Yield: 1 Bundt cake, making 12 to 24 slices
My sister-in-law, who was 7 years old when I married her brother, had a recent craving for this bread, which I haven’t made since she was little — but it deserves a comeback.
3 cups all-purpose flour, preferably bleached
1 1/2 teaspoons salt, preferably fine sea salt
2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons poppy seeds
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
2 sticks unsalted butter, melted, or 1 stick butter, melted, plus 1/2 cup canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
Glaze:
1/4 cup orange juice
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
Grease a 10-inch Bundt pan, and preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Whisk flour, salt, sugar, poppy seeds and baking powder together in a mixing bowl. Add eggs, milk, butter, vanilla and almond extracts. Beat for 1 minute with an electric mixer on medium speed.
Pour batter into Bundt pan and bake bread for 1 hour, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs clinging to it. Cool on a wire rack while you make the glaze.
In a small saucepan, heat all glaze ingredients, whisking, until sugar dissolves.
Invert bread onto a wire rack set over a baking sheet (or directly onto a serving plate). Slowly pour or brush the glaze over the bread; if you set it on a rack, you can scoop up the glaze from the baking sheet and brush it on the bread, rewarming it if needed.
