Grandma's date bread recipe was born during war rationing, when sugar was scarce, inventive homemakers looked for other ways to sweeten baked goods. Honey, corn syrup, molasses, and maple syrup were often used as sweeteners, as well as dried fruits such as raisins and dates.
This date loaf recipe comes right from my grandmother’s recipe box. Dates play a starring role and the bread is sweet enough that you would never know it doesn’t include sugar!
The bread is delicious on its own for breakfast or a snack, or served alongside a meal. My husband particularly enjoy's this bread alongside a plateful of baked beans.
Gluten-Free Date Loaf
The original recipe calls for all-purpose flour, but I have also successfully made a gluten-free version by using a gluten-free flour blend one to one. I have also added baking powder to the original recipe, to improve the rise of the bread. Learn more about gluten free baking in Successful Gluten-Free Baking That Tastes Good.
Date Bread Recipe
Pour 1 cup water into a small pot and bring to a boil. Once boiling, stir in dates, soda, and butter.
Reduce heat, and simmer until dates are very soft, about 20 minutes.
Use a fork to mash date mixture into a paste. It does not need to be perfectly smooth. Set aside to cool.
Combine flour, baking powder and raisins in a separate bowl.
When dates have cooled, stir in beaten egg and ½ cup hot water.
Add flour to date mixture and stir until combined.
Pour into well-greased 6.5” x 4” x 2” loaf pan and bake at 325 degrees for 45 – 60 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. This is a small steel loaf pan, perfect for breads like this.
Turn out onto a wire rack to cool.
A standard-sized loaf pan can also be used, but will create a flat loaf. Bake for 35 – 40 minutes.
My favorite standard loaf pan is this cast iron loaf pan by Lodge. My husband got it for me for Christmas and it quickly has become my favorite loaf pan ever!
Vintage Recipe: Grandmother's Date Bread
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup dates
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour can also use a gluten-free flour blend
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ cup raisins
- 1 egg well beaten
- ½ cup hot water
Instructions
- Pour 1 cup water into a small pot and bring to a boil.
- Once boiling, stir in dates, soda, and butter.
- Reduce heat, and simmer until dates are very soft, about 20 minutes.
- Use a fork to mash date mixture into a paste. It does not need to be perfectly smooth. Set aside to cool.
- Combine flour, baking powder and raisins in a separate bowl.
- When dates have cooled, stir in beaten egg and ½ cup hot water.
- Add flour to date mixture and stir until combined.
- Pour into well-greased 6.5” x 4” x 2” loaf pan and bake at 325 degrees for 45 – 60 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Turn out onto a wire rack to cool.
- A standard-sized loaf pan can also be used, but will create a flat loaf. Bake for 35 – 40 minutes.
Hi Andrea, have you tried this with any fruit besides dates? I seriously dislike dates, and I’m wondering about substituting figs.
Thanks!
Theresa,
I think the figs sounds wonderful!
I have only ever used dates, but figs might work! If you try it, please let us know how it turns out!
This recipe looks good. I’d be interested in more ways to cook with less sugar. Tks.
I can’t wait to try this recipe! Vintage recipes have always been my favorite, especially quick breads. Is the bread dense or moist?
The dates keep the bread moist, but it is definitely a denser loaf.
Hi Melissa,
Could I make this recipe without the egg and still be good ? If so, which substitute would work better in it ? Thanks in advance for your great help,
God bless you,
Rosilene
Hi Rosilene,
I haven’t tried it with this particular loaf, but I often substitute flax seed for egg in other quick bread recipes and they have turned out well. (1 Tbsp ground flax mixed with 3 Tbsp water.)
This recipe looks AMAZING – will have to give it a whirl! I can remember my Granny (who lived through the Depression) many, many years AFTER the Depression – she would store bags of sugar in the basement “just in case”. Still makes me smile! Also, I would love to hear more about your sugar journey – need all the help this sweet-toothed girl can get!
