Foreword: Don't be intimidated by the length of the recipe!! It is actually very easy and the reason for its length is my verbosity, not difficulty at all!We have become those gardeners overrun with zucchini. But rather than complain, I decided to find some delicious uses for our bounty. (We've also set out a free table, which you can learn more about at my sister's blog, frontyardgardenfund.blogspot.com.)
I like zucchini bread, but something that dense and sweet didn't really appeal to me. Hence my overjoyment when I found a recipe for yeasted zucchini bread. It was created by the wonderful Hannah Kaminsky of Bittersweet Blog and the cookbook My Sweet Vegan.
I love working with yeast - it seems magical to me: combine warm liquid, sugar, and these weird itty bitty spheres and violá, dough rises to a blissfully bready texture. The key is that the yeast be relatively fresh and given enough time, but not too much time, to do their gas-producing work. Developing the dough's gluten by kneading is important too.
This bread doesn't taste like zucchini (which in my case is just fine). It does taste like a milk bread (think brioche) or a classic cinnamon-raisin bread. It is smooth, not really sweet at all, and easily eaten in large quantities!
The original recipe can be found here. I edited it slightly due to my lack of a dough hook and my taste for cinnamon; also, while squeezing the extra juice out of the grated zucchini, I couldn't let that beautiful green nectar go down the drain!Zucchini Dough:
Plain Soymilk
1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
1 1/4-Ounce Package (2 1/4 Teaspoons) Active Dry Yeast
4 – 6 Cups All Purpose Flour
2 Cups Shredded Zucchini, Squeezed and Excess Liquid Reserved
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1/2 Teaspoon Salt 1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
1/3 Cup Margarine, Cut into Pieces and at Room Temperature
Chocolate-Cinnamon Filling:
3 Tablespoons Melted Margarine, Divided
2/3 Cup Chocolate Chips
1-2 Tablespoons Ground Cinnamon (with sugar, optional)
Grate the zucchini and squeeze the juice out into a 1-cup measure. Set aside the zucchini and fill the measure to the 1-cup line with soymilk. Warm the liquids for 30 seconds or a minute in the microwave, to between 105 – 115°F (hot to the touch). Stir in the sugar until dissolved, and then add the yeast. Let this sit for 5 minutes or so, until bubbly and visually active. Pour into the stand mixer (or a large mixing bowl if you are feeling ambitious and strong) with 3 cups of flour, the zucchini, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt. Mix on low until the dry ingredients are mostly incorporated, add 1 more cup of flour, then switch over to a dough hook if you have one. If you don't have a dough hook (or if it is buried too deeply to make searching for it worth it), add the cup of flour, mix for a few seconds to incorporate it mostly, and turn the dough out onto a good surface for kneading.
Let the mixer knead the dough until it is smooth, or do it by hand. Add in 1/4 - 2 more cups of flour until the dough is smooth, tacky, and elastic. Avoid adding too much flour - add in a little at a time, knead well to incorporate all of the previous addition, letting the dough be tacky. Once smooth, drop in (or knead in) pieces of margarine, making sure each is fully incorporated until adding the next one. The dough will become shiny and soft. It will become tackier, but resist the urge to add more flour! Knead for a few more minutes after adding all the margarine.
Scrape the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, cover loosely with a cloth or plastic wrap, and let sit in a cool, dry place for about 1 1/2 hours, until doubled in volume.
Now lightly grease one 9 x 5-inch loaf pan for a really impressive large loaf or two 8 x 4 pans for more manageably-sized loaves. Set aside.
Melt the margarine for the swirl. Mix the cinnamon with sugar, if desired - I like the cinnamon undiluted.
Punch down the dough and gently roll out into a rectangle on a well-floured surface. (If you are using two pans, divide the dough in half and do this twice, with half the swirl ingredients at a time.) Keep the short sides about the length of the pan, but roll the long sides out as long as possible to maximize the swirl effect. Brush the rectangle with 2 tablespoons of the melted margarine, leaving 1/2 inch of one of the long sides clear. Sprinkle the cinnamon over the margarine, making what will become the brown swirl. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the cinnamon. You don't want too many, or they will weigh down the dough; think of the chocolate chips as little jewels which will be a pleasant surprise when cutting the dough, not ubiquitous. Press the chips down gently.
Starting with the long edge, roll the dough up tightly but gently - don't push too hard. Fold the long tube in half and twist the sides together, folding the ends underneath, and fit into the pan. Brush the top with the remaining melted margarine (optional).
Let the bread rise for another hour, until doubled in size, or leave overnight in the fridge. Preheat the oven to 350ºF and bake for around 30-45 minutes. It will be golden-brown on top and hollow when tapped. (If when you cool it, remove it from the pan, tap it, and it doesn't sound hollow, you can put it back in the oven for a few minutes).
It's hard to wait with the delicious smell of zucchini bread filling the whole house, but let cool completely before slicing.
