Gingerbread Date Sourdough Biscuits

One gingerbread date sourdough biscuit sitting on a plate

This recipe for this early holiday biscuit combines aspects of two earlier bakes from my great-grandmother's cookbook:

Soft Ginger Bread

Date Pudding

To begin, the following ingredients were gathered.

Cinnamon, salt, molasses, flour, ginger, sourdough starter, dates

Any standard sourdough bread recipe can be used as a foundation. In this particular bake, the following amounts were combined in a bowl:

Standard sourdough foundation

2 cups sourdough starter

2 cups water

1 tablespoonful salt

Flour (for amount, see below)

Inclusions

1 tablespoonful ginger

1 tablespoonful cinnamon

1 cup finely chopped dates

1 cup molasses

The flour was added in last. Incremental amounts (e.g. 1/2 cup at a time) were kneaded in, until the flour completely consumed the excess moisture and the mixture was no longer sticky. A large boule of dough was formed.

A large boule of gingerbread date sourdough

Next, the large boule of dough was cut into smaller pieces. As shown here, some bubbles had begun to form already.

Bubbles apparent along cut surfaces of the dough

Each of the smaller pieces were then rolled into a small boule, about the size of a baseball. After baking, these small boules will become the biscuits.

Eight small boules of gingerbread date sourdough

Each small boule was lightly dusted in a layer of flour, scored with a knife, and placed in a baking pan lined with parchment paper.

The baking pan was placed in the oven at 420 degrees for approximately 15 to 20 minutes, or until the biscuits were baked as desired.

Four baked gingerbread date sourdough biscuits sitting on a metal wire cooling rack

The biscuits can be enjoyed plain by themselves, or with any desired coating such as a cream cheese frosting.