very successful at making other than white bread which drives me nuts. Love how simple this recipe looks. One question: is quick action yeast the same as dried yeast? If not can these be used? Or fresh yeast? Thanks!
Jane Saunders
Thankyou Julia. I use Allinson Easy Bake Yeast – on the pack it says use whenever ‘quick’,’fast action’ ‘instant’ or ‘easy blend’ yeast is called for. What brand do you have & does it mention any of these terms on the pack? I’ve found a conversion chart that translates measures for fresh yeast/ original dry yeast/ quick action yeast. https://www.dovesfarm.co.uk/resources/yeast-and-raising-agents/yeast-conversion-table/
Apparently 1tsp quick action dried yeast weighs approx 2.75g, so for my recipe that’s 5.5g. Based on the conversion chart, if you wanted to substitute out the quick action dried yeast, I’d start out by trying either 7-8g original dried yeast or 17-20g fresh yeast. I’ve not tried either of these, so it’s my best guess – if you do try, please let me know how the yeast behaves.
Miranda
I’m glad you finally got into bread making because this looks amazing! I love the flavors used for this bread!
Meghan | Fox and Briar
My husband is just the same about his bread! Always thinking it can be “more perfect” 🙂 But in the end, it does help you improve, right? Love the flavors in this bread. I probably have much more work to do to perfect my bread game, so I love that you have so many tips here!
Jane Saunders
So true – we can only learn by being constructively critical/ citiscised. My man likes this bread but said: I’m not sure what you would serve alongside it with all of those interesting flavours…. um… butter? What more would you ever need?
Lynn | The Road to Honey
Before I got married, I used to make homemade bread religiously every weekend. I used this divine bread to make my lunchtime sandwiches throughout the week. I felt bad for my jealous co-workers as they looked sadly at their limp, processed sandwiches, so I started to bring in a loaf for them too. But as the years ticked on and my metabolism started to slow, I cut my bread consumption and the weekend bread making ritual waned.
But nothing beats the sense of pride you get when your meals include a loaf of bread that you crafted with your own two hands. Oh. . .and the taste. . . nothing beats the taste of homemade bread still warm from the oven. While this loaf would taste heavenly just with a dab of butter I’m also imagining it would make a scrumptious french toast.
Jane Saunders
Oh my goodness. That’s it, I have to make some more now just to put your french toast theory to the test. A homemade loaf never fails to impress and it’s such a great thing to make for friends. Your co-workers were lucky people.
Jessica
Hi Jane, is there any possibility that the flour can be replaced to a gluten free flour, as I’m highly allergic to gluten? Thank you ??
Jane Saunders
Hi Jessica, thanks for getting in touch. Sadly, I’ve never made gluten-free bread, so I honestly cannot say for sure how the bread would turn out if you made a simple substitution with gluten-free flour. Having taken a quick look at some gluten-free recipes out there, my instinct tells me it might not be as simple as that. However, I’ve found a lovely recipe for G-F Swedish style Rye bread from Angela’s Kitchen, which I’m wondering if you might be able to adapt to bring in the coffee and date flavours. https://angelaskitchen.com/2013/03/06/gluten-free-dairy-free-swedish-rye-bread/
I’d start by replacing 30ml of the milk in the recipe with the espresso, then add in the dates and ginger but leave out the seeds and orange zest. I’d be tempted to leave in the cocoa powder since it will pair with the other flavours and it’s best not to mess with the recipe when you don’t have to. It’s just speculation, but I think this would work out ok….
Alternatively, a friend has suggested you take a look at G-F on a shoestring who has quite a few bread recipes https://glutenfreeonashoestring.com/category/gluten-free-bread-recipes/ Hope all of this helps – sorry I couldn’t make suggestions for my own recipe :\
Jennifer A Stewart
I have given up bread for the most party, but a good crusty loaf can still pull me in. I have always wanted to try making bread but it seems so daunting! Thanks for a great recipe to get me started again!
Jane Saunders
Go for it, but don’t blame me if the kneading process becomes your new obsession.