I made my first loaf of quick bread when I was seven years old (under very close supervision from my mother). It was from the back of a children’s book called Cranberry Christmas and it quickly became a holiday tradition (I still make it, with just a few alternations to this day).
Twenty plus years later, quick breads are still one of my favorite things to bake (I have several beloved banana bread recipes, as well as that delicious yogurt loaf). This time of year, when the zucchini plants threaten to take over garden plots and summer squash can be gotten for pennies, the quick bread is most decidedly a good friend to the gardener and cook. This recipe is easy to stir together, makes quick work of a nice-sized zucchini and is amazingly moist. It’s also fairly healthy, packed with whole grains and containing just one stick of butter between the two loaves.
One thing to keep in mind when making this bread. It’s not a super sweet loaf, and I’ve made it that way by design. I like to eat it for breakfast, and at that time of the day, I don’t want to be eating cake. However, if you want a more assertively sweet flavor, I’d add another 1/2 cup of sucanat or sugar (or just spread your slice with a bit of peach or apricot jam).
Go forth and bake!
Whole Wheat Zucchini Bread
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup softened butter
- 1 cup sucanat an unrefined cane sugar
- 1/2 cup applesauce*
- 3 eggs beaten well
- 2 1/2 cups packed grated zucchini about one medium or two small zucchini**
- 2 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 cup white whole wheat flour
- 3 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup toasted and chopped pecans or walnuts optional, but adds protein and deliciousness
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease two loaf pans (you can also make these as muffins, the recipe will make 24).
- Cream butter and sugar together (I do this in a stand mixer, but you can use a hand mixer or just a wooden spoon). Add in applesauce, beaten eggs, grated zucchini and vanilla and mix to combine.
- In a separate bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients and then stir them into the wet ingredients in three batches.
- Add in the nuts and stir to incorporate.
- Divide between the two loaf pans and bake for 45-50 minutes****, until a skewer comes out clean and the tops are nice and brown. It is good plain, or toasted and spread with butter and jam.
Marisa, do you mean THIS Pat, ME? I rarely win anything and would love this book!!
I recently mad a big batch of zucchini bread with spelt flour and the nutty-ness of the flour was really nice in the bread.
This looks like a great recipe, thanks. I have grated Z in the freezer waiting to be used.
Marisa, Hi from a long lost fellow whittie! I can’t believe it took me this long to check out your blog — love it! I thought I was the last person in my generation to pull out a water bath canner :). Just made currant jelly yesterday. I have four cups of juice leftover — any ideas for how to make currant syrup for pancakes (or ice cream)? Anyway, the bread looks divine!
Marisa!!!! you are not baking this is a no-shoulder Mason jar? tsk tsk!! Would have to use parchment paper to slide the cake off the jar – I guess – but would be kind of fun, no?
you know, this is “Food in Jars”, so….
I was looking for a not-too-sweet breakfast that I could keep on hand – I just made this recipe and it’s perfect! I had to make some substitutions (like… eggs. How did I run out of eggs?), but it was delicious anyway (if a little flatter than it should have been). I can’t wait for breakfast tomorrow!
It’s surprisingly hard to find a zucchini bread recipe that uses butter, instead of oil. There’s you and Land o Lakes, and I suspect they’re biased.
I haven’t tried the straight bread yet, but I’ve tried the muffins I doctored up fujrther (I only have 1 bread pan, but luckily I also have a seldom-used muffin tin).
As you probably saw on twitter, the muffins did lose some points on account of my doctoring – apparently sour cherry pits are sometimes tender and nutty and other times indistinguishable from stones. But the recipe accommodated my canned caramelized cherries very well
You were right to warn for it not being particularly sweet, but I found that instead of wishing the dough were sweeter, I was a bit tempted to add a sour cream frosting.
I just can not justify eating a slice of bread tonight, but I’m sure it will be even better than the crazy muffins.
Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Thank you for this wonderful recipe! I had no nuts on hand, so I omitted them, but it was fantastic; my little ones have gobbled half a loaf already! I will certainly be saving this recipe for future use!
This looks excellent! I love zucchini bread… I often mix in a couple handfuls of chocolate chips to satisfy my sweet tooth…
Oh I loved the Cranberry books- ever since our school librarian Mrs Anderson read them to us at Dave’s Avenue Elementary school in Los Gatos Ca…isn’t it funny the things we remember? I just read them to my four year old Larkin, and I think we should try making this! (She balks at anything green, so we will see…)