Lemon Quick Bread – Vegetarian Cooking For Carnivores BLOG

While looking through my manilla file folder of recipes (yes, I still have one from days of yore), I came across a magazine clipping for lemon quick bread. Through the years I’d been tempted to try it but, as a fierce chocoholic, I’d always set it aside in favor of….well, chocolate.

Now that we live in a house with a lemon tree, I decided the time had come and made the Lemon Quick Bread. Like most quick breads, it’s fast and easy to prepare. But, more than that, it was absolutely delicious. So tender, yet firm!

NOTE: The recipe called for brushing a syrup made with a lemon juice and sugar onto the baked bread. But, for those who prefer a more powerful lemony punch, I’m adding an alternate choice of a pucker-inducing lemon icing that can be either piped or smoothed on top of the syrup.

ADDITIONAL NOTE: You can use either a glass or metal loaf pan. I’ve found the metal pan cooks the loaf faster and produces less of a crack on top.

LEMON QUICK BREAD – makes 1 standard loaf

• 195g (1.5 cups) plain or all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 99g (1/2 cup) vegetable oil
• 212g (1 cup) granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3g (1 tbsp, packed) lemon zest
• 125g (1/2 cup) milk (any kind – I use 2%)
• 45g (1/2 cup) walnuts, chopped and lightly toasted
• 36g (3 tbsp) lemon juice
• 25g (2 tbsp) granulated sugar

Optional lemon icing:

• 125g (1 cup) icing or powdered super – no need to sift
• 22g (1.5 tbsp) lemon juice

Preheat oven to 180°C / 350°F

Grease sides and bottom of a standard loaf pan. Line the bottom with baking paper – this will make removal of the loaf easier. If you don’t have baking paper, make sure to grease the bottom well.

In a small bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the vegetable oil and 212g (1 cup) sugar on high for 2 minutes.

Add in the eggs and lemon zest. Beat on medium speed to blend well – about a minutes or so.

Add in the flour mix and beat on low until flour is almost all incorporated. Then add in milk on low speed until milk is just incorporated – you don’t want to overmix, Finally, stir in nuts.

Pour into prepared loaf pan.

Bake at 180°C / 350°F for about 50-60 minutes. The crack along the top, which always forms on my loaves, should NOT be liquidy – bake until it firms up (54 minutes in my oven).

Prepare the syrup while loaf is baking: in a small pot, add the 36g (3 tbsp) lemon juice and 25g (2 tbsp) sugar. Over medium heat, bring to boil to melt the sugar. Remove from heat and set aside.

When loaf is done, remove from oven. Remember to touch the crack – if it’s still wet, cook a bit longer.

While still in the tin, poke the top all over with a skewer, going down about halfway. Brush on (or drizzle) the lemon syrup – use it all. Let set 10 minutes.

Run a rounded tipped (so as not to scratch your tin) knife around the edges, then flip to remove from tin. Remove the baking paper.

Set right-side up on a wire rack to cool completely.

OPTIONAL LEMON ICING

When ready to ice loaf, prepare the icing.

Into a small bowl combine the 125g (1 cup) icing (powdered) sugar and 22g (1.5 tbsp) lemon juice. Smash all the lumps from the sugar.

You can either ice the top entirely or pipe. If too thick to pipe easily, add a tiny more lemon juice, if too thin, add more sugar.