Bread

I love banana bread. I found a recipe for banana bread in the newspaper approximately 15 years ago, and it became my signature baked good. (Along with berry pies that I used to show off for my uncles.) But after I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, I couldn't buy bananas anymore. I miss them. I miss baking banana bread. I was sort of intrigued by the sneaky zucchini-chocolate chip cookie recipe in Miracle, and my dad had made zucchini bread a few times when I was a kid (although I might be the only person to remember that), so I tried a zucchini muffin recipe last summer. It was good. I experimented with it. I recently posted it on my blog. But I wasn't attached to it, you know? The copyrighted zucchini bread I made last week was good, but it was too sweet. It wasn't my recipe. There was no batter-spattered recipe card in my stack called "Katie's Zucchini Bread" in alphabetical order behind "Jenny's Pumpkin Bread" and "Katie's Banana Bread." My sister had never called asking for the recipe. Twice.

Tonight, I played around and tweaked a little bit, and I think I may have hit upon Katie's Zucchini Bread. It's a good thing I'm not finished typing up all of my recipes yet, because I have another one for my collection. I think I can be attached to this one. In fact, I think I'll shred some zucchini on Thursday afternoon to put in my new freezer, so it can be all ready to pull out in January when I need a little taste of summer. (Also, it will be nice to clear up some space in my fridge for the rest of July.)

Katie's Zucchini Bread

1 3-lb zucchini
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups whole-wheat flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons allspice
1 cup sugar
1 cup honey
1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter, melted and cooled
4 eggs
1/4 cup yogurt

Makes 2 8-1/2 by 4-1/2-inch loaf pans.

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 325 degrees.

Cut zucchini in half lengthwise and remove seeds with spoon. Shred zucchini. Place shredded zucchini in a towel, and squeeze out the water. (This will remove approximately half a pound of water.)

Whisk together the dry ingredients and set aside.

Combine the sugar, melted butter, honey, eggs, and yogurt together in a large bowl. Slowly add the dry ingredients. (I do this by hand.)

Pour the batter into a greased pan (you could also flour the pan, but it is probably not necessary) and bake for about one hour and ten minutes.
Yeah, I know, my oven's not clean. I spilled zucchini bread in it last week, remember?

The honey (which I included because it is local) makes the bread turn brown early in the baking process. Don't be fooled. Insert a toothpick or a knife into the center of the bread to test doneness. If it comes out soggy, put the bread back in the oven. If just a few crumbs are attached, take the bread out of the oven, let it cool for a while (10 minutes?) and turn it out onto a wire rack. I'd eat it as soon as it's cool enough to handle.


My husband approves this recipe :)