This made me smile! Although my Gran didn’t store sugar, she seemed to keep everything else. She had a whole drawer full of paper (envelopes, junk mail with printing only on one side, etc.) and another of string. She couldn’t fathom why you would throw something so useful away. I had a sweet-tooth, too, but I managed almost three months without any sugar at all before I started cooking and baking with it again. Now I find I need far less sugar for something to taste sweet to me, and I also can’t eat sweet things in large amounts like I used to – both good things. Those three months were tough, but worth it in the end.
I’m on week two Andrea of a no sugar reset, so I’m happy to hear about your success!
This recipe looks like something my family would enjoy,thank you for passing it along.
I was given an abundance of dehydrated figs,they are the size of raisins. I am going to try the recipe using those.
Wish me luck!
I would love to know how your fig bread turned out! I love figs, but never thought of substituting them for the dates in this recipe.
Hi Andrea ,what a great recipe of your grandmothers bread , thank you for sharing. Gods Best
My family couldn’t tell there was no sugar…healthy treat without them knowing!😉
When I saw this I thought malt bread Mmmmm. But the ingrediants reminded me of something. Then I got hold of the River Cottage glutem free /sourdough book and theres a recipe for sticky toffee pudding in there. Guess what if you make a toffee sauce its sticky toffee pudding ! Thank you I will be trying this as its ALOT healthier than the river cottage version yuck.
Claudia, this sounds like a delicious use for this recipe. I would love to know if you tried it and how it turned out. Its been a few years since I last had sticky toffee pudding, but in my memory the pudding part might have been a bit moister than this bread. I wonder if I used a little less flour or used more dates if it would mimic that same moistness. Thanks for the idea!
Hello Melissa,
I just found your website and am so excited about returning to simpler, healthier foods.
As I was looking around, I found the WWII date bread recipe and was wondering if I could use fresh ground wheatberry flour in place of the AP flour?
Thanks so much for your direction!
Mary A.
Hi Marry,
Yes, you can, but increase the water by a Tablespoon or two as the fresh ground flour will require a bit more liquid.
Made this today! It came out great! Was delicious still warm with some butter. And it was moist. I did substitute the raisins for dates and walnuts. Using a 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 3/4 loaf pan it cooked for 50 minutes. Very easy to make, especially since baking is not my forte! ?
Brigid,
I’m so excited to hear it turned out great for you. And thanks for letting us know the substitute of the raisins for dates and walnuts worked well. We grow our own grapes here so I love being able to use raisins in recipes.
I made a dairy free version of this (I used Earth Balance- Soy Free in place of butter) because I had some dates (okay, a lot of dates) to use up… and oh my goshhhh!
I added a DF butterscotch sauce on top to make it a decadent desert and it was a huuuuge hit!
This recipe is awesome. I tried both regular flour and gluten free. Both really good.
Hi Andrea! I have made this recipe twice, and I absolutely love date breads! The flavour was amazing both times, but the texture was a little bit dense. I do not have experience making date paste, and each time I kinda burned the dates, and the mixture turned into a really dark/black color… Is that normal? And about how many dates would be 1 cup? Should it be 1 cup packed? Also, about how much should I have with the cooked date paste? I am assuming lots of water will evaporate during the cooking process…
Hi Gray, To begin with, it IS a dense loaf, just by the nature of the recipe, so it might not be anything you are doing with the dates that makes it so. As for the dates, I am never that specific about them! I use a cup of dates – I don’t pack them in the cup or anything, so there are air spaces and dates peak up over the top of the cup. I just grabbed a cup now and have 26 dates in my cup, but I am sure it is slightly different each time. I have never had the dates go black. You definitely want to simmer over low heat. Lots of the water will evaporate, but there will be enough to mash the dates at the end. You basically just need to simmer them until the dates are soft enough to mash. If your dates were softer to begin with, or you are simmering over a high heat, you might find you don’t need as much time before they are ready to mash. Just keep checking, and as soon as they are soft enough to mash with a fork, they are ready to go! Hope that helps!
[…] Recipe from Andrea Sabean […]
What kind of dates did you use for this? I used Medjool, and my bread turned out much darker than your photos. It is a slightly flatter, light black loaf. It tastes nice, but I’m wondering if I’ve done something different or wrong.
