This old fashioned date and nut bread recipe is a family favorite from my great-grandma. It's a simple quick bread recipe made with dates, flour, sugar, and nuts!
Prepare a 9x5 inch bread pan by greasing it well with butter or shortening. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In a medium mixing bowl add the dates and cover with the boiling water. Add the butter on top and let everything rest for 10 minutes.
After the 10 minutes has passes, add the sugar to the bowl and stir well to combine.
Add the egg and vanilla to the bowl and stir to combine.
Add the Bob's Red Mill Organic All-Purpose Flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Stir just until the mixture comes together.
Add the pecans and stir lightly to combine.
Add the batter to the prepared baking pan and smooth the top with a spatula.
Bake the bread for 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Allow the bread to cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then remove the bread from the pan and allow it to cool on a wire rack.
You can eat this bread warm, but I prefer to let the bread rest a few hours or overnight before eating. The texture gets better with some resting time. I'll normally make the bread the night before and let it rest. Then the next day I'll slice it, butter it, and warm the slices up in the oven or microwave just until the butter melts before serving.
Store leftovers covered well.
Notes
You can use walnuts in this recipe if you prefer. The recipe didn't indicate the types of nuts, so use what you like or have on hand.
This recipe can be doubled without any issues and it freezes very well.
I used whole dried dates and then I removed the pit and chopped them up. I bet that you could use the already chopped up dates in the baking section (like the kind you use in fruit cake), just as well.
This recipe comes from my great-grandma Ruby Graham and is on page 25 in the Shoaf Family Cookbook.