Monday, May 20, 2013

Lemon Blueberry Ricotta Bread

Lemon Blueberry Ricotta Bread

Another sweet quick bread recipe? Oh, yeah. There's no end in sight! So easy and so good and so many variations. I mentioned on Saturday in my Life in the Big City post that I've been pinning loads of lemony bread recipes and yesterday I played around with one of them. I wasn't using anyone's particular recipe but rather borrowing the idea of including ricotta in the batter. Although it seemed a bit odd at first, the more I thought about it, the more I realized it answered one of my quick bread problems.

Lemon Blueberry Ricotta Bread
In the past, when I've made banana or pumpkin flavored breads, the bananas or pumpkin puree were there to add moisture. But a lemon bread, even with blueberries, didn't have anything to give it that boost. Enter the ricotta cheese. You don't really taste it but the final bread has a moist, almost pound cake like flavor that we liked. And I used plenty of lemon zest to give it, not only a fresh lemon flavor, but a wonderful aroma as well. Some recipes call for lemon juice but I find that flavor harsh. Trust me, zest is the way to go. Enjoy!


Ingredients
1 3/4 Cup all purpose flour
2 Teaspoons baking powder
1/2 Teaspoon salt
1 Stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 Cup sugar
2 Eggs
1 Teaspoon vanilla
1/2 Cup buttermilk
1/2 Cup ricotta cheese
1 Cup blueberries
Zest of 3 lemons

Lemon Blueberry Ricotta Bread
Add the eggs and sugar to a large bowl and beat until thoroughly combined and lightened in color. Beat in the butter followed by the ricotta cheese, vanilla, lemon zest and buttermilk.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Beat the dry ingredients into the wet until mixed. Fold in the blueberries and mix by hand just until combined. Pour the batter into a buttered and floured loaf pan and bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 1 hour or until a cake tester comes out clean. Allow to cool before removing from the pan and dust with powdered sugar, if desired. Makes approximately 10 servings.

29 comments:

  1. Oh the addition of ricotta sounds so yummy! Cannot wait for the blueberry farm down the road to start picking!

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  2. You had my heart at lemon! *squeeee!*

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  3. sound delicious and I can smell the citrus on this bread sound perfect with blueberry :)

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  4. Look at those big, fat berries! Marvelous, Anita!!!

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  5. I love ricotta, and I can't wait to see how it turns out in a cake!

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  6. Oh my gosh... I love blueberries and the addition of ricotta... it's GENIUS, girly!

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  7. I made ricotta muffins once and they were amazing! I can't wait to try it in this bread!

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  8. Can't wait to try this, sounds very good and I love all cheeses and blueberries.

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  9. Lemon and blueberry is just the best combo and I love the addition of ricotta!

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  10. These are a few of my favorite things.. . blueberries and lemon and ricotta and quick bread!!

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  11. I was thinking of buying some ricotta to make a cheesecake. This is a better option.

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  12. your quick bread looks absolutely wonderful!

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  13. i made this tonight, and OMG!!!! this has to be the moistest i've EVER had!!!!! it was soo yummy!! m i may substitute this for my pound cake recipe!!

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    1. Thank you, Stace! I'm so pleased you liked it. I must admit, ours disappeared in record speed. :)

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  14. I'm glad there's no end in sight. I love quick breads, and this one rocks my socks off. Yeah, I just said that.

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  15. I will DEFINITELY be trying this, Anita. I love the blueberry/lemon combo anyway and the addition of the ricotta is genius.

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  16. Delicious! Love this recipe! Thank you for sharing with Foodie Friends Friday! I will be sharing on my Walking on Sunshine FB page today!

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  17. This cake looks very moist and the recipe looks quite easy. I've never used ricotta in a cake but I will definitely give this a try. Thanks for sharing on Foodie Friends Friday.

    Joanne/Winelady Cooks

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  18. This looks delicious!

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  19. I'm thinking about making a blueberry lemon yogurt bread this weekend - but ricotta sounds like it would be an amazing addition too! Your bread is so pretty!

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  20. I love lemon...add the blueberry and make a quick bread...this has to be amazing! Even the colors of blue & yellow in a kitchen are wonderful for making a happy space. I am going to bake this on the weekend!

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  21. I love this!

    And this not only *looks* delicious, but *is*. Made it twice already, and at one time exchanged blueberries for fresh raspberries from the garden... mniam!!

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  22. Hi Anita: This sounds wonderful, and I made homemade ricotta just for this recipe and another recipe, so I'm anxious to try this recipe. However, the size of the loaf pan is not indicated (that I can see). Is this baked in an 8 1/2 x 4" loaf pan?

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    1. Mmm...homemade ricotta! Yup, an 8 1/2 x 4 pan is what I used. I think most standard loaf pans are that size but if it's a half an inch off one way or the other shouldn't be a big deal. Let me know how you liked it.

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  23. Hi Anita: Thank you for your response to my inquiry about the size of the pan. I plan to make this tomorrow, and I will let you know how it turns out. It sounds delicious!

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  24. This was excellent! I had to bake mine a little longer, but it came out perfect! Thanks!

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    1. I'm so pleased to hear that. Thank you for coming back to let me know!

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  25. Toller Anblick und schmeckt bestimmt auch richtig gut.

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  26. Made this last night and it was great!

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