Savory Zucchini Quick Bread

Oddly enough, I’m finding that it’s been hardest to find savory snack options that don’t contain refined sugars.  Sweet things are easy; you can use honey, molasses, maple syrup, or dates to sweeten a lot of things.  Dried fruit or a handful of nuts can be a great snack.  But when you’re craving something salty, your options are limited – especially if you’re trying to avoid salted nuts because you already eat too many nuts as it is.  Crackers, yeast breads, flat breads, etc, all can contain sugar. 

Desperate, I did a Google search for savory quick breads, and I found a few that really piqued my interest.  Among several really tasty looking options, I found this recipe for a savory summer squash bread.  It turned out to be ideal on a lot of levels.  Number one, there was no sugar in the recipe, so there was no need for substitutions.  Most of the ingredients are things I usually have on hand, and summer squash is generally easy to find.  I also found that this recipe could be tackled in clear steps, which was ideal.  I was in a crap-ton of pain the day I tried it, so I was able to pause a few times to rest on the floor before moving on to the next step.  (Oftentimes recipes are kind of time-sensitive, and you have to move efficiently through certain stages or everyone will die; those recipes tend to be stressful and painful for me, since I can’t stop and rest when I need to, and I end up pushing through till I’m half-delirious with pain.)

The original recipe called for only all-purpose flour, but I decided to use half all-purpose and half whole-wheat, because I’m a hippie wannabe but not experienced enough with whole-wheat flour to know if using it exclusively would ruin my life.

Three tasty savory mini-loaves.

I would warn you to be careful if you’re doing this in a single loaf pan.  I used three mini loaf pans, which makes me think that trying to use all the batter in one 9 x 5 pan would produce an ugly, bulging monstrosity.  The batter does rise a little bit, so use your brain skills. 

Savory Zucchini Quick Bread

¼ cup olive oil

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

¼ cup finely ground yellow cornmeal

2 tsp baking powder

1 ¼ tsp dried oregano

½ tsp salt (additional ¼ tsp for draining the squash, see note below)

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp ground black pepper

2 eggs

¾ cups butter milk*

2 cups (about 1 pound) shredded zucchini / summer squash**

2/3 cups finely crumbled feta cheese

* It’s always annoying to have such small quantities of buttermilk in a recipe, because you usually have to buy it in bigger packages.  I just put a bottom-full of white vinegar in the measuring cup and fill the rest up with milk, thus making my own buttermilk.

Shredded squash waiting to be squeezed in cheesecloth

**Shredded zucchini can be very moist, so I used a cheesecloth to squeeze as much of the liquid out of it as I could.  I sprinkled some salt on it and let the shredded squash sit for a few minutes before squeezing it.  I also cut the salt quantity for the batter down from ¾ tsp to ½ tsp, because I added this extra salt to the zucchini to extricate some of the fluid.  

Method:

Mix dry ingredients and set aside.

Mix eggs, buttermilk and olive oil in a separate bowl; whisk until smooth.

Use a rubber spatula to fold in the shredded & drained zucchini and the feta cheese into the egg mixture. 

Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and stir / fold until the flour becomes incorporated.  Don’t over mix.

Dump the batter into oiled / sprayed loaf pan or mini loaf pans (or muffin tins!), leveling out the batter and flattening.  Bake at 350° until golden brown or until toothpick comes out clean.  (About 30 min for mini-loaves, 60 min for full loaf, much less for muffins...) 

As always, I froze most of mine for later.  This bread is delicious and makes a great snack – lightly toasted is amazing!  I bring it to work and toast it in the toaster oven for a tiny bit of time.