Date and Oat Loaves

And I'm back with the bread making. Only just over a week since my last loaf. Truth be told I'm avoiding unpacking and what better way to do it that making a Date and Oat loaf (or two)?
I've been using the same bread book for all my bread making this year and it is Dough by Richard Bertinet. It's a great book, lots of great recipes and he explains all the techniques very well and very clearly. He doesn't use the traditional kneading with the heel of the hand. His is a more satisfying technique, one you can use to take out all your frustration on! It's a getting your fingers under the dough-lifting it up-smacking it down on the surface technique and today I kneaded the dough in about 10 minutes rather than the 15 of previous weeks. Richard Bertinet says that with this technique you can knead it in 5 minutes, so I'm going in the right direction.
Today I decided to try a brown dough loaf and opted for the Apricot and Oat loaf. Now as I didn't have any dried Apricots (I know, you are probably wondering about the state of my pantry!) but did have dates, voila, date and oat loaf. I figure any dried fruit is a good as another.
With this bread you do the kneading as above and once you get it to the right consistency you then add the dates and knead and fold until they are incorporated. Then it's rested for the usual hour until doubled in size. You then divide it into two balls and leave for 10 minutes and then shape these into loaves. Brush with some water and then role the loaves on the oats and leave to prove for another hour. Then bake for 25 minutes.
Just eaten three slices of this with mackerel and pickle, great. Crusty on the outside and gooey and sweet on the inside. And there's a whole other loaf left.