Gluten-Free Lemon Poppy Seed Bread

I have always been a sucker for lemon flavored baked goods. Lemon bars, lemon meringue pie, lemon cookies and my favorite, lemon poppy seed muffins. One overcast day, I was browsing through a gluten-free cookbook and found this recipe. I had to try it because the idea of infusing the bread with a lemon syrup afterwards made my mouth water. The bread was a little dense, but had a subtle sweetness with a pop of lemon that made me come back slice after slice. This particular cookbook uses their own mix of gluten-free flours and I found all of the products I needed at my local Fred Meyer. If you are from a smaller area and have a hard time finding these, I discovered you can order them through websites such as amazon.com or www.bobsredmill.com/. So don't let that minor detail stop you from re-creating your favorite baked goods. Keep on bakin' on....

Lemon Loaf

1 3/4 c Artisan GF Flour Mix

1 tsp xanthan gum

2 tsp GF baking powder

3/4 c sugar

1/4 c poppy seeds

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg

1 c milk

1 tsp GF vanilla extract

Zest of lemon

2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

4 Tbsp salted butter, melted

Lemon Syrup:

2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 Tbsp  sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 F . Grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan.

To make the lemon loaf: Mix together the flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, sugar, poppy seeds and salt in a mixing bowl.

Add the egg, milk, vanilla and lemon zest and juice and mix for 30 seconds.

Add the melted butter, scrape down the side of the bowl and mix on medium speed for 30 seconds.

Pour the batter into prepared loaf pan. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

While the bread is baking, make the glaze: Mix together the lemon juice and sugar. Heat for 30 seconds in the microwave and stir until the sugar fully dissolves.

Brush the top of the loaf with the syrup and let the bread rest in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove the bread from the pan and allow it to cool completely on a wire rack.

When cool, wrap the bread in plastic wrap and let sit for at least 8 hours to allow the syrup to spread throughout the bread.