Knead the dates with butter, cinnamon and cardamom until you get a smooth soft ball. if you have a little trouble place all the ingredients in a pot and heat it gently while kneading with a wooden spoon. The heat will help soften the dates
If your dates are a little dry pre-soak then in hot water for 10-15 minutes then drain them and add the butter and spices.
In a bowl whisk the egg with milk, water, sugar, butter and yeast.
Set aside
To make the dough:
In another bowl sift the flour with the salt and the cardamom.
Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and knead until you get a smooth dough.
Place it in a bowl you have brushed with some oil and cover it with a wet cloth and leave it in a warm place to double
(If you are tight on time you can heat your oven to 200 C then turn it off and place your dough in a glass bowl and place it in the warm (turned off) oven with the wet cloth covering the bowl) for 1 hour.
To Assemble:
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface
Roll into a rectangle
Roll the date filling between two plastic bags
Transfer the date filling on to the rolled dough, make sure that the size of the the date rectangle leaves 1 inch (2.5cm) margin all around
Roll the dough from the long side into a tube form, pinch the side-seam closed.Cut the dough tube in half down the length of the dough tube.
Place the halfs side-by-side, quickly braid the two together, keeping the open ended parts on top.
Pinch the ends together, at this stage you can shape the bread into a wreath, securing both ends together. or you can leave it as a braid.
Transfer to a parchment-lined or cornmeal-dusted baking sheet, or a pizza stone.
Loosely cover the top with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel and let rest for 15 minutes. It should rise a bit more during this time.
During this time you would heat your oven to 270C (500F) (rack in the middle)
Bake for 5 minutes on 270C (500F) then lower the temperature to 200 C (400 F) and cook for 15-20 more minutes (ovens do differ greatly, so the time may differ..what you want is to bake it until the under side is golden brown) turn on the broiler for a couple of minutes until it is golden brown on top.