lemon poppyseed loaf Archives

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I am not the type of person who cleverly come up with recipes on my own. Perusing recipe books, pastry displays at coffee shops, and farmer’s market stalls are really how I get most of my inspiration. I will usually come across a base recipe that sounds good, but will have qualms over a few of the ingredients or will find substitutions necessary. When it comes to baked goods, I will usually swap flours, fruits, and toppings. When it comes to meals, I will typically throw in what I already have in the pantry to reduce waste, and add complexities such as spices, peppers, hints of lime or lemon, even brown sugar.

This lemon poppyseed loaf, however, comes as close to the original recipe published in Tartine Book No. 3. Of course, it was my husband who made it and not I. He came across it last week after eating dinner, sitting at the table perusing through the pages to look for bread recipes. Ironically, this cake was what caught his eye.

Instead of Kamut flour and pastry flour, we used einkorn flour, which I’ve had as a staple in the pantry since my fellow baker reported it as being his favorite bread flour, and all-purpose flour respectively. We did not use Kefir butter like the recipe asked, sticking with the more readily available unsalted butter during these barren times. I couldn’t justify splurging on such a frivolous ingredient as Kefir butter after the financial repercussions of COVID 19 (see how to battle those here in my recent post). This lemon poppyseed loaf (and all other home-baked goods thus far) has been the silver lining to this stay-at-home movement thus far.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup Einkorn flour
1/3 cup All Purpose Flour
1/3 cup Almond Meal
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
Pinch of sea salt
1 cup unsalted butter, cold but pliable
4 large free range eggs
2 T poppy seeds
Juice of 1 lemon
Zest of 2 lemons

The Process:

In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, mix the dry ingredients listed from sugar to salt.
Add the butter and, slowly increasing the speed to medium, mix until just combined.
Add the eggs one at a time, incorporating each egg before moving on to the next.
Stop the mixer and use a rubber spatula to scrape along the sides of the bowl to ensure that everything is included in the mix.
With the mixer on low, slowly add the poppy seeds, lemon juice and lemon zest.
Once combined, transfer the mixture into a tightly sealed container and refrigerate overnight.
In the morning, preheat the oven to 350 F and take out the container to allow the batter to come to room temperature.
Spray coconut cooking spray into an 8.5 x 4 inch pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. Transfer the batter into the pan.
Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes, turning the pan halfway through.
Check for done-ness with a toothpick (hopefully if comes out clean!), adding a few additional minutes if the loaf isn’t ready.
Let cool in the pan for 30 minutes. If you invert it too soon, the loaf may not come out nicely. Use a knife and run it along the sides of the loaf. Invert the cake onto a wire rack and let cool completely.

We prefer to eat our slices with matcha lattes in the morning. We gave half of the loaf to our parents and kept half for ourselves. We love how the exterior of the loaf is a dark brown sugary glaze. This is my husband’s “favorite thing he ever baked”. For me, it’s a bit sweet, but I bet that increasing the almond meal and substituting a darker flour while reducing the amount of granulated sugar to less than a cup would really make this loaf sing.

Of course, I could never just leave the recipe be.

For those looking to discover the baker within, I highly recommend Tartine by Elizabeth Pruitt and Kinfolk Table. For a free way to learn how to cook, Skillshare has a few classes which you can access for two months FREE here.