Zucchini Bread

As I'm beginning to type this post, I wonder if I've ever put a recipe for zucchini (my husband likes to annoy me and pronounce it "zoo-chin-eye" or "zuck-chinny", depending on his mood) bread.

Ah, well. If so, sorry--here it is again!

I made this bread out of necessity. I found a zucchini in my garden that was bigger than a large eggplant. This guy was a total behemoth, and I knew that the only way I'd be able to successfully use it was in a bread or muffin.

Turns out, this bad mamajamma made 6 cups of grated zucchini--or enough for 4 loaves of bread when following the recipe below.

I decided to use half and freeze half, as I'm sure I'll want some zucchini bread again during the winter.

The recipe I used was from one of my absolute favorite blogs/recipe collections: Simply Recipes, by Elise.

I didn't change a thing, but I'll copy the recipe below for your viewing pleasure. I love Elise's cooking--she's methodical and analytical. Basically, she's the blog version of Cook's Illustrated.

Simply Recipes' Zucchini Bread

Makes 2, 9x5" loaves

Ingredients:

2 eggs, beaten
1 1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups grated, fresh zucchini--I pressed a little (but not all) of the water out
2/3 c melted, unsalted butter*
2 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt*
3 cups flour (I used bread flour, because it's all that I had)
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp cinnamon

*I only had salted butter, so I omitted the pinch of salt---everything came out just fine.

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 350F, butter/grease 2, 9x5" loaf pans
2. Mix eggs, sugar and vanilla until combined.
3. Mix in the grated zucchini and butter.
4. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the batter, then combine.
5. Add 1 cup of flour at a time, and completely mix in before adding the next cup. The batter will be considerably thicker now.
6. Mix in the cinnamon and nutmeg.
7. Divide the batter equally between the two loaf pans. Set the pans on a cookie sheet (this makes getting them in and out of the oven easier, and if you have any spills, they won't burn in your oven).
8. Bake 50 minutes. Check with a toothpick in the center to make sure the bread is cooked all the way through. If it's still gooey, put back in the over for another 5 minutes.
9. Cool in pan for 20 mins, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Enjoy!