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 part of the 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 until tooth pick comes out clean. Cool in the pan then move to a wire rack to cool completely.
In a small pot add the lemon juice and 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.
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.
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
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.
Can I substitute the lemons?
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.Can I make muffins instead of a loaf?
Yes you can, I would probably bake for about 20-25 minutes, more or less, start to check after 20 minutes. 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.Substitute 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.How to store the lemon bread
To store the bread, 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. To freeze it, 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.Nutrition
Updated from December 13, 2014.
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I absolutely love this recipe! I always double it because wow does it go fast! I use a little less than half of the flour as a mix of almond and whole wheat flour, and the rest as all-purpose. I wanted to thank you for this and for your 2 hour bread recipe. As soon as I found it and that you wrote it I knew it would be a success!
Hi Becky thanks so much, and thank you for letting me know about the flour. Take care.
I just made. Was out of eggs so used 3/4 cup of applesauce in place of 3 eggs. Turned out moist. Exactly what I was looking for. Great recipe. Easy. My 3 year old helped and also ate some.
Hi Tim thank so much, great idea with the substitution, love when kids help baking, my youngest did too. Take care.
Should the glaze be applied to the break right out of the oven, or after it’s cooled?
Hi Michael I usually let it cool about 5-10 minutes and then brush it one.
This is delicious! I did get a bit heavy handed with the lemon rind because more is more.
Hi Linda, thanks so much, and yes more lemon rind doesn’t hurt. Happy New Year.
LOVE’S Fresh Lemon Cologne or Body Mist was my favorite….is that the one you liked too?
Hi Bridget, yes that’s the one! Happy New Year.
The recipe calls for flour, all purpose, or pastry. I am unclear?
Thanks so much!
Hi Rosslyn, all purpose flour is what I use for this recipe. I hope you enjoy it.
The Lemon bread is just lovely ….I baked several loaves and am giving them to my neighbors for christmas gifts….
When it was finished baking I took a skewer and poked a few larger holes in the top of the bread and poured the glaze into the holes and brushed the rest over the top
It really is a lovely bread …wonderful with a cup of coffee or tea ….
If anyone is reading this ….at least try this recipe, I would truly doubt you will be dissapointed
Thank you Rosemary
Merryn
Hi Merryn, thanks so much, good idea with poking the holes. Merry Christmas.
Can you use either buttermilk or coconut milk in place of regular milk? I haven’t made yet. Just came across this
Hi Helene, I have never made it with either but I think coconut milk would definitely work and probably buttermilk also. Let me know if you try it.
So easy and so delicious
Hi Cindy, thanks glad you enjoyed it. Take care.
Pretty good, but didn’t carry the lemon flavor I wanted. May had some additional zest next time or a dash of lemon extract. I added blueberries to mine. Made two loaves. One loaf had quite a bit of blueberries and it was throughout the bread. Second loaf less blueberries and they sunk. I have a friend that is a chef and she recommended coating blueberries lightly in flour to prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the bread. Will try again with the lemon zest/extract changes.
T tasted the batter before putting it in the oven and there was almost no taste of lemons. I added the juice of one lemon….. still not enough so I added another one. That made it a little more liquid. Now it’s in the oven and we’ll see what comes out. By the way, isn’t it a good idea to sift the flour and baking powder?
Hi Dina, I guess you really like lemon flavour. Whisking the ingredients is sufficient, it’s a quick way of sifting. Hope you liked it.
This looks delicious. Do you store it in the refrigerator?a
Hi Anne, thanks so much, if your home is warm then yes I would store it in the fridge, if not it is good at room temperature for a few days.
How to make the lemon bread more moist? 🙂
Hi Cheryl, it is definitely a moist bread, you are probably baking it too long.
The bread has good flavor, but I too made mini loaves and baked for 25 min. It was very dense and dry?
this is the recipe I lost many years ago this will make very many people extremely happy,thank you
Your welcome Dorothy, glad you found it.
Can blueberries be added to this?
Hi Xo, I don’t see why not, although I would start with 1/2 cup to see how it goes. Let me know.