Zucchini Bread

I've read about Zucchini bread a while back, but the thought of zucchini in a bread just didn't sound right to me. But then I started thinking if we can put carrots in carrot cake then perhaps zucchini could work too.

When I looked at the sugar that goes into this bread it's obviously not a savoury one and I expected it might be something like a banana bread. It is, only better!

André thought it was some fancy Swiss recipe I was trying out. He did not see the ingredients. So I let him believe that because I knew he would also be quite a bit unsure about eating zucchini in a sweet bread, more like a cake. And I was right.

I managed to get a picture seconds before the last slice got eaten.

After he finished about four slices:

Me: Do you like this bread?

Andre: Yeah it's awesome!

Me: Is it better than banana bread? (He LOVES banana bread, it was his favourite, until now.)

Andre: Oh yes, this is way better!

Me: Do you know what it is?

Andre: No, what?

Me: Zucchini bread.

Andre: WHAT??? NO!!! Don't lie!!

Me: It is, see those green bits there? That's zucchini.

Andre: I used to hate zucchini when I was a kid.

So here's what you need to go do RIGHT now. Sift:

3 c flour

1 t salt

1 t baking soda

1 t baking powder

3 t cinnamon

Then in another bowl you need to beat:

3 eggs

1 c oil

2 c sugar (I used 1 c white and 1 c brown)

3 t vanilla

Then add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and mix well.

Add 3-4 c grated zucchini and stir it in. You might need to actually just use your hands and squish it in there to get it really mixed in with the dough. Go on, it feels good.

PS Don't squeeze out any water from the grated zucchini, you need the moisture in the bread.

Then put half the dough in a bread pan and bake 40-60 minutes at 165 C. Mine baked 55 minutes. You need to test to see if it's ready. Cool in the pan on a rack for 20 minutes. Then remove from the pan and cool completely.

Oh, then go ahead and bake the rest of the dough. It makes 2 loaves. You can also make individual zucchini muffins instead. I'm going to freeze one loaf.

Enjoy with a cup of tea on a Sunday afternoon!

PS The bread looks a bit pale on these pictures. I don't know what happened to the colour when I imported it here. But believe me, it looks better in real life!