the great zucchini bread experiment
May 30, 2008
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There has been a lot of zucchini in my life lately. It seems to be the most abundant product at farmer' s markets these days, and I can never pass it up. Yesterday I took a look at my refrigerator and thought that perhaps it had been multiplying while I slept. With so many green stalks at my disposal, I decided to do a little experimenting that I might otherwise have been too timid to attempt. But the night was young, and I could hear a faint whisper—“zucchini bread experimentâ€�—from the crisper drawer.
I went to my standby cookbook for a basic recipe—which calls for your usual dough making staples: all purpose flour, sugar, eggs, vanilla, salt, baking powder, etc. I grated 2 cups of zucchini for that batch, set aside my grandmother' s favorite ingredients and then started to think about what I could replace them with.
Here is the original zucchini recipe I used, which Grandma WOULD NOT have deviated from:
*1¼ c all purpose flour*1 tsp baking soda*1 tsp baking powder* ¼ tsp cinnamon, all whisked.* In a separate bowl, 2 large eggs (pre-beaten)* ½ c vegetable oil*1tsp vanilla* ¾ c regular sugar* ½ tsp salt mixed thoroughly together.*2c grated zucchini (juice squeezed out) and 1 ½ c chopped pecans. (The recipe says ground, but I like chunks.)* Mix the dry ingredients into the wet bowl, and once the dough is mixed, blend the zucchini and pecans with a few, quick strokes.* Bake in a greased bread pan, at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.
It was hard not to eat half of that batter raw. The stuff really is delicious.
But in honor of my Celiac belly and my family' s history with diabetes, I decided to do some tweaking. Here' s how it went:
*1c spelt flour, plus ½ c soy flour*1 tsp baking soda*1 tsp baking powder* ¼ tsp cinnamon, all whisked.*In a separate bowl, 2 large eggs (pre-beaten)* 1 medium banana, mashed with my hands (which equaled ½ c)*1 tsp. vanilla* ½ c unsweetened apple sauce plus ¼ c local honey*1/2 tsp salt mixed thoroughly together. 2c grated zucchini (also juice-less) and 1 ½ c chopped pecans.* Mix wet and dry ingredients, then add the zucchini and nuts with a few quick strokes.*Same pan, same temp, same time.
This dough was not as sweet, and was considerably darker. I wondered if it would rise. Then I wondered, if it rose, would it turn rock hard without the gluten? Neither fear was realized. In fact, my version is moister and, in my opinion, tastes like mother earth and not some industrialized sugar-making factory. But that' s just my opinion.
The short of it is this: replace the white flour with something unrefined; (but not exclusively soy flour, or it won' t rise) replace the sugar with ½ c unsweetened applesauce plus ¼ c local honey; replace the oil with 1 medium banana.
The healthy version of this bread will trick your taste buds. It’s really terrific. I will probably polish off the loaf before lunch. If you yearn for more wholesome baking, have a look at a the “Baking Healthy” section of the Baking Web Guide I wrote a while back. Or, if you just love the standard American zucchini bread recipe, I can vouch for that, too.
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