Who doesn’t love to wake up to a citrusy, lemon breakfast bread on a bright and sunny morning? My first experience with this delicious recipe was when my mother-in-law brought it to our house as her contribution to a family celebration. She posted the original recipe on her blog as a French Lemon Yogurt Cake. I couldn’t get enough of it! However, as I typically do, I started to experiment with the original version to see if I could transform it into a hearty breakfast bread. You see, when it comes to breakfast, my family has a strong preference for cereal, muffins, bagels, scones, etc… In other words, we’re pretty carb-centric. And, my kids are scrawny, so I find myself adding (aka hiding) all sorts of wonderful plant-based proteins to my base recipes for muffins, breads, scones and the like.
For this lemon breakfast bread recipe, I added chia seeds, hemp hearts, and flax meal. It’s a reliable dynamic trio to turn a basic carb-loaded baked good into a healthy and satisfying breakfast. I doubled the lemon zest and added a drizzle of lemony glaze to amplify the lemon flavor. My kids LOVE lemon flavored anything. The extra boost of lemon made this a sure win with them. Finally, I increased the amount of baking powder in the recipe to ensure a light and airy texture.
Give this recipe a try! I hope you and your family enjoy it and you find yourself making it more than once! 🙂
Happy Baking!
Ingredients
For the bread:
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons chia seeds/poppy seeds
- 2 tablespoons hemp hearts
- 2 tablespoons ground flax meal
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest
- 3/4 cup whole-milk Greek yogurt
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
For the glaze
- 1 tablespoon butter, melted
- 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Instructions
For the bread
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Line a (8 1/2 x 4 1/4″) loaf pan with parchment paper. If you don't have parchment paper, coat with nonstick vegetable oil spray and dust with flour; tap out excess.
- Whisk all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt, chia seeds, hemp hearts, and flax meal in a medium bowl.
- Using your fingers, rub 1 cup sugar with the lemon zest in a large bowl until sugar is moist. Add the yogurt, olive oil, eggs and vanilla; whisk to blend. Fold in dry ingredients just to blend.
- Pour batter into prepared pan; smooth top. Bake until top of cake is golden brown and a tester inserted into center comes out clean, 50 to 55 minutes. Let cake cool in pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Invert onto rack and drizzle with glaze; let cool completely.
For the glaze
- Stir together butter, lemon peel and powdered sugar in small bowl. Stir in lemon juice until glaze is smooth. Drizzle on top of bread and let drip down the sides.