Recipe: Light and Moist Zucchini Bread (makes 2 loaves)

LIGHT AND MOIST ZUCCHINI BREAD

"Lois Thielen of Grey Eagle, Minnesota, won a first-place blue ribbon at the state fair with her zucchini bread recipe. "When zucchini first became common in midwestern home gardens in the late 1970s," she says, "we looked for ways to use it up because it was so prolific." She says it was important to make something people were willing to eat "since zucchini was new and people were leery of anything too strange."

This is a particularly light, moist version of this common recipe of the 1970s. I made a similar zucchini bread at that time and added raisins. I think zucchini is like tofu - it takes on the flavor of whatever it's cooked with. But the flecks of green are pretty and the vegetable adds moisture. This is nice with a cup of tea."


3 cups sifted unbleached all-purpose flour plus 1 teaspoon, divided use
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
3 large eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup cooking oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups grated zucchini (squeeze out the excess moisture before measuring)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two (8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch) loaf pans.

Sift together 3 cups of flour, the cinnamon, baking soda, salt, and baking powder.

Break the eggs into the bowl of an electric mixer and beat well. Gradually add the sugar and oil, mixing well. Add the vanilla and the dry ingredients; blend well. Stir in the zucchini.

Combine the walnuts with the remaining 1 teaspoon of flour and stir into the batter. Pour into the loaf pans.

Bake 1 hour or until the bread tests done. Cool in the pans on a rack for 10 minutes. Remove the breads from the pans and cool on racks.

Makes 2 loaves
Source: Talking with My Mouth Full by Bonny Wolf