Lemon Bubble Bread: sweet, moist, and soft. The glaze is a sweet, slightly tart lemon glaze. Make it for a brunch or a lazy morning breakfast. This bread is no-knead and doesn’t require a stand mixer. Easy to make.
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Lemon Bubble Bread:
I was going through some old recipe boxes. Yes, recipe boxes. In ancient times, (according to my grandkids), I didn’t have the internet or computers as a recipe resource. I wrote my recipes on index cards and filed them in a cute little recipe box. Anyway, I was going through a couple of my recipe boxes looking for inspiration when I came across this recipe for lemon bubble bread. What great memories it brought back. Memories of family breakfasts and Mother’s Day brunches. This recipe was from my Mother-In-Law and it was a favorite. I’ve adapted the recipe by replacing the kneading with envelope folds – making it a no-knead recipe. Otherwise, it is unchanged.
What Do I Need to Make Lemon Bubble Bread?
Lemon Bubble Bread is no-knead – so you don’t need a stand mixer; only a hand-held mixer. You will also need a bowl spoon and a fluted baking pan. That’s it for utensils.
Most of the ingredients are pantry and kitchen staples – flour, eggs, butter, sugar, milk, and salt. In addition to the staples, you will need 2 lemons, yeast, and nutmeg. The dough is a high fat, high sugar dough. This dough is slow to rise with regular red packet yeast. I recommend using SAF Gold instant yeast (click here to purchase it on-line). It is only available in 1 lb packages. If you don’t do a lot of baking, purchase the small red packages at the grocery store and use instead. If you use the small red packets, you will need two packets. The rising time will be longer, so be patient and allow extra time for the dough to rise. It is usually about 30 minutes extra with the first rise and 15-20 minutes extra with the second rise.
How Do I Make Lemon Bubble Bread?
The dough is made using a hand mixer to initially mix the ingredients. Then, instead of kneading the dough, do 4 envelope folds as demonstrated in the video. Be patient during the first rise period. Depending on temperature and the type of yeast you used it can take 90 minutes or longer. The second rise may take an hour or more.
During baking, if the top of the bread it getting dark loosely cover the bread with foil to keep it from over-browning. The bread is done when the internal temperature is 195-degrees on an instant read thermometer, (click here for where to purchase one). Let the bread cool 5 minutes before removing from the pan. The lemon bubble bread is delicious with or without a lemon glaze.
Can I Make Lemon Bubble Bread Ahead?
Yes, this bread can be made the day before and stored in an airtight container at room temperature.
To freeze, don’t glaze the bread, tightly wrap and freeze in an airtight container for up to 1 month. Defrost at room temperature and glaze before serving. Alternately, wrap in aluminum foil and reheat in the oven at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until warmed through and serve unglazed.
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Equipment
- Fluted Baking Pan
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Ingredients
Bread
- 5½ cups all-purpose flour (660 grams) split the flour into 3 separate amounts. 1 cup (120grams) 2 cups (240grams) 2½ cups (300grams)
- ½ cup granulated sugar (99 grams)
- 4½ tsp yeast use SAF instant Gold, (14 grams)
- 1 tsp salt if you use sea salt add 1 1/2 tsp,
- 1 cup milk (227 grams)
- ½ cup water (114 grams)
- 4 tbsp butter (57 grams)
- 2 eggs large
- 2 lemon zest
Sugar/Butter/Lemon topping
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 4 tbsp butter (56 grams) melted - split into 2 equal parts of 2 Tbsp each (28 grams)
- ½ cup granulated sugar split the sugar into 2 equal parts of ¼ cup (49grams) each
- 1/4 tsp mace or fresh ground nutmeg
Lemon Glaze
- 1¾ cup powdered sugar (199 grams)
- 4 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp butter (5 grams) melted
Instructions
Bread
- Add 2 cups (240 grams) of flour, yeast, salt, and sugar (1/2 cup) to a mixing bowl. Stir to combine.
- Add the water to the milk and heat to 120 degrees. Melt the butter and add it to the water and milk. Stir to mix and add to the dry ingredients. Mix with a hand mixer or stand mixer on low for 2 minutes.
- Add the lemon zest, eggs and 1 more cup (120 grams) of flour and mix on medium for 2 more minutes.
- Add the final 2½ cups (300 grams) of flour and mix with a spoon until the flour is just moistened. Let the mixture rest for 5 minutes and if it is real sticky, add another 1/2 cup (60 grams) of flour and mix in with the spoon.
- Do a total of 4 envelope folds 5 minutes apart as demonstrated in the video. After the last envelope fold, place the dough back in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise in a warm area until double about 60 - 90 minutes.
Forming the bubble loaf
- Once the dough has doubled in size split it into 48 pieces. Shape each piece into a round ball or bubble. Place 24 bubbles in the bottom of a greased fluted or bundt pan.
- Mix 1/4 tsp nutmeg with 1/4 cup (50 grams) sugar and sprinkle over the 1st layer of bread bubbles. Drizzle with 2 Tbsp melted butter and 1 Tbsp lemon juice.
- Add the 2nd layer of 24 bread bubbles and coat with the rest of the sugar, butter, and lemon juice. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 30-60 minutes or until the bread is about an inch above the top of the pan. Preheat the oven to 350°F during the last 30 minutes of rising.
- Bake 350°F for 30-40 minutes until the center of the bread is 195 degrees on an instant-read thermometer. If you don't have an instant-read thermometer the bread should sound hollow when tapped and be a dark golden brown. Cover the bread with foil the last 15-20 minutes of baking if it is getting too brown.
- Remove from the oven and let the bread cool for about 5 minutes before inverting the pan on a wire cooling rack. Let the bread cool completely before glazing. The bread is also yummy served warm either with or without the lemon glaze.
Lemon Glaze
- Mix together the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and melted butter. Whisk until smooth and use to glaze the bread.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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