This
time of year I devote several hours a day to baking savory loaves of
bread. I particularly like zucchini and pumpkin bread. In prior years I would grow my own zucchini, but only was able to plant tomatoes, eggplant, radishes, green beans, and strawberries. Therefore, this year I was saved from buying zucchini as my wonderful brother gave me some fresh from his garden. Three beautiful green elongated veggies for my cooking and baking delight.
Back in 2010 I had another blog: Small Town Cook, where I had posted the below, I felt it was time to unearth it. Today however I had the help of my son, who is now five. He loves watching me and helping me. I let him stir as I added the ingredients....typically I would use the mixer, but he was just so excited to help. I still feel the mixer incorporates the ingredients better, however nothing beats the smile on his little face, and the fact that I get veggies into his little tummy.
I had seen a recipe I wanted to try in a
small recipe book, you know the kind you pick up for a few bucks up at
the registers next to the celebrity newspapers. This one was put
together by Betty Crocker and Gold Medal and is called, "Fall Baking -
Cookies, Breads and Desserts", put out back in 2003. The recipe is
called Raisin Nut Zucchini Bread and makes 2 scrumptious loaves in
just an hour.
Recipe
Makes 2 Loaves (16 slices each)
3 medium zucchini, shredded (3 cups)
1 2/3 cups sugar
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup coarsely chopped nuts
1/2 cup golden raisins, if desired
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1.
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottoms only of 2 loaf pans, with
shortening. Mix zucchini, sugar, oil, vanilla, and eggs in large bowl.
Stir in remaining ingredients. Pour into pans.
2. Bake 50 to
60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool
ten minutes. Loosen sides of loaves from pans; remove from pans to
wire rack. Cool completely, about 2 hours, before slicing. Wrap tightly
and store at room temperature up to 4 days, or refrigerate up to 1
week. This can also be wrapped and frozen for up to 4 months, so I like to make extra loaves now for later.
Now to tell you what I do differently. I do omit
the raisins. I don't care for them in this bread and I used walnuts. I
buy them in a big bag when on sale and put the desired amount into a
sandwich bag and take a rolling pin to them to crush them up. This
helps take out any frustrations from the day. I also found though trial and error that baking
spray on the bottom of the pans allows the bread to release from the
pan much easier than shortening and is less messy. ALWAYS remember to
spray or grease the pan before pouring in the mixture if you do not
plan on keeping the bread for yourself. In the past I have made this bread for family and friends as gifts, and had to make extra loaves because several came out mangle because I did not spray the pan at all.
I've also found that actually using an
electric mixture to combine the wet and dry ingredients incorporates
the mixture better. Stirring is doesn't cut it I discovered as I bit
into a slice from one of those torn loaves and got a mouth full of dry,
overcooked flour. Yuck...the rest of the bread tasted amazing. It
also rose better when mixed like this verses stirring.
What else
can I say but try it. Whether it's vegetables from your own garden or
you go buy it from a stand or market, making something like this for my
family is a gift of it's own....the couple glasses of rum I had while
cooking made it all that much better. My husband likes to cut himself a
slice, heat it up in the microwave for a few seconds and then smother
on butter....yummy.
**Italicized portions from original post
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