Date, Cinnamon and Walnut Loaf with White Icing
current situation: date cinnamon walnut bread
A round loaf rather than a tin one, flooded with icing while it is barely warm so it runs down the sides and sets in sheets.
The icing goes on warm, not hot and not cold. On a hot loaf it turns to liquid and vanishes into the crust. On a cold one it sits on top in a neat disc and does nothing. At about body temperature it runs just far enough and then sets, which is the look in the picture.
Dates do something raisins cannot — they half-dissolve in the heat and leave dark sticky pockets through the crumb rather than staying as distinct pieces.
- Makes
- One round loaf
- Hands-on
- 35 minutes
- Rise
- 2 1/2 hours
- Icing
- On a warm loaf
What you need
The dough
- 4 1/2 cups bread flour
- 1 1/4 cups warm whole milk
- 2 1/4 tsp instant yeast
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 2 tsp salt
- 5 tbsp soft butter
- 2 eggs
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
Folded in
- 2 cups medjool dates, stoned and chopped
- 1 1/4 cups walnuts, roughly chopped
The icing
- 2 cups icing sugar
- 3–4 tbsp whole milk
- 1 tsp vanilla
- A pinch of salt
How it goes
1 — Chop the dates and toss them in flour
A tablespoon of the measured flour over the chopped dates stops them welding into one sticky lump when they go into the dough.
2 — Knead eight minutes, cinnamon in with the flour
Soft enriched dough, smooth and slightly tacky. A tablespoon of cinnamon is a lot and it should be — it has to carry through a big loaf.
3 — First rise until doubled
Ninety minutes, covered, somewhere warm.
4 — Dates and walnuts folded in afterwards
Pressed flat, scattered, folded four or five times until evenly distributed. The dough will feel heavy and slack and that is normal.
5 — Shape a tight round, no tin
Cupped and rolled against the counter until the surface is taut, then onto a lined tray. A free-standing loaf needs more tension than a tin loaf because nothing is holding its sides.
6 — Second rise one hour, then score shallow
Risen but not doubled, then a shallow cross cut across the top so it opens where you decided rather than where it chooses.
7 — 350°F for 35 minutes, tented at 20
Foil over once it is gold. Sugar and dates both brown fast and the middle of a round loaf takes its time.
pro tip — Internal temperature of 195°F is the only reliable test on an enriched loaf. Knocking on the bottom is less dependable with this much sugar in it.
8 — Cool to warm, then flood with icing
An hour on a rack until it is just warm to the hand. Icing whisked to the thickness of double cream and poured over the centre so it finds its own way down the sides.
Current situation. The icing on the plate underneath is the best bit and everybody fights for it. LFG.