Orange Poppy Seed Bread

Happy Spring!!! The weather may have been disagreeable these past few days, but it is officially spring! Woo hoo! The end is in sight! Ahhh…now that I’ve gotten all that out of my system, let’s celebrate with this simple and light but oh so yummylicious, wake up my taste buds bread. Enjoy! :)

Note: This was made using those tiny Halos mandarin oranges, which I found to be too sour to eat straight but they make a delicious bread. You can use regular naval oranges as well.

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
¾ cup sugar
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
¾ cup extra light olive oil
1 tablespoon orange zest (from 4 mandarins)
1 cup orange juice (from 11 mandarins)
1 extra-large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan (I use PAM Baking Spray). In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and poppy seeds. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together oil, zest, juice, egg, and vanilla until blended, and add to the dry mixture. Mix lightly, just enough to combine all the ingredients. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool bread in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely (bread is fairly delicate, be careful when removing it from the pan).