Low-carb Savory Zucchini Bread

 We usually go for the "normal" zucchini bread, dark and spicy with raisins, etc., almost like my mom's old "fishing trip cake."  But I've been exploring other options for low carb bread--Joseph is big on that--and I love any way to get additional vegetables into us, so I was pleased to find a recipe that I could adapt, from Kelley Herring's Keto Breads cookbook.  This one uses coconut flour, too, rather than almond flour--I'm allergic to the latter and usually have to substitute something or other...

We're not doing Keto, per se, but we're okay with saving carbs and using them where they count--like chocolate!

This recipe is also pretty easy and fast, unlike some rather complex Keto breads.

Grate about 1 1/2 cups of zucchini, skin on...dump into a clean cloth and squeeze to get excess liquid out...or you can just drain for a few hours in a colander, but squeezing's quicker and oddly satisfying!

Ingredients:

1 C. coconut flour (though I'll admit next time I plan to use 3/4 C. and 1/4 C. of cassava flour...coconut flour is WEIRD.  It'll have a few more carbs but maybe be less...odd.  Tastes fine, but funny texture.)

1 t. baking powder

1/2 t. sea salt

1-1/2 C. grated zucchini, drained

6 eggs  (Yes, 6.  That's what I thought!)

1/2 C. coconut oil, melted, olive or other oil.  Or like I did use bacon grease because we have a LOT.

1 T. apple cider vinegar

1 t. lemon juice 

(No, I don't know why those last two.  But what the heck...)

I'm betting it would be good with herbs or a half cup of grated cheddar, too...next time...

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a bread pan well with coconut oil, butter, whatever, then make a sling of parchment paper