Wednesday 16 February 2011

Lemon Blueberry Bread

It really feels good to have found my baking mojo again and hubby is certainly one happy chappy. Although I did quite a bit of baking over xmas, I have not done much since then. I bought some blueberries the other day that were half price and I’d forgotten all about them until this morning. Thankfully they were still edible so I decided to search out a recipe to make use of them.

I came across this Lemon Blueberry Bread online and decided it was the one! This bread is bursting with big juicy blueberries and the lemon infused sponge is light yet moist. The hot lemony glaze applied on removal from the oven adds an extra citrus layer to complete the flavour experience.


Lemon Blueberry Bread

Ingredients
1 ½ cups (195 grams) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons (85 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
¾ cup (150 grams) granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest (outer yellow skin of the lemon)
½ cup (120 ml) milk
1 cup fresh blueberries

Lemon Glaze:
¼ cup (50 grams) granulated white sugar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place the oven rack in the centre of the oven. Butter (or spray with a non stick vegetable spray) the bottom and sides of a loaf pan (9 x 5 x 3 inch) (23 x 13 x 8 cm).

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until softened (about 1 minute). Add the sugar and continue to beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in the vanilla extract and lemon zest. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture (in three additions) and milk (in two additions) alternately, starting and ending with the flour. Mix only until combined.

Gently fold in the blueberries.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 55 to 65 minutes, or until the bread is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, bring the 1/4 cup (50 grams) of sugar and the 2 tablespoons of lemon juice to a boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves.

When the bread is done, remove from oven and place on a wire rack. Pierce the hot loaf all over with a wooden skewer or toothpick and then brush the top of the loaf with the hot lemon glaze. Cool the loaf in the pan for about 30 minutes then remove from pan and let cool completely on a wire rack. This bread is best served on the day it is made.

Makes 1 loaf.

26 comments:

Anna's kitchen table said...

Maria, that looks soo good no wonder your hubby is pleased!

Beth (jamandcream) said...

Looks like a lovely recipe maria

cocoa and coconut said...

Looks like those blueberries were put to good use - this looks perfectly baked

Kate said...

you know, this looks absolutely amazing! :) Rreally and truly! It's great to see your posts again, with some good, simple, homemade baking. I love the colours in this and the last pic with the sun shining through makes me want to bake it right now (it's 1 in the morning, ha!).
I've not been blogging for a while either, i've just not been in a FOOD mood-if that makes sense. But i still ike to keep up with my faves! :)

Unknown said...

Ooooooo - I've made this bread and remember how scrummy it was.
I've stopped using fresh Blueberries though. I much prefer the dried ones in cakes as I think they give more flavour, but that's just me.
Glad to hear your cooking mojo is back :0)xx

Helen said...

Yum, that sounds delicious!

Lisa said...

Congrats on the lovely grandson!

He's even lovelier than your cakes!!

One little question - what is "all purpose flour"?

Where I live I can really only get "Type55" wheat flour. Would that do?

And what could I substitute for the blueberries? Have never seen any for sale here. I wonder if frozen raspberries would work......


.....OMG, I feel a baking session coming on!

Maria♥ said...

Hi Lisa

Thanks for the lovely comment.

All purpose flour is plain flour. According to wikipedia the "type55" wheat flour is a standard flour equivalent to plain flour. I'm not sure about using frozen raspberries as tend to go soggy when defrosted. Fresh rasberries would be better.

Maria
x

Caroline said...

That looks delicious Maria! Really moist and juicy and I love the way the loaf has split on the top.

Can you send a piece this way please? I'm not surprised your hubby is happy! Glad you've got your baking mojo back, it's great to see you posting again!

Mandi said...

Hi Maria,I baked this today and it was so fruity and delicious.Your mincemeat muffins are also a favourite in my house. It's great to see you posting again and thanks for sharing such lovely recipes x

Mandi said...

Hi Maria,I baked this today and it was so fruity and delicious.Your mincemeat muffins are also a favourite in my house. It's great to see you posting again and thanks for sharing such lovely recipes x

Lisa said...

Wow, your bread looks so studded with blueberries in every bite. This must have been a real treat. I have a sweet treat linky party going on at my blog called Sweets for a Saturday and I'd like to invite you to stop by and link your bread up. http:/sweet-as-sugar-cookies.blogspot.com/2011/02/sweets-for-saturday-5.html

Brownieville Girl said...

This looks lovely and fruity - my mouth started watering the minute I saw the photo!!

Chele said...

Wow, checkout all those blueberry's. Totally makes it worth the effort of baking when you get such great results like this.

Gloria Baker said...

MarĂ­a this cake look delicious! I love it! x gloria

MaryBeth said...

YUM...I want a slice of that like now. It looks so good, full of great berries and lemon flavor.

Me said...

Yum!loos awesome!

LF said...

Great to see you back :) I have been checking your blog every now and then for updates and was happy to see two new posts!

This looks lovely and something I'd quite like right now!

baby crib said...

This is really a very nice bread you have here! I love it. I will definitely try this one out.

Livs said...

Definitely butter. I read about how they make margarine in a book by rose prince and have never been able to touch the stuff since, Anything natural has got to be better than the artificial equivalent. I'm all for sugar over sweetners too x

Olivia www.sixmixtricks.blogspot.com

Su-Lin said...

Ooooh, look at all those blueberries! Beautiful though I'm more likely to call it cake! ;)

Anonymous said...

Hello!

Please help!

I made this today but all my blueberries sunk :(

And then cake fell apart when i took it out of the loaf tin.... What have i done wrong?

Yours looks sooo good!

Thank you,

M
x

Maria♥ said...

Hi M

Sorry to hear the loaf didn't turn out well for you. Sometimes fruit has a tendency to sink to the bottom, to avoid this they say to toss the fruit in flour. As for the cake falling apart, was the tin lined? and if the cake was still too hot when you took it out of the tin this could also be the cause.

Maria
x

Anonymous said...

Can you freeze this loaf?


If so, how long would it take to defrost

Maria♥ said...

I'm not sure if you could freeze this loaf. I have never frozen any of my bakes. Sorry I could not be more help.

Anonymous said...

I baked this beautiful bread today for a friend. The colors are so bright and summery. I'm tempted to cut into it and stuff my face. It filled the house with the most wonderful smells! Thank you for this recipe! I'll be back to try out more of your recipes!