Last week my coworker – Cody – who is always willing to try whatever is I’ve been baking, brought me a bag full of veggies he got from a friend who’s a farmhand. The bag full of veggies was comprised mainly of cucumbers – which Cody hates, a few pearl onions, and one large zucchini. When my eyes rested on the zucchini, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it–make zucchini bread, of course!
I struggle with these types of quick breads, as you can see in the above picture, with cooking it enough/too much. You want your bread to have a nice dose too but sometimes it seems like the outside edges of the bread suffer by drying out.
ingredients.
- 1 ⅔ c. zucchini, shredded
- 2 whole medium, ripe bananas
- 1 c. sugar
- ⅔ c. vegetable oil
- 2 whole eggs (large)
- 2 c. flour
- 2 ½ tsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. salt
- ⅔ c. mini chocolate chips (optional)
- ½ c. chopped walnuts
directions.
- Mix together zucchini (drained of excess liquid), bananas, sugar, oil and eggs.
- Add in the dry ingredients and chocolate chips, if using.
- Fill greased loaf pan with batter approximately two-thirds full.
- Toss walnuts on top the batter so that they toast as the bread bakes.
- Bake loaves at 350F for 15 minutes, then turn down to 325F for another 45 to 60 minutes. Test the loaf to make sure it’s cooked in the middle. Be careful you don’t over-bake.
Back in 2011 I made a triple recipe which yielded 14 mini – approximately 3 1/2″ x 1 1/2″ – loaf pans (bake at 350F for 15 minutes, 325F for 10 to 15 more) and one 9″ x 5″ x 3″ loaf.
Here’s what I said about the adventure in mini bread loaves:
If you do as I did (make mini loaves), I would recommend cooling the loaves completely before removing from the pans — otherwise the loaf will crumble. My first 14 mini loaves were almost two undercooked. They weren’t runny or anything, just slightly anemic looking in color while being a tad crumbly. Very moist and tasty, however.
I overfilled the first batch of mini loaves; and, thus, decided to fill the last batch of mini loaves only half full. This resulted in nicely domed, perfectly shaped golden brown mini loaves.
This bread was a huge hit at work, even though slightly under-baked. I somehow coaxed Cody into trying it (after learning he not only hates cucumber but zucchini as well). He liked it so much he convinced me to wrap the bread up and leave it in my drawer so he could eat it for breakfast the next day instead of taking it back home.
This bread also prompted my coworker Cora – who has previously suggested I start my own bakery – to bring a load of books meant to motivate me to start my own business.
Recipe rating:
Food Snob 