Cinnamon, black pepper, dates, apples, oats... all rolled up in soft wholewheat bread... yum! Particularly delicious fresh and warm from the oven, but they're wonderful cold too. They make a really handy snack to bring out and about, for either the little 'uns or the big 'uns... whoever's hungry!
When I was little I remember eating these things called 'Chelsea Buns', which are a kind of currant bun in a square-spiral shape and glazed with sugar. They're rather on the sweet-and-sickly side for my taste, and I much prefer dates to currants/sultanas, but I guess they were the inspiration behind my recipe! I just made it up and wrote it down as I went along (as is often the case when I start baking) and am so happy with the results. Definitely be making these again!
Sorry vegan friends, this recipe uses butter, but perhaps it would work just as well with olive oil (or some other butter substitute?) All ideas for vegan versions welcome for any of my recipes!
Ingredients:
600g wholewheat flour
100g butter
1 sachet yeast
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp black pepper
2 tblsp cinnamon
350ml warm water
75g ground oats
100g dates
2 sweet apples (I use Gala)
Directions:
In a large bowl rub the butter into the flour using your fingertips. Add the yeast, cinnamon, black pepper and baking soda, and the warm water. Use your hand to mix and form a firm dough.
Knead the dough for 5 minutes until smooth.
You can skip this next step and use flour instead of oats if you want, but I prefer oats for flavour and they give a little extra texture too. I grind the oats in the grinder attachment on my blender, and sprinkle on the surface where I will roll out my dough. I also sprinkle generously with cinnamon, so the ground oats and cinnamon both get pressed right into the dough. Lovely.
Place the dough onto the oats-and-cinnamon-dusted surface, and roll out to about 0.5cm thick.
Finely chop the dates and sprinkle onto the dough. Roll over with your rolling pin to press the dates into the dough.
Peel and dice the apples, and saute with a little water in a pan for 5-10 minutes until the apple has softened. Mash with a vegetable masher or hand-blender, and spread a fine layer all over the dough, right up to the edges.
Sprinkle with extra oats & cinnamon, and then roll the dough into a tube.
Slice up into pieces about 1 inch thick, and lay carefully onto a lightly-dusted baking tray.
Pop into a preheated oven at 200 degrees Celsius for about 15-20 minutes until golden and firm to the touch. Transfer to a cooling rack to avoid condensation underneath.
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