I haven’t spent enough time in the kitchen, it’s time for me to go back. Now I have a bit more time on my hands since I’m not constantly in training for something so I thought it would be the perfect time to start experimenting again. I’ve been wanting bread of some sort and the idea of zuchinni bread came to mind. Everyone seems to love it; I should give it a try.
Let’s be honest, zuchinni tastes like nothing. That’s why healthy eating people put it in their foods as a filler and a way to get some veggies in their diet. I’ve seen people add it into their oatmeal, muffins and as a carb substitute. You can basically make zuchinni into whatever you want and it provides mositure into your food. It’s like water. (Today, I have bad jokes.) I did make some zuchinni fritters a while back and those were FABULOUS.
I adapted a recipe I found on pinterest from Sally’s Baking Addiction to make this bread work for me. I had some things on hand and I wanted to do something with the figs I got from Fitbloggin. I thought the figs in the bread would be a good addition.
- 3 tbsp coconut oil
- 3 tbsp agave
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup plain vanilla yogurt
- 1.5 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 cup shredded zucchini (about 1 medium-large)2
- optional: 3/4 cup of chopped dried figs
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan.
- Whisk the oil, agave, egg, yogurt, and vanilla together in a medium bowl until combined. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix with a large wooden spoon or rubber spatula until combined. Avoid overmixing. Fold in the zucchini and figs..
- Spread batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake for 40-50 minutes. Baking times vary, so keep an eye on yours. The bread is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. If you find the top of the bread is browning too quickly in the oven, loosely cover it with aluminum foil.
- Remove the bread from the oven and set on a wire rack. Allow to cool completely before slicing and serving. Cover and store leftover bread at room temperature for up to 5 days.
I’ll be real with you my bread didn’t look like Sally’s bread. Right now, I’m looking at the pictures of her bread and I wish my bread looked like that. My bread turned out a little dense. It was good. It was very good AND it satisfied my sugar cravings. I ate it for breakfast smeared with peanut butter and it was great. My bread just didn’t look as flully and light as Sally’s bread.
I will tell you I knew something was wrong when my batter turned out like this. No wonder this bread was so dense. There was nothing light about it.
Why did I make those substitutions? I really thought that was a lot of coconut oil but things need fat to really come together. I’ve been afraid of fat for a long time so it was my natural instinct to cut the fat. People have also used applesauce instead of oil which works well, but the baked goods don’t rise correctly (probably a problem I had here) and those baked goods don’t last too long.
There was a lot of agave in the orginial recipe for my liking. That’s the may reason why I cut it. My bread was perfectly sweet enough for me. I didn’t use plain greek yogurt because I didn’t have any on hand. I forgot to buy some at the store so I used what I had. I’m not sure how much of a difference that would have made in the recipe.
And I don’t do nuts in bread for some reason but the figs were a nice touch in this bread. It really added another level of sweetness which is why I didn’t need all of the honey.
