Poppy Seed Bread with Orange Glaze

This bread is absolutely amazing! It is super moist and melts in your mouth. Because of the glaze it's definitely not lacking on the sweetness side either. It also freezes really well which is perfect for small families or if you want to make a few batches to save for a later time. The original recipe calls for milk which luckily my son can have now in baked goods. I made a batch this morning with soy milk and it turned out excellent, however I would definitely stick to original flavored soy or rice milk (no vanilla). It was also more sweet using the soy milk than the regular milk, so if you use soy you might want to go easy on the glazed top. My kids nicknamed the poppyseeds "baby blueberries" and have been devouring this bread, even my picky little 13 month old :)

Poppy Seed Bread with Orange Glaze
Recipe adapted from Don't Panic More Dinner's in the Freezer
Makes 2 loaves + 1 mini

2 1/4 cups sugar
3 1/3 cups flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 2/3 cups vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 2/3 cups soy milk (or milk)
2 Tbsp poppy seeds

Glaze:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup orange juice
2 tsp grated orange peel

For glaze, bring sugar, orange juice, and orange peel to boil in small saucepan over medium heat. Stir constantly until sugar dissolves. Set aside to cool.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Using an electric mixer, in a large bowl beat sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla/almond extract until pale yellow in color. Add flour mixture to the sugar mixture alternating with the 1 2/3 cups milk. Stir in poppy seeds. Pour into greased baking pans. Bake for 1 hour or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. (I had to bake an extra 5 minutes with the soy milk) Remove from oven. Poke holes in bread with toothpick. Gradually spoon orange glaze over hot bread, allowing glaze to soak into bread after each addition. Cool completely in pans letting the glaze get into the bread.
To freeze: wrap completely with plastic wrap and then put in a freezer ziplock bag. On serving day just thaw and serve.