Whole Wheat Zucchini Bread

One of Lima's playgroups came over this morning and I decided to make zucchini bread for the group. I figured that zucchini bread is tasty for the adults and it's also something that most parents wouldn't mind feeding their children. Plus, it's another way to sneak a bit of zucchini into the little ones!

I had never made zucchini bread before (I don't really know why; it seems like I'm baking some kind of cake or bread for a playgroup every couple weeks so you'd think I'd have tried it by now). Not having a recipe to refer to, I popped onto allrecipes.com, one of my favorite sources for recipes. This zucchini bread recipe, submitted by someone named Kristen, looked promising. It got great reviews from people who tried it, so I was game.

To mix things up a bit, I decided I'd make it a whole wheat zucchini bread. So instead of all-purpose flour, I mixed all-purpose and whole wheat flour. Here's the recipe with my flour change. Refer to the link above if you'd prefer a standard zucchini bread recipe.

Whole Wheat Zucchini Bread
Makes two 8x4 inch loaves

3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
2 cups grated zucchini (roughly 2 small to medium-sized zucchini)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour two 8x4 inch loaf pans.

In a large bowl, beat eggs until light and frothy. Mix in oil and sugar then stir in zucchini and vanilla.

Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, salt and nuts in a separate bowl and stir into the egg mixture.

Divide batter into prepared pans and bake for 60 to 70 minutes, or until done. My loaves were done at exactly the 60 minute mark and I was happy that I didn't let them go longer because they would have been overdone.



The bread came out very well. It's got a really pleasant whole wheat taste underlying the zucchini, nuts and other flavors. I'll be curious to try this recipe another time using solely all-purpose flour. For this time, I think the whole wheat adds a nice depth of flavor.

I'm happy to report that this bread got rave reviews from my guests too. The moms couldn't believe how much their toddlers liked it and we actually had to put the bread away at one point to prevent the kids from totally stuffing themselves on it.

I must also say it was fun to grate the zucchini in my Cuisinart. I've had that machine for a few months now, but I never tire of watching it work its magic.