Lemon Sourdough Bread

Photo: flickr user avlxyz

Ingredients

1 stk butter at room temperature

1 cup sugar

Grated rind of 1 lemon

2 eggs

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

cup lemon juice

cup water

1 cup sourdough starter made with white flour

Confectioner's Icing made with lemon juice

Preparation

* I used the rind and juice of 2 medium lemons. They yielded a little bit more than 1/3 cup of juice. I added enough water to end up with the required 2/3 cup liquid.

**I applied the icing after the loaf had fully cooled. Instead of melting into the loaf, the icing stayed solid while drizzling down the sides. This is just another option for flavor and presentation.

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter a 9 inch loaf pan. Cream the butter with the sugar and grated rind until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine the flour, salt and baking soda. In a small bowl combine the lemon juice and water. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture alternately with the lemon mixture, beating until fluffy. Fold in the sourdough starter until batter is smooth. Pour into the loaf pan and bake 1 hour, or until bread tests done. Le

Confectioner's Icing: Combine 1 cup confectioner's sugar with 2 tsp lemon juice and enough water to make a creamy frosting.

NOTES : Last year I made a sourdough banana bread from "World Sourdoughs from Antiquity". To use sourdough starter in something sweet seemed intriguing. The result was a moist banana bread with a distinct "cheesecake-like" flavor. Yesterday while trying to find ways to use up some active starter, I made another sweet batter bread with the same complimentary cheesecake flavor as a result. Thought others might be interested in this use of starter since it is a quick and easy way to use starter and gives a different dimension to good, but sometimes ordinary quick breads. Here