Zucchini bread

• USA Pan Bakeware Aluminized Steel Loaf Pan · The tin
• Aromaten, Salz, Fett (vollständige Zutatenliste folgt mit der Foto-Produktion)

Methode

1. 1

   Grate the zucchini, salt it, and wring it bone dry

   Water is the single reason zucchini bread turns out gummy, so this is the step you cannot skip. Grate the zucchini on the large holes of a box grater, toss it with a good pinch of salt, and let it sit in a colander for ten minutes while the salt pulls the water out. Then pile it into a clean tea towel or a few layers of paper towel and squeeze hard until no more liquid runs out. You will be surprised how much comes out, often half a cup or more from two medium zucchini, and that liquid is exactly what would have waterlogged your crumb.

2. 2

   Do not peel it, the skin vanishes and adds fibre

   There is no reason to peel zucchini for bread. The skin is thin, softens completely in the oven, and disappears into the crumb apart from the little green flecks that tell everyone it is actually zucchini bread. Peeling just costs you fibre, colour, and time. Give the zucchini a good rinse, trim the ends, and grate it whole. If you are using a monster late-summer marrow with a tough skin and seedy core, that is the one exception: halve it, scrape the spongy seeds out, and grate the firm flesh.

3. 3

   Cut the sugar back, the zucchini keeps it moist anyway

   Most zucchini bread recipes carry one and a half cups of sugar for a single loaf, which is more dessert than the vegetable deserves. Because the wrung-out zucchini still holds plenty of soft moisture, you can drop to about three quarters of a cup and lose nothing but the cloying sweetness. Brown sugar is the better choice here since its molasses note deepens the flavour and keeps the crumb tender. This is what puts the loaf at nine grams of added sugar a slice instead of the usual eighteen or more.

4. 4

   Warm spice does the flavour work, so be generous

   Zucchini is a quiet vegetable, so the spice is what makes the loaf taste like something rather than sweet damp bread. Go heavier than you think with cinnamon, add a little nutmeg, and a small pinch of ground ginger or cardamom if you have it. A teaspoon and a half of cinnamon in one loaf is not too much. Whisk the spices into the flour so they distribute evenly, and the whole kitchen will smell like the loaf is worth eating before it is even out of the oven.

5. 5

   Whisk wet and dry separately, then fold, do not beat

   This is a quick bread, not a cake, so you are not building structure with air, you are just bringing the batter together. Whisk the eggs, oil, brown sugar, and vanilla in one bowl until smooth, whisk the flour, spices, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in another, then fold the dry into the wet with a spatula until you no longer see streaks of flour. Stop there. Overmixing develops the gluten and gives you a tough, tunnelled loaf, the same mistake that turns muffins rubbery. Fold the squeezed zucchini in last.

6. 6

   Add-ins earn their place: walnuts, dark chocolate, or nothing

   A cup of toasted walnuts is the classic and adds crunch, good fats, and a little protein against the soft crumb. A handful of dark chocolate chunks turns it into a treat the kids will not argue about. Toss whatever you add in a spoonful of the flour first so it does not sink to the bottom, and keep the total to about a cup so the batter still holds together. If you want more staying power per slice, the trick we use on our high-protein banana bread, a spoon of Greek yogurt folded into the wet, works here too.

7. 7

   Bake low and slow, and tent it if the top runs ahead

   Bake at 350F, not hotter, for around 50 to 60 minutes. A moist vegetable loaf needs time for the centre to set, and a high oven just burns the crust while the middle stays raw and sinks. Start checking at 50 minutes with a skewer pushed into the very centre; it should come out with a few moist crumbs but no wet batter. If the top is browning too fast before the inside is done, lay a loose sheet of foil over it for the last fifteen minutes and carry on.

8. 8

   Cool it fully before slicing, and freeze what you cannot eat

   As hard as it is, let the loaf cool in the tin for ten minutes, then turn it out onto a rack and leave it until it is completely cool before you cut it. Slicing a hot quick bread drags the still-setting crumb and makes it read gummy even when it baked perfectly. Once cool it keeps three days wrapped at room temperature. Zucchini bread also freezes beautifully, which is the whole point in August: slice the loaf, freeze the slices on a tray, then bag them and toast straight from frozen whenever you want one.