Zucchini Bread

A new family moved in down the street and I still had extra zucchini from a different neighbor.  I decided to gift them with a bit of zucchini bread.  Because I have mini loaf pans and this recipe makes two full-sized loaves, there was plenty to go around.

The prevailing zucchini bread recipe, both online and in most cookbooks, uses three eggs and makes two slightly under-portioned loaves.  That was the best anyone could do.  It's also about one large zucchini's worth of shreds.

That brings up a point someone mentioned in the comments online.  Shred the zucchini, don't grate it.  Grating will cause it to lose too much moisture.  Even long shreds will soften and disappear during the hour of baking.  This is one of those recipes that makes you say "this is why I bought a food processor".

Like everyone else who commented, I found 1 cup of oil to be more than I could make myself pour, even though my head was telling me it was 1/2 C per loaf, which is only a little more than average for a quick bread.  While the nectarines were in their water bath, I made one apple's worth of applesauce to substitute for part of the oil.  Also from the comments, I used all 3 cups of shred and significantly less sugar.  I'm making this the official rewrite version, incorporating pretty much every alteration left in the comments.  They worked.

3 C flour
1 tsp each salt, baking soda, and baking powder
*1 Tb cinnamon
3 eggs
1/2 C vegetable oil
1/2 C unsweetened applesauce
1 C granulated sugar
1/2 C light brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
*3 C shredded zucchini
*1/2 C chopped walnuts

1.  Grease and flour two loaf pans or one loaf pan and two mini-loaf pans.  (Or 5 minis, if you're really into cuteness.)  Preheat oven to 325º.

2.  Sift together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon.  Set aside.

3.  In a stand mixer, beat eggs until well-blended.  Add oil, applesauce, sugars, and vanilla and mix until combined.

4.  Gradually stir in flour mixture until just moistened.  Add zucchini shreds and walnuts and stir until mixture is uniform.  Do not over mix.

5.  Either divide batter evenly between two regular loaf pans or fill one regular and two minis about halfway.  Bake 40 minutes for minis and about 60 for full loaves.  Check for doneness with a toothpick.  Cool in pan 20 minutes before trying to turn out.  If freezing, cool fully before wrapping.

Difficulty rating  π