Lemon-Glazed Lemon Bread
In my opinion, a morning yeast bread is just barely sweet, with a buttery soft texture, and bakes in a distinctive shape. This Lemon-Glazed Lemon Bread, with its brioche-like softness and baked in a Kugelhopf pan, checks all the boxes. On the first taste of this wonderful bread, one discovers how the lemon-scented dough harmonizes beautifully with the tart-sweet icing. It goes well on its own with a cup of strong coffee or breakfast tea, or as a beautiful addition to a brunch buffet.
The method is similar to Kugelhopf – The Friday Baking Project and Brioche – The Friday Baking Project where a basic yeast dough first has eggs added to it, and then room temperature butter. The very soft dough is refrigerated overnight which allows the dough to develop flavor and become firm enough to roll into a coil, before placing it in a well-buttered Kugelhopf or Bundt pan. It is then placed in a warm spot to rise before baking, perfuming your kitchen with heavenly yeast aromas.
This Lemon-Glazed Lemon Bread, from a 2015 Bon Appétit magazine, is another recipe that has been in my files forever. I am so glad I finally got around to testing it. It is a special bread!
Lemon-Glazed Lemon Bread
| Yield: One | 10-inch bread | # of Servings: 10 |
Ingredients
Dough:
1 â…“ cup (10.65 fl oz) milk
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
â…” cup sugar (5 oz / 141 g
3 tbl (.4 oz / 12 g) grated lemon peel, save lemons for juiceÂ
1 packet active dry yeast
½ cup warm water
1 ½ cups (7 oz / 198 g) bread flour
3 cups (14 oz / 397 g) bread flour, more as needed
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 ¼ tsp salt (.25 oz / 7 g)
10 tbl (5 oz / 142 g) unsalted butter
½ cup apricot preserves
Glaze:
1 ⅓ cup confectioners’ sugar (5.3 oz / 149 g)
3 tbl lemon juice
Tools and equipment needed:
- One 12-cup Kugelhopf or bundt pan
- Countertop mixer with bread hook attachment
- Instant read thermometer
- Pastry brush
Pre-recipe preparations:
- Butter the kugelhopf mold well. Set in the refrigerator
Directions:
- Steep milk and vanilla bean. Set aside for 20 minutes.
- Blend sugar and lemon peel, set aside.
- Dissolve yeast in warm (102 °F to 107 °F) water.
- Place smaller amount of flour in machine bowl. Add yeast and mix.
- Remove vanilla bean and add milk (~ 105 °F to 110 °F) and beat to
- Let sit until puffed, approximately 15 minutes.
- Add in remaining flour and eggs, and knead, adding more flour in two tablespoon increments, until a soft, not sticky dough forms. Let knead for approximately four minutes.
- Add sugar and lemon mixture and salt. The dough will soften. Knead for another two minutes.
- Add butter all at once and knead until absorbed, scraping down the butter from the sides of the bowl. Knead for one minute once all the butter is absorbed. It should be a smooth, soft dough, similar to brioche.
- Cover bowl with plastic and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about two to three hours.
- Place dough and refrigerate overnight, covered with plastic film and a dish towel.
- Remove from refrigerator, punch down the dough, and roll into a coil. Fit into the buttered kugelhopf pan.
- Cover with plastic film and a dish towel, and place in a warm place until the dough reaches the top.
- Preheat oven to 350 °F.
- Bake until golden brown, and it reaches 204 °F on an instant read thermometer, about 45 to 50 minutes. Check after 25 minutes to see if the dough is getting too brown. If it is, place a sheet of aluminum foil over the top and drape it down the sides of the pan.
- About five minutes before the bread is done, place the apricot preserves in a small pot, on low heat.
- Immediately invert the bread onto a cooling rack. Brush with apricot while warm. Let cool until at least room temperature, about two to three hours.
- In small to medium mixing bowl, mix the confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice. It should form a thick icing. Adjust with more lemon juice if too thick, or with more sugar if too thin. Pour over the cake and let it drip down the sides.
- Let sit on cooling rack until the icing is totally set, at least 1 ½ hours.
- Store at room temperature.
