What's Baking: Zucchini Bread

Last Friday I was uninspired in the kitchen, so D and I decided to head to Lovejoy's for dinner. We finished dinner just as the farmers market was beginning to shut down, and noticed the stall closest to the restaurant had some lovely (and kind of ginormous) zucchini for sale. We had enough cash on hand to bring home one beautiful yellow zucchini. I knew just what I wanted to make with it too -- zucchini bread, one of my faves. However, the only recipe I have for this bread requires equally large portions of oil and sugar, so I decided to do a quick Internet search to find a more figure-friendly recipe. I ended up finding a Cooking Light recipe that met my requirements -- I made a few tweaks, and the resulting bread is excellent!

Zucchini Bread

makes 1 loaf

1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 whole egg

1 egg white

3 tablespoons organic canola oil

1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup raw sugar

2 cups shredded zucchini (about half my ginormous zucchini)

1/4 cup toasted walnuts, coarsely chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Spray an 8"x4" bread pan with cooking spray. Set aside.

3. Add the flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, fine sea salt, and baking soda in a medium-sized bowl. Whisk together to combine.

4. In a separate bowl, mix together the egg and egg white, oil, and lemon zest. Stir in the sugar.

5. Add in the shredded zucchini and stir to combine.

6. Slowly add the flour mixture to the wet mixture, stir until just combined. Gently stir in the walnuts.

7. Pour the batter into the prepared bread pan.

8. Bake for 45-60 minutes, or until a toothpick or knife inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

9. Once baked, remove the pan from the oven and set on a cooling rack for 10 minutes to cool.

10. After 10 minutes, remove the bread from the pan and let cool completely.

 (adapted from this Cooking Light recipe)