Poppy Seed Bread with Orange Glaze

There once was a restaurant here in this little ol’ town I live in that my husband and I loved, loved, loved!  It was situated in one of the historical Victorian homes down town and they had food that was divine!  The atmosphere was quaint, but relaxing. Did I mention the food was divine?  When they closed their doors for good (the owners retired) we were so sad.

A few years before they had closed up shop, they were featured in Midwest Living Magazine (When you visit the magazine link you will see only a tiny bit of the original article that was published in the magazine way back when, the picture of the girl is actually a homeschool friend’s daughter, she’s all grown up now).  The original article had featured the restaurant and shared some of their yummy recipes.  One was our favorite!  It was their poppy seed bread and it is divine!

Since having the sacred poppy seed bread recipe my husband has made it every year for Christmas.  He loves making it. I love eating it!

Poppy Seed Bread with Orange Glaze

Makes 2 loaves

For the bread…

2-1/4 cups sugar

3 cups flour

1-1/2 teaspoon baking powder

4-1/2 teaspoons poppy seeds

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 eggs

1-1/2 cups whole milk

1 cup vegetable oil

1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla

In a bowl mix sugar, flour baking powder, poppy seeds and salt. In a separate bowl beat together eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Slowly mix in the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Stir until smooth. Bake in 2 greased loaf pans for 1-1/2 hours at 300 degrees, covering with aluminum foil the last 15 minutes to prevent the top from burning. Spoon orange glaze (see recipe below) over hot bread while still in pans. Let bread completely cool before removing from pans.

*Orange Glaze

1 cup powder sugar

1/3 cup orange juice

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Mix well