Extra-Lemony Poppy Seed Bread w/ Lemon Syrup Glaze (GF)

What is a poppy seed Bundt cake doing in that bread pan, you might ask? Several readers' comments mentioned that the cake was too hard to remove from the Bundt pan, so a footnote* added to the basic Silver Palate recipe suggested that you could use a bread pan lined with parchment paper for guaranteed easy removal. It still packs in all the things we love in a dessert: butter, sugar, eggs, lemon zest, lemon juice, and lemon syrup. And poppy seeds provide just the right amount of crunch for a perfect addition to your Mother’s Day brunch.

My Paleo Marin Rating: 3 Stars**

Ingredients:

For the Bread:

1 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup poppy seeds

Finely grated zest of 4-5 lemons (gently packed 3 tablespoons) (Note: 5-6 lemons total, separated)

1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (from same lemons)

3 cups gluten free flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled off with a knife, preferably Cup4Cup Multi Purpose Flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature, sliced into 1/4" slices 

1 3/4 cups pure cane sugar

3 large eggs

For the Syrup:

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup pure granulated sugar

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (from 1lemon)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350º F. The recipe makes 2" high breads in two 9" x 5" pans. Butter the pans and place parchment paper inside to rise up the sides; butter the surfaces of the paper. 

Note: For this photo, I added 1 teaspoon of arrowroot powder to the dry mixture and used a cast iron pan 4 1/2" x 8 1/2" filled to about 1" below the surface. This made 1 loaf of bread and several cupcakes but I thought the texture was gummy. I remade it without the arrowrrot powder and it tasted a lot better. Rule of thumb is to fill a bread pan to about 2/3 full which, by switching from a Bundt pan to 2 bread pans, falls a bit short on dough. You could also make one tall loaf and one smaller loaf, or use a Bundt pan if preferred.

1. In a small pot, bring buttermilk to just under a boil. Add the poppy seeds and stir. Set aside and let the mixture cool to room temperature. When the mixture is cool, add the lemon zest and juice. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and sea salt. Set aside.

3. In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, add the butter and beat on medium high until it starts to fluff up. Slowly add the sugar and allow it to incorporate into the butter, about 3-4 minutes. Scrape down the sides as you work. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping the bowl when all the eggs have been added.

4. With the mixer on low speed, add 1/4 of the flour mixture and 1/3 of the buttermilk/lemon mixture and mix until combined. Add another 1/4 of the flour mixture and 1/3 of the buttermilk/lemon mixture and mix until combined. Add another 1/4 of the flour mixture and final 1/3 of the buttermilk/lemon mixture and mix until combined. Add the final 1/4 of the flour mixture and mix to combine. Remove the bowl from the mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl and turn the batter with a spatula to make sure all the ingredients are combined. Taste for lemon and sugar.

5. Add the mixture to the prepared bread pans, dividing it between the two pans. Bake for 50 minutes and check the bread to see if the sides are browned and a wooden skewer comes out clean. If not, bake another 5-10 minutes. When the bread is cooked through, place the pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. 

6. While the bread is cooling, make the syrup. Boil the water and sugar together mixing them with a wooden spoon until the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat and add the lemon juice. Stir. Remove the bread from the pan and place it on a rack with a cookie sheet below. Generously brush the glaze on the top of the warm bread as most of it will soak into the bread. Note: There will be extra syrup if using bread pans.

Let cool for about 1 hour. Cut in slices to serve. To freeze, double wrap in foil or plastic freezer wrap or put it in a heavy duty freezer bag for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight at room temperature before serving.

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*Recipe adapted from The Sliver Palette recipe for lemon cake here and Once Upon a Chef website here.

**My Paleo Marin Rating between 1-5 Persimmons

I try out these recipes so you don't have to (and modify them for Paleo where possible). The rating will reflect my opinion of the final result in terms of taste, ease of preparation, nutrition, and sometimes, cost.