Last week on this blog, one of the challenges was to try something new so I decided to make zucchini bread. I can’t remember why I chose to make it but when I looked up the recipe it seemed easy enough and of course I had all the ingredients (except the zucchini). I found the recipe here.
INGREDIENTS
- Optional: ¾ cup roughly chopped raw walnuts or pecans
- ⅓ cup melted coconut oil or extra-virgin olive oil*
- ½ cup honey or maple syrup
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup milk of choice or water
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon + more to swirl on top
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 ½ cups grated zucchini (you’ll need 1 small-to-medium zucchini, about 7 ounces—gently squeeze out excess moisture over the sink before stirring it into the batter)
- 1 ¾ cups white whole wheat flour or regular whole wheat flour
MY EXPERIENCE:
So I thought I had baking soda but I only had baking powder and I didn’t realize this until after I pre-heated the oven and started mixing the ingredients below. There’s a grocery store walking distance from my house and I’m so glad I realized this when they were still open. While I was there I decided to get more zucchini, some wheat flour (because I’ve never baked with it before and I was curious), flaxseed because I wanted to try and make flax egg to use for the vegan version. In case you’re interested, the flaxseed egg recipe is here.
I had some left over almond flour that I used when I made the butternut squash cookies (I wrote about it in this blog). So I combined it with the rest of the white flour that I had left over. The ingredients said roughly chopped pecans or walnuts was optional but I used sliced almonds instead. I also did not have vanilla extract but I did have coconut flavoring (you guys know I like to improvise).
This was surprisingly really easy to make. I used two small zucchinis. The only instructions that I overlooked was squeezing out the excess water from the zucchini before I added it to the mixture so the middle of the bread was extra moist but it was still really good. It was packed with a lot of flavor. I really like nutmeg so any ingredients that calls for nutmeg and or cinnamon feels like a party in my mouth.
I took pics below of the baking process and the finished product. The only thing I forgot to capture was a picture of all the ingredients that I placed in glass containers. I had every intention of taking pics for the blog, and as soon as I poured the last ingredient in the bowl I realized I forgot take the picture for you guys….next time.
VEGAN OPTION:
I mentioned above that I bought flaxseed because I was going to use flaxseed egg for the vegan bread. At the very last minute I decided not to use any eggs at all, I wasn’t sure how it would turn out but I was willing to take the chance and I knew that regardless of the outcome I was going to share the results with you. The process for baking and mixing was the same as above (I just omitted the eggs).
Have you guys ever baked with wheat flour before? To be honest with you I don’t think I knew it was a thing. I’ve just never heard anyone talk about baking or cooking with it. In case you’re curious, I didn’t notice a difference in taste when compared to white flour.
By the way, this time I didn’t forget to squeeze out the excess water from the zucchini and the vegan version was not as moist in the middle. Let me clarify, It was moist and delicious but not as “wet” in the middle as the non-vegan version. Honestly I couldn’t tell that the vegan bread was missing anything. It was made with wheat flour, zucchini, oat milk, almonds, and the other ingredients mentioned above in my opinion it was really healthy. But I did have it with a non vegan ice cream lol.
If you decide to make this, leave me a comment and let me know how it turned out. Also, if there’s anything that you would like me to make let me know. I love sharing my experience with recipes with you guys. Let’s chat!
~~Tam33ks
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