Lemon Poppy Seed Bread

I just love lemon desserts, lemon breads, lemon pies, lemon cakes, lemon anything.  Those who have tried my Lemony Lemon Bread know the more lemon the better.  But sometimes, I only have 15 minutes to put together something for a quick bread - that's where my Lemon Poppy Seed bread recipe comes in.  This recipe is delicious, quick, only takes 15 minutes to come together, then just pop it into the oven for 1 hour.

You will need:
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 lemon
2 large eggs
1 Tabs poppy seeds
1 cup lemon yogurt
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
cooking spray



First preheat your oven to 350 degrees, spray coat a 8 1/2" X 4 1/2 " loaf pan

Grate the zest from the lemon - you want 2 teaspoons of lemon zest.

Save the lemon, we are going to juice it for the glaze over the top.

In a medium bowl, combine:
flour
baking powder
salt

Whisk together

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs just until slightly mixed together.

Add the lemon zest and the lemon yogurt.

Whisk together to incorporate.

Add the poppy seeds, whisk just to incorporate.

Add the vanilla, whisk just to incorporate.

Add the oil, whisk just to incorporate.

(I like to use Canola oil, but not a necessary)

Add the sugar, whisk just to incorporate.

Add 1/2 of the flour mixture, whisk just to incorporate.

Add the remaining flour, and whisk just to incorporate.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan.  Bake, (for approximately 1 hour) until golden brown.

While the bread is baking, prepare your glaze topping.

You will need;
1/2 cup of confectioner's sugar
1 Tabs lemon juice (from the lemon)

Squeeze the juice from the lemon

In a small bowl measure the sugar.

Slowly stir in the lemon juice to form a smooth glaze.

Make sure your glaze has no lumps.

Once your bread has cooked, you should be able to insert a toothpick into the center and it will come out clean.  (about 55 - 65 minutes of baking time).

Let the bread cool for 5 minutes on a cooling rack, then slowly pour the glaze over the top, allowing the glaze to seep into the loaf.

Note, If you line your loaf pan with parchment paper, you can easily lift the loaf out, then sit it on a rimmed baking sheet to cool and pour the glaze over the loaf - that way you won't have to fear cracking or breaking your loaf when you remove it from the loaf pan.

After the loaf has cooled enough to handle, remove from the pan, and place on a baking rack to finish cooling.

Notice how moist and fluffy this bread is.

The layers are so delicious, and poppy seeds are distributed through out along with the lemon flavor from the yogurt and the zest.  The lemon glaze was just the right touch.

This make a great after dinner dessert, a perfect breakfast bread, a nice neighbor gift, (imagine opening a pretty ribbon wrapped parchment paper to find a loaf of lemon poppy bread - a lovely spring time gift!).

And it only takes 15 minutes to get it in the oven.

Enjoy !