Zucchini, sultana and pecan bread

(serves 8)

Adapted from Sally's baking addiction

So last year, there was an instance when my mum bought about 8kg of zucchini from the markets for $2 and delivered it to my door. She doesn't eat zucchini, but who can pass up such a bargain? The 'love for a bargain' blood is strong in my family, and this is why we end up needing to find new recipes to try to use up vast amounts of vegetables. This one was a great find, who would've thought you can make zucchinis a part of a sweet bread? Not I! It didn't make a big impact on the large zucchini load but has been a good addition to our morning tea repertoire. Anything with sultanas my little one loves, bonus of having some vegetables in there too!

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 50 minutes

Ingredients

1 and 1/2 cups (190g) all-purpose flour 
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup crushed pecans
1/2 cup sultanas
1/2 cup (120ml) canola or vegetable oil
1/4 to 1/2 cup (50 to 100g) brown sugar, depending on who you're feeding
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup shredded zucchini (about 1 medium or 2 small)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 °C. Grease or line a loaf pan with baking paper.
2. Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, nuts and sultanas together in a large bowl until thoroughly combined. Set aside. 

3. In a medium bowl, whisk the oil, brown sugar, egg, vanilla essence, and zucchini together until combined. 

Dry ingredients (left), wet ingredients (right)

4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Gently whisk until *just* combined; do not overmix. Batter will be semi-thick.

5. Spread the batter into prepared loaf pan. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

NB. You can loosely cover the bread with aluminium foil halfway through to prevent heavy browning on top. 

Storage: Cover and store leftover bread at room temperature for up to 3-4 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Freezes well in airtight container for a few months.
Note: This recipe does not work with wholemeal plain flour, goes all crumbly, not sure why yet but found out the hard way.