Best Homemade Lemon Loaf
Best Homemade Lemon Loaf, is a delicious moist sweet bread recipe. Made with fresh lemons and a simple lemon glaze. No beaters necessary, just a couple of bowls and utensils! The perfect snack, dessert or even Breakfast Bread.
I love lemons. I love the smell of lemons, I love the taste of lemons, anything lemon is fine by me. When I was a young woman there was a lemon cologne my friends and I would wear, I loved it. Just wish I could find it again!
Recipe Ingredients
- Flour
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Sugar
- Butter
- Zest
- Eggs
- Milk
Glaze
- Juice
- Sugar
How to make the Lemon Loaf
Pre-heat the oven and grease a loaf pan.
In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and 1 1/4 cups of sugar, add the softened butter and with a pastry blender or fork blend together until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the lemon zest.
In a small bowl add the eggs and beat lightly with a fork, add the milk and beat until combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir just until the flour is moistened. Do not over mix.
In prepared loaf pan add the batter and bake for approximately 60 minutes, (this all depends on the oven, could be a little more or a little less) or until tooth pick comes out clean. Cool 15 – 20 minutes then move to a wire rack to cool completely.
In a small pot add the 4 1/2 teaspoons of lemon juice and 2 tablespoons of sugar, over medium heat stirring constantly bring to a boil until thickened. With a pastry brush, brush syrup over the top of the cooled or even warmish bread.
It doesn’t even need a heavy icing because the light lemon syrup is the perfect finish. I can say I have been making this bread for over 20 years. Every time I make this recipe I get asked for it, Lemon Loaf is one of my sister-in-law’s favourites.
What does stir just until moistened mean?
Mix just until moistened means to combine the dry ingredients and the liquid ingredients just until the dry ingredients are thoroughly moistened but the mixture is still slightly lumpy. I stir 15-16 times only and it always turns out perfect.
Lemon Bread is perfect as a breakfast bread or even with afternoon tea. It is so easy to make, no need for beaters, it is very much like making muffins. All you need is a fork or pastry blender, (or your clean fingers will do to make the coarse crumbs, and a wooden spoon or spatula for mixing.
Substituting a Lemon Glaze for the Lemon Syrup
The delicious lemony syrup is the perfect addition to this loaf, but if you prefer you can substitute with a simple lemon glaze. Mix together 1 cup of powdered sugar, 1 – 1 1/2 tablespoons of lemon juice and 1 tablespoon or milk or cream.
You want the glaze to be on the thick rather than thin. So you should start with 1 tablespoon of juice and go from there.
FAQs
If you wish you could substitute with either limes, oranges or even mandarines. Do use fresh rather than bottled they make a big difference in taste.
Yes you can, I would probably bake for about 20-25 minutes, more or less, start to check after 20 minutes.
Wrap the completely cooled bread well in plastic wrap, it will keep for up to 2-3 days at room temperature or up to 7 days in the fridge.
Wrap the completely cooled bread in plastic wrap and place in a freezer safe bread. If you freeze it glazed, let the glaze harden before wrapping. It will keep for up to 3 months in the freezer.
In my opinion this is one of the most delicious Lemon Loaves I have ever tried and I hope you think so too. Enjoy!
More Lemon Recipes you may like.
- Lemon Cheesecake Squares
- Italian Lemon Crostata
- Italian Fresh Cream Lemon Cake
- Easy Lemon Squares
- Tablespoon Italian Lemon Cake
Best Homemade Lemon Bread
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest (approximately 1 lemon)
- 2¼ cups all purpose flour
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt*
- 1¼ cups granulated sugar
- ¾ cup butter softened*
- 3 large eggs
- ¾ cup milk (whole or 2% milk)
*If you use salted butter then use a pinch of salt.
LEMON SYRUP
- 4 ½ teaspoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350° (180° celsius), grease and flour a 9×5 inch loaf pan.
- In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and 1 1/4 cups of sugar, add the softened butter and with a pastry blender or fork blend together until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the lemon zest.
- In a small bowl add the eggs and beat lightly with a fork, add the milk and beat until combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir just until the flour is moistened. Do not over mix.
- In prepared loaf pan add the batter and bake for approximately 60 minutes, (this all depends on the oven, could be a little more or a little less) or until tooth pick comes out clean. Cool 15 – 20 minutes then move to a wire rack to cool completely.
LEMON SYRUP
- In a small pot add the 4 1/2 teaspoons of lemon juice and 2 tablespoons of sugar, over medium heat stirring constantly bring to a boil until thickened. With a pastry brush, brush syrup over the top of the cooled or even warmish bread. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Updated from December 13, 2014.
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Delicious and easy to make. A real winner💕
Thanks so much Vinetta, glad you liked it. Have a great week.
Very moist and great lemon flavor!
Thanks for the great recipe!
Hi Lisa, thanks so much, so glad you enjoyed it.
Winner!
My work colleagues and I are enjoying it as we speak. Really lovely and moist!
Makes a lovely loaf and beautiful presentation! Than you, Rosemary!
Hi Joan, thanks so much, so glad everyone like it!
Gave mini-loaves of this lemon bread and everyone loved it!!!
