Assignment 6: Zucchini Bread
Inevitably in the fall I have to make at least one batch of zucchini bread. My mom had her own garden for years and used to grow mammoth sized zucchinis… we had baskets and basketfuls so she used to make tons of breads, muffins, and quiches with them, roast them, and still have dozens to give to neighbors.
I decided just to look for a recipe online and pulled this recipe from allrecipes.com. I really love this website because you can see all the comments from users who have made modifications to the original recipe. So, without further ado, here’s the version I made last week in all its veggie glory. The bread turned out really moist, and it made enough for two mini loaves and 12 muffins. I still have some left as well as 6 muffins frozen!
Also, this recipe is a super easy one to modify to be vegan—simply use egg substitutes instead of real eggs et voila!
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Ingredients
- 1.5 cups Trader Joe’s Whole Wheat White Flour
- 1.5 cups Whole Wheat Flour
- 1 dash of salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup organic unsweetened apple sauce
- 1 1/2 cups white sugar
- 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups grated zucchini
Directions
- Grease and flour two 8 x 4 inch pans (or pans of your choosing). Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
- Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, nutmeg and cinnamon together in a bowl.
- Beat eggs, oil, apple sauce, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well. Stir in zucchini and nuts until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pans.
- Bake for 40 to 60 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan, and completely cool.
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Anyway, I’m changing things up about from how I was doing the blog last year—I may still post assignments before I do them myself, but obviously I’ve already completed this one. So, get your posts in whenever you can or whenever you bake and I’m sure we’d all love to see what you come up with—you can already see what I made!
XO,
Sara
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Zucchini Alert!
GUYZ—I’m going to bake Zucchini Bread for the first time in foreeeeever pretty soon.
So stay tuned!
blog comments powered by DisqusThe smell of disaster.
My bread smelled soooo good, wafting through the apartment. And so little did I suspect what a complete and utter failure I had created!
Yes, this was my finished product. Weirdly crispy on the edges, a bit too salty, and looking like a pile of something no one should eat.
Granted, I didn’t follow the instructions perfectly, and suspected I might have a mistake on my hands when it came out of the oven. I accidentally dripped with olive oil and salted before letting it rise for an hour pre-baking. I also forgot to cover with plastic wrap! Bad baker! I presume my problem lies therein, but don’t know for sure.
What I do know is that my “focaccia bread” got dumped in the trash unfortunately! Tsk tsk, Pioneer Woman, for making believe this would be the easiest recipe ever. I don’t think it was just me—but some combination of the not actually very lucid instructions along with my lack of experience in bread baking (and anything involving yeast).
Anyway, I am disheartened and won’t be trying my hand at any breads for a while probably!
Love,
Sara
blog comments powered by DisqusAssignment 4: Pioneer Woman’s Olive Focaccia Bread
If this doesn’t look good to you then we can never be friends.
Just kidding.
But really. I grew up eating a lot of focaccia bread and I really, really, really like it—but hardly ever eat it anymore simply because I’ve never made it myself, and we don’t eat out much these days.
So, thanks to Ree Drummond, hopefully that will all be changing. I’m pretty sure I was the last woman with a kitchen to hear of the Pioneer Woman, but I could be wrong, in which case you should not be offended but instead get yourself over to her website right this minute because it’s fantastic.
Anyway, I feel like it’s high time we had a savory baked item on our radar!
(Photo via Ree Drummond)
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Recipe: Olive Focaccia
Prep Time: 15 Minutes | Cook Time: 30 Minutes | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 16
- 1-½ teaspoon Active Dry Yeast
- 1-½ cup Warm Water
- 4 cups All-purpose Flour
- 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
- ⅓ cups Olive Oil
- 1 cup Olives (any Variety Or Combination), Roughly Chopped
- Olive Oil, For Drizzling
- Kosher Salt, For Sprinkling
- Sprinkle yeast over 1 1/2 cups warm (not lukewarm) water. Let stand for a few minutes.
- In a mixer, combine flour and salt. With the mixer running on low speed (with paddle attachment), drizzle in olive oil until combined with flour. Next, pour in yeast/water mixture and mix until just combined, and the dough comes together in a sticky mass.
- Warm a non-metal mixing bowl in the microwave until warm. Coat it with a light drizzle of olive oil, and form the dough into a ball. Toss to coat dough in olive oil, then cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and set it aside for 1 to 2 hours, or store in the fridge until you need it.
- To make focaccia, blot olives with a paper towel to remove excess moisture.
- Remove dough from bowl and place on a lightly floured surface. Place chopped olives on top of the dough, then very gently knead the olives into the dough. (Don’t overknead!)
- Divide dough in half and roll each half into a large, thin oval/rectangle. Place on separate sheet pans (or cookie sheets) drizzled with olive oil. Drizzle more olive oil on top of the ovals, then cover each one with plastic wrap. Put in a draft-free/warm place for one hour.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Remove the plastic wrap (dough will be puffy) and use your fingertips to press dimples all over the surface of the dough. Drizzle surface with olive oil and sprinkle with kosher salt. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until focaccia is golden brown.
- Cut into pieces with a pizza wheel or sharp knife. Serve immediately.
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Let’s get baking! Due date April 30.
XOXO,
Sara
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