This recipe is perfect for the summer! Chock full of fresh blueberries and a zip of zesty lemon, it’s a refreshing treat everyone is going to love, I promise! I’ve been so obsessed with this yummy bread that I’ve already made it four times and it’s not even summer yet. Don’t you worry, I’m going to share exactly how I make it so you can make it and fall in love with it too so lets dive right in!
Tips & Tricks
Before we start lets go over a few important details you’re gonna want to know…
First of all, you need to use fresh blueberries in this recipe. Not only do they taste better and fresher but it can drastically effect your dough while baking. If you were to use frozen blueberries then they could bleed and turn your bread purple, not a huge deal but still. Frozen blueberries are so going to mess with the temperature of the dough while it’s in the oven and you are going to end up with a very uneven bake and no one wants that. So stick to those fresh blueberries for optimal results!
Next, how you measure your ingredients matters. It’s tempting (and easier) to just dip right into your dry ingredients but do not do that! It is not an accurate measurement and can alter the final product. If you have a kitchen scale then weigh your ingredients for the most accurate measurement. If you don’t have a scale then scoop the dry ingredients out with a spoon and dump it into the measuring cups. DO NOT PACK IT DOWN. You’ll end up with more flour or sugar than you need and that will mess with the dough.
Finally, this is not your typical method for mixing and there is good reason for that. Usually you’ll cream together the butter and sugar, add the wet ingredients, and then the dry. But this is the opposite, dry ingredients then the wet. The reason for this is to keep the loaf as rich as possible. You’re going to get a soft bread with a tight crumb without it drying out during the baking process. Once you pull this out of the oven and take that first bite you’ll be able to tell a huge difference!
Blueberry Lemon Loaf
Ingredients
Crumble
- 2 tbsp melted unsalted butter
- 3 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup all purpose flour
- Pinch salt (I like coarse salt)
Blueberry Lemon Loaf
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp lemon zest typically 2 lemons worth
- 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup Unsalted butter room temp
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs room temp
- 2 tbsp lemon juice fresh squeezed – 1 lemon
- 1/4 cup milk room temp
- 1 1/2 cup fresh blueberries plus handful for topping
Lemon Drizzle
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 tbsp milk
- 1/2 tbsp lemon juice fresh squeezed. I eyeball this step and add more sugar than liquid to make a thicker drizzle
Instructions
Crumble
- Mix together ingredients in small bowl, make sure its lumpy and crumbly
- Put in fridge until batter is finished
Blueberry Lemon Loaf
- Preheat oven to 350F, grease OR line sides of 9×3 loaf pan with parchment paper
- Add sugar and lemon zest to stand mixer bowl with the paddle attachment. Rub together sugar and zest with your fingers to release that extra lemon flavor
- Add in flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix it up
- While the mixer is running on the lowest speed, drop in about 1tbsp of butter at a time. You might have to kick up the speed a bit as the butter mixes in
- Once it is all crumbly and the butter isn’t lumpy turn off the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl
- Mix in vanilla and one egg at a time
- Next, mix in the lemon juice, don’t get any seeds in there, and then the milk
- Scrape down the sides making sure everything is mixed together all the way through
- Rinse the blueberries and toss them in a small amount of flour until they are fully coated. This will keep the berries suspended in the batter and prevent them from all falling to the bottom
- Drop the berries into the batter and carefully mix them in as evenly as you can
- Pour the batter into the loaf pan evenly. Top it with the extra berries and the crumble we made earlier
- Bake for at least 1 hour, depending on your oven you will need more time but take it slowly when adding cook time to it. Make sure it is done in the middle by sticking a toothpick or knife into the center and it comes out clean
- Allow to cool for an hour before you drizzle the top
Lemon Drizzle
- Mix together the fresh lemon juice, milk, and powdered sugar to your desired consistency. If the drizzle is too loose ass more sugar, if it is too thick add more liquid.
- Drizzle with the icing, slice, and enjoy! Share with your loved ones (or don’t because it’s just too good)
You can leave the loaf covered on the counter for a few days but after that I would wrap it up and put it in the fridge to keep it moist. It will keep in the fridge for up to a week, if it lasts that long. If you desire, you can wrap it up and keep it in the freezer for a couple months as well!
If at first you don’t succeed that is perfectly ok!! Loaves can be tricky at first because it can be difficult to bake it all the way through and keep the rise on it. Once that hour is up you want to keep a close eye on it and take it out of the oven as soon as it is cooked through. They can deflate quickly once you over bake it. A good tell is how dark the topping is getting. You want to see a nice golden brown on the crumble for the first indicator that it is baked through. Don’t give up if this happens to you, try again! And if you do succeed the first time around there is always room for improvement!
If you do bake this yummy recipe, take some photos and tag me @the_kitchenwitch_blog so I can see how amazing you did! Come back next week for another recipe to impress everyone with!