Now they want more!!! It really is delicious. Love making knife slices into bread before pouring lemon/sugar topping. It makes it so moist and a little extra lemon didn’t hurt either!!!
Hi Pamela, thanks so much so glad everyone loved it. Merry Christmas.
How many mini loafs using recipe as presented?
2?
Hi Sybil, 2 mini loaves should be right.
Hello, Can you tell me where the video is please? I can’t seem to find it. Thank you
Hi Joy, it’s right underneath “Be sure to watch the video”. 🙂
The only videos playing there are for pizza and other breads and things, not the Lemon Bread we want to see.
Hi Barbara, well I uploaded the video again and it is there for me, right at the top of the post. Let me know.
With the Holidays coming around the corner I start Holiday baking as soon as I can. Spare time is short so I especially liked the Lemon Bread recipe. I used a full 4-tsp. of Lemon juice and tad more lemon zest as we like that lemon flavor. Instead of the single 9 x 5 loaf I used 3- 5×3 mini pans and baked them for about one hour. Came out superb as was expected. Very tasty and just the right size slice ( 2 pieces for we pigs) with the mid-morning coffee/tea break. Thanks !!
Hi Dave, thanks so much, glad you enjoyed it and yes more lemon is always good and so is two pieces! Have a great weekend.
Lemony and delicious !!
Made this it was amazing and delicious. Full of robust flavor!
Hi Jodi, thanks so much, glad you enjoyed it.
One word…. “delicious “!
Thanks Erna, glad you enjoyed it.
Like you, I love anything lemon. My mom used to make the most amazing lemon bread. Unfortunately, she never wrote it done, but yours sounds like it might be the same. Thank you for sharing this with us. Oh, and by the way, I remember the lemon scented cologne, it was one of my favorites also. It was made by Coty. Thank you again for sharing. Cheers, Connie.
Hi Connie, thanks, I hope you enjoy the bread. And yes that was the perfume. Have a great week.
I wear lemongrass scent I make myself and apply with roller ball applicator. 1 ounce carrier oil, I’ve used almond, jojoba or avocado, they have same outcome and drop in 5 to 10 drops essential oil- lemon eo would work great.
Hi Cheri, thanks I am definitely going to try that. I was just thinking of a lemon sent again the other day. Have a great week.
My husband is originally from Sicily and he loved this lemon bread, thank you 🙂
Hi Daisy, thanks so glad he loves it. Have a great weekend.
Thank you for posting this site for us, I love it 🥰 I have made this bread now two times. Someone on this site suggested lavender, so I went to my nearest spice shop and bought lavender and black poppy seeds. I made one loaf with lavender (2 Tbs.but this was a bit strong, 1 Tbs. works well) and used Ghee (instead of butter) and the other loaf I used poppy seeds (2 Tbs.) and regular butter. Have to say the ghee loaf with lavender won in my home (was a bit more moist). I used our 🍋 from our tree (Myers Lemons) and I use 1 whole juice of a smallish lemon in the batter, plus two grated lemons. We love ❤️ lemons 🍋
Now what is the trick for the topping? I can’t seem to get the sugar thickness down. First it was super runny, but then again, in my haste to make this, I flipped the recipe by accident, and added more lemon juice then sugar. The second time, I followed your receipt exactly and found it to be a bit runny again, but better consistency. When you heat up the sugar and lemon juice, do you boil/heat up slowly and let it cool or to cold? Do you flash heat it and then put it on the bread hot? It tastes really good, but doesn’t look thick like your pictures. Grazie!!
Happy lemons in Santa Rosa, Ca
Hi Angela, thanks so much, I will have to try it with lavender too! I actually heat it so the sugar melts and thicken (but it doesn’t thicken that much) and let it cool and that seems to thicken it (not cold, more room temperature). hope that helps. 🙂
made this yesterday. i actually but 3/4 of 1 stick of butter but still turned out good. I should read instructions twice.lol! our oven seems to cook pretty fast so it was done by 50min and by 1hr- the crust was bit burned, but i don’t mind. not too sweet which is perfect! will bake it again this week=) is it ok to add a bit of lemon juice to the batter?
Hi Wey, thanks, so glad you enjoyed it and I don’t think there would be a problem with adding a little lemon juice to the batter.:)
The cologne you’re thinking of is probably Love’s Fresh, which is now discontinued. HOWEVER, if you do a google, amazon, ebay, etc. search and you can still come across it! Some of them are asking ridiculous prices, some are reasonable. Do check comments on each product and/or seller, though, for complaints of the product authenticity!
Hi Adrienne, that’s right I remember it so well thanks.
This recipe is very similar to the one my grandmother made, we still have her recipe on a yellow note pad paper. One suggestion is to poke holes in the bread before you pour the lemon drizzle over it and it will seep down into the bread.
Hi Woody, that’s a great idea, thanks. Have a great weekend.
This a good tasting bread but I’m looking for a more ‘grainy’ texture the milk seems to make breads mitre creamy and that is Not what I’m looking for.
My mother had recipe years ago and she has passed with that that with her
Does any of your readers maybe have a bread more if I’m looking for that would be awesome
Thanks Rindy