Hi Annie, I just used regular pitted dates. I have not tried the recipe with Medjool dates, so perhaps that is the difference in your loaf. Glad to hear that it still tastes good! 🙂
I baked mine in a round tin and it took a little less time as it was flatter. I found my mix wasn’t sweet enough so added about a tablespoon of sugar – maybe the dates in the UK aren’t as sweet as US dates. It was like a batter once I had added the 2nd amount of water and was a lovely moist cake. I think I could’ve left out that water though, and it still would’ve been a lovely cake. Thanks
Try adding diet coke for port of water….gives a bit sweeter taste. Love recipe as I am diabetic.
Hello! I’m a little late to the game with finding your recipe. It looks great and I can’t wait to try it! I already have date paste that I purchased specifically to make date bread. Would you suggest using the paste instead of the water, soda, dates and butter? I’m feeling like the proportions might be off if I just completely substitute out the first few ingredients.
You might have to play around with the liquids and add more water if needed.
Has anyone tried this recipe using an almond flour? It sounds like something I would love to make to go with coffee!
This was delicious! The density of the bread did not bother me a bit. It was also very filling! I’ll be making this again.
Have been looking for this recipe for awhile. My mother made this. I don’t remember the raisins. And she would pour boiling water over instead of boiling it. Can’t wait to try it.
Can you dried dates for this recipe?
Can you use dried dates for this recipe?
Thanks a million for sharing this.
I am in my “plastic free – environment-conscious” journey so I used all that I had bought in bulk. I had to make some modifications to make it vegan and I used dried prunes instead (more local from the area where I live). I will share it here if you don’t mind, in case someone is interested in making it 100% veg.
I made it vegan by using olive oil (tbsp) and flaxseed as “no-egg”. The result was super tasty! I am very thankful for this sugar free recipe that I will repeat for sure!
Have a lovely day. Hugs from Spain.
Thank you so much for the recipe.just made it..and came out..delicious.Instead of water I put coffee .taste …so yumyyy.All the best!
Can you add raisins instead of dates? I buy organic raisins, but am not fond of dates.
No fuss cake. I like that no sugar is added and the dates are already super sweet. Thank you for sharing the recipe
God Bless you
I used Rum instead of water to boil the dates and make the paste. Delicious!
Great recipe, thank you!! 🙂 I swapped the flour for wholewheat, added 20g on coconut sugar and 40g on walnuts and it was delicious. My boyfriend already wants me to make another!! Tip: heat it up and add butter and almond butter :p
Liked it very much and so easy to make!
I made it vegan and with gluten free flour. I should have added more agave syrup to made it a little bit sweeter. It is my first time making a loaf of bread. I think it was very easy.
I’m Diabetic, if you look up dates they are safe for diabetics as they don’t elevate your blood sugar levels as sugar does.
Great recipe! I added cinnamon to the dry ingredients and I folded the raisins in after everything was mixed. I found the raisins to be full of flour when mixed into the flour mixture, which stayed on them after baking.
Delicious! I used a standard pan and was pleasantly surprised by how tall it still was. I used halawi dates sourced from Azure Market – they’re softer and sweeter than medjool. Not sure if it would’ve made a difference in this delicious bread, though. I barely use cane sugar anymore so this recipe was perfect. Thank you so much for this recipe!! I checked out your other recipes and am excited to try them out! Thanks for this great resource.
I had a recipe fr this date bread, however, because I moved a lot, it got lost. This one sounds just like I used to have, will make it, will add figs and walnuts too.
Thank you for sharing this wonderful bread.
This bread is delicious! Thanks for sharing 😃
I was curious out this cake so I thought I’d try it. I baked it with gluten free flour and made 2 mini loaves. The butter was super thick and it didn’t raise much. I baked the mini loaves for about 40 mins.
The Toothpick came out dry. But when I tried a slice, it was a bit gummy like a dense steamed cake. The taste was good though.
Is it supposed to be like that? Or is the crumb like a cake?
I made this yesterday using your original recipe Melissa and it is 100% the same recipe that my great Aunt used! I’ve been trying for years to replicate it and *boom*, here it is! Thank you so much! It is perfect just as you posted it! Now…off to see what else of your recipes I simply must have!