I posted a form of this bread before — trying to turn it into a lemon-almond loaf — but it’s this version that I keep going back to when I want to make a lemony quick bread. This bread has a light lemon flavor — not too sweet, not too lemony. When you bake it, it almost develops a glaze on the top. The original recipe baked it in one loaf pan, but I was having trouble getting it to cook through without burning the edges, and then the center of the bread got squishy. Baking it in two pans, or four mini-loaf pans as I did here, or seems to do the trick.

Lemon Quick Bread

print this recipe

3 cups flour

1, 3.5-ounce box lemon flavor instant pudding

1 cup sugar

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 ½ cups milk

2 eggs, lightly beaten

6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoons lemon juice

2 Tablespoons poppy seeds

Mix together flour, pudding mix, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. Set aside. In large bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, and butter. Add vanilla and lemon and mix well. Add the flour mixture, along with poppy seeds. Mix until just combined.

Grease and flour two 9x5x3-inch loaf pans, or four mini-loaf pans. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pans and bake at 350°F for 35-45 minutes, or until toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

Allow loaves to cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10-15 minutes, then remove from pan to finish cooling on a wire rack. Allow to cool completely.