The Suburbanatrix

I’m pumping myself up for my “A” game.  Every year I plant a zucchini, and it’s inevitable. I always end up with way more zucchini than I need, even after freezing.  I never learn my lesson, although this year, I planted a gray zucchini in hopes to keep the harvest down. I have become a firm believer in the ” Leave a stack of Zucchini on your Neighbors steps in the middle of the Night” day. Oh yeah, it’s an actual day. Look it up. Or make this bread… you may never have to get rid of zucchini again!

Ingredients:

• 3-1/2 cups shredded zucchini
• 3/4 cups sugar plus
• 1/4 cup sugar divided
• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour or 1-1/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour and 2/3 cup wheat flour
• 1-1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1-1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup plain yoghurt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 6 tbsp melted butter (about 3/4 of a stick)

First thing first… the  trick to a good tasting zucchini bread is to get as much water out of the zucchini as possible. There are two ways to do this. One is to freeze shredded zucchini, and when it thaws, squeeze out the excess water. Or you can stir sugar into freshly shredded zucchini which will help it release water.  Just like strawberries.  I opt for number two since in the case of zucchini, fresh is better.  The more water you get out, the more zucchini you can pack into this bread. Which means that you’re getting zucchini bread, not bread with some zucchini in it. And another this is that you get to use up more of your zucchini harvest! YEA!! OK, enough with the babble

Heat your oven to 375 degrees.

Shred that zucchini-

Yup, I use a regular old cheese grater. Unless I plan on making a lot of bread to give away, and then I bust out with a food processor.

Next mix the shredded zucchini up with 1/4 cup of sugar

and place into a colander to drain.

I place my colander over a bowl just to see how much liquid drains.  Plus the kiddos think it’s a pretty color. I agree!

While the zucchini is draining dump the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a big bowl, and stir until combined.

In a second smaller bowl, whisk together the rest of the sugar, eggs, lemon juice, yoghurt, vanilla, and melted butter

until combined.

Now you have to decide if you would like one large loaf or two smaller loafs, then grease  and flour your pan/s. I chose to make two, since my father caught wind that I was baking and had already called to make sure he had a loaf reserved.

Return to your zucchini and squeeze out as much remaining liquid as you can. It doesn’t have to be completely dry, But you should have a nice amount of liquid in your bowl.

Mix the squeezed zucchini in with your egg mixture …

Then pour into the big bowl with your flour mixture, and fold (if you want to add 1 cup of nuts, chocolate chips, or what ever floats your boat, now would be the time)

until just combined.  You DON’T want to mix it too much! Mixing too much will make a dense bread.

Pour the batter into your pan/s

And bake on middle rack in the oven until golden brown for 40-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the bread cool down for 10 minutes before removing from the pan and finish cooling on a rack.

or eat it immediately while it’s still warm.

YUM!