Breads, Cakes, Desserts · February 17, 2017

Vegan Lemon Poppyseed Bread

Name: Vegan Lemon Poppyseed Bread
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 1 h 5 min
Yield: 6
Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 1/2 teaspoon baking powder; 1/2 teaspoon baking soda; 1 1/4 teaspoons poppy seeds; 1 ripe banana; 1/3 cup coconut oil (melted); 3/4 cup cane sugar; 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract; Juice and zest of 2 lemons; 1/2 cup Zevia Lemon Lime Twist

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If there is one thing that divides my husband and I, it’s love/lack of love for lemon desserts, like this sweet, light lemon poppyseed bread. I’m a total lover of lemon everything, in fact, I used to suck on lemons as a child (who knows why) and I almost love lemon desserts as much as I love chocolate ones. My husband, on the other hand, could take them or leave them. He’s a full on chocolate lover if I’ve ever seen one, sneaking bites of brownie and cookies, as long as they have chocolate in them. Everytime there is a lemon dessert in the house, he’s kind of ‘meh’ about it, maybe trying a slice or two, but not diving into it like I do. Fact: both times in the last year that we have had lemon desserts in the house, I’ve eaten at least 1/3 of them by myself and felt zero regrets. Whoops!

I was kind of crossing my fingers and hoping for the best with this vegan lemon poppyseed bread, since I really don’t have any other recipe like it in my wheelhouse yet. Sure, I have streusel bread and a good ol’ regular yeast bread, but not a light, fluffy, sweet dessert bread that can double as both breakfast and dessert, if you play your cards right. I cobbled together a few different recipes of mine, plus tweaked a little as I went, and ended up with the easiest, sweet lemon poppyseed bread that had me fist pumping with joy and sneaking slices little by little. Plus, anything lemon poppyseed seems to be an instant hit for most people, so this one was a crowd pleaser at work. (And I quote my sometimes doubtful co-worker ‘this isn’t weird, and it’s really good!’)

I haven’t baked with Zevia or any other fizzy drink like it before, so I was hopeful for it’s ability to make a baked good light and fluffy, since it’s sweet and has a bit of rising properties. It fulfilled all of my expectations, making the lemon poppyseed bread rise like crazy, without falling and creating a sunken middle (bread nightmares!), while giving the slightest bit of sweetness and even more lemon flavor (win!). I’m now sold on the incredible ability of a fizzy drink to take my baking even further. Baking goals accomplished!

This can easily be made into vegan lemon poppyseed muffins, just divide the batter out into the well greased muffin tins evenly and baker for 15- 20 minutes. I also think this would also make incredible french toast, just use the batter from my french toast casserole to dip the slices into and cook for a few minutes on each side. Lemon poppyseed bread french toast, why haven’t I done this before?! Well now I know my weekend plans!