Tarek Malouf has a fantastic bakery in London called Hummingbird Bakery. I’ve visited the branch in the Dubai Mall in Dubai and tasted some yummy goodies there.
So here is the recipe.
Sweet Dough Lemon Loaf
Lemon cakes and lemon loaves are too tempting to resist and this one is extra special because it has yeast in it. Eat it fresh. It gets stale if kept too long.
Servings 10 persons
Ingredients
For the dough
- 75 ml luke warm whole milk
- 60 ml tepid water
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 50 gms caster sugar
- 2 1/4 tsp dried active yeast
- 350 gms plain flour, plus extra for dusting
- 55 gms unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
For the filling
- 60 gms unsalted butter
- 100 gms caster sugar
- Grated zest of three lemons
For the topping
- 90 gms full fat cream cheese
- 40 gms icing sugar, sifted
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp whole milk
- Grated zest of 1 lemon, plus extra to decorate
Instructions
- Grease the loaf tin and dust with flour.
- In a small bowl, mix the warm milk, water, salt, 1 teaspoon of sugar and the dried active yeast. Set aside for 30 minutes or until a foam forms on the surface.
- In a large mixing bowl mix the flour and remaining sugar. Make a well in the centre.
- Melt the butter in the microwave or in a pan on the stove. When the yeast liquid is ready add the eggs, vanilla extract and melted butter to the yeast mixture.
- Pour the liquids into the well of the dry ingredients and mix with a spatula to form a dough. Put the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead for approximately 5 minutes or until the dough is smooth.
- Place the dough in a lightly floured bowl, cover tightly with cling film and allow to prove in a warm place, for approximately 45 minutes or until the dough doubles in size.
- While the dough proves, make the lemon sugar filling. Melt the butter in the microwave or in a pan on the stove. In a medium bowl mix the sugar, lemon zest and melted butter together. Set aside in a warm place so that the butter doesn’t solidify again.
- Once the dough has proved remove it from the bowl. Gently knock the dough back. Roll it out on a lightly floured surface until it is 12 x 15 inches. Cut the dough lengthwise into 4 equal strips with a sharp knife.
- With a pastry brush coat each strip with the lemon sugar filling. Carefully lift the strips and pile them on top of each other. Cut the pile of strips into 6 equal square stacks. Carefully lift each stack and place it in the loaf tin, cut side facing up. Place each stack next to each other in the tin, packing them to form a loaf.
- Wrap the tin in cling film and set aside the dough to rise again for 45 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.
- Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius, 325 degrees Fahrenheit, Gas mark 3, and bake the loaf for approximately 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Keep aside to cool slightly.
- To make the lemon cream cheese topping, with a hand held electric whisk or a free standing electric mixer mix the cream cheese and icing sugar until smooth. Add the lemon juice, zest and milk and mix well until smooth.
- Once the lemon loaf has cooled slightly, remove it from the tin and top with the lemon topping and lemon zest. Serve warm.