Fruit distribution advice? (first loaf with fruit)

I've only been making bread for a few months.

Yesterday I finally dared to stray from a recipe and experiment starting from a basic enriched white bread recipe, by reducing the sugar, and adding 1/2 tsp vanilla and dates.

The loaf is a bit heavy, but tastes really good.

Part of the weight is from the fact that my date chunks mostly ended up in a row near the bottom, so the surrounding dough remained dense.

I added the fruit during the last minutes of the first kneading, by distributing a layer, folding/rolling/turning, inserting more, repeating.

Any advice from more experienced bakers would be very welcome!