Whole Wheat Zucchini Bread

The one thing Brett and I fight most about is bread. I'm not sure if this means our marriage is going well or not. I'm guessing if a stranger saw the two of us trying to decide which bread to buy at the store they would probably go with not. Bread is a hot topic in this household.

I am on a constant quest to force encourage our family to eat more whole grains. Brett has told me on many occasions that whole grains are gross and suck the joy out of life. He acts like I am purposefully trying to torture him, and my weapon of choice is whole wheat bread. Sigh.

This recipe doesn't really solve our problem, because it's not really "Let's have eggs on toast" bread or "I'm going to make a peanut butter sandwich" bread. However, this recipe is 100% whole wheat. It's healthy. It's delicious. And Brett devours it. Kate does, too. Win.

The recipe is adapted from an old Betty Crocker's New Cookbook. Ok, I just looked at the copyright and it's 1996. So not really that old. I'm not sure if the newer version has changed the recipe or not. But this is seriously the best cookbook for baking I have found. It used to be Brett's mom's before I stole was granted permission to take it.

Whole Wheat Zucchini Bread

3 cups shredded zucchini (about 2-3 medium zucchini)
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup applesauce (can substitute oil)
2 tsp. vanilla
4 eggs
3 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves or nutmeg
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup mix-ins, if desired (i.e. nuts, raisins, chocolate chips, etc.)

Put your oven rack at the lowest position - you want the tops of the pans to be in the center of the oven. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 5 x 3 loaf pan no-stick cooking spray. You can use two 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2 pans instead if that's what you have around the house.

Mix zucchini, sugar, applesauce, vanilla, and eggs in a large bowl.

Mix together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl.

Gradually stir the dry mixture into the zucchini mixture.

Stir in your mix-ins if that's your style.

Bake for about 1 hours 10 minutes (until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean). If you are using two smaller pans bake about 50-60 minutes.

Cool in pans for about 10 minutes, then loosen sides of loaves and transfer to wire rack. Cool completely and enjoy. And go ahead and keep on enjoying it. Because unlike zucchini bread made with white flour, which magically disappears the same day you bake it, this zucchini bread will actually last you awhile because it fills you up! And it freezes well. I have two loaves in the oven right now. I think I'm going to make two more tonight. I am stocking up for the winter.

Oh, and in case you think this is really awful timing to be posting a recipe for zucchini bread, my apologies. Substitute a 16 oz can of pumpkin for the zucchini and this is officially fall bread. I haven't tried this yet, but it sounds yummy.