Date Cardamom Bread.
A local bakery called Night Work Bread makes an amazing Date Cardamom bread. The flavor is right at the tipping point between sweet and savory so it’s equally good spread with butter and jam or maybe some soft brie, or in a roast beef or chicken salad sandwich. My rendition is pretty close, I think because we likely get our cardamom from the same source. Makes 1 loaf a bit bigger than a kilo.
Ingredients:
125 g active white flour starter @60%
315 g purified water
410 g whole wheat flour
90 g all purpose flour
2 t Kosher salt
1 T diastatic malt powder (optional)
1-2 t ground cardamom (see NOTE)
225 g or so dried and pitted dates, coarsely chopped
4 T or so sesame seeds for crust, optional
Method: mix starter, water and the flours into a shaggy mass and autolyze at least 30 minutes. Add salt, cardamom, dates and optional malt powder and knead by your preferred method until gluten is well developed. (Test: you can pull on a section of dough and rather than breaking apart it will thin into a translucent “gluten window”.) Allow the dough to rise for around 4 hours in a covered bowl, then transfer to a large Ziploc bag or other covered container and refrigerate at least overnight.
In the morning, you should see air bubbles on the surface of the dough caused by developing yeast. If no bubbles, give it an extra day. When the dough is ready shape it to a ball on the counter, rest 20 minutes or so, then transfer smooth side down to a banneton prepped with a generous coating of rice flour (preferred) or white flour. If using the sesame seeds to coat the crust, add them before transferring the dough to the banneton: liberally coat a moist paper towel with a layer of seeds, roll the smooth side of the dough in it, then transfer to the banneton. (You can let the paper towel dry out and save the leftover seeds for another use.) Place the banneton with loaf in a plastic bag (I use an old fashioned, now-banned plastic supermarket bag) and proof at room temperature till it has risen somewhat, 2-6 hours.
When dough has risen, place a dutch oven in the oven with the lid on a separate shelf and heat to 460 degrees; allow at least 25 minutes for the dutch oven to come up to full heat. Remove the pot from the oven very carefully (using good potholders) and place on a trivet. Sprinkle polenta on the bottom to prevent sticking then transfer the loaf. Ideally, it will drop into your hand if you flip the banneton over; if this doesn’t work you may need to gently pry the edges away from the basket. Transfer the loaf to the dutch oven, taking care not to burn yourself and handling lightly so as not to deflate the bread. Score the top with a lame (razor blade) or serrated knife. Place the lid (which you have been heating separately) on top and return to oven. Bake 20 minutes covered to allow the bread to steam, then remove the lid, lower the temp to 440 degrees, and bake another 25 minutes until the center registers 206 degreeS when measured with a meat thermometer and the bread has a nice hollow sound when you thump it. Turn out on the counter or a rack and cool before serving.
Finely ground cardamom loses flavor quickly. We prefer the seeds from Penzey’s which have a much longer shelf life.
A NOTE ABOUT CARDAMOM: this spice is used in sweet baked goods and also Indian cooking (for a completely different flavor profile). The product sold in grocery stores is finely ground and loses potency very quickly. Penzey’s sells “seeds” which are coarsely ground with a much longer shelf life. Based on the taste matchup I believe this is what Nightworks uses as well. We used 2 t for our first bake which was almost overpowering on first bite but mellowed overnight. To be safe, start with 1 t and increase it on the next batch. If you have to use ground, be sure it is very fresh and limit to 1 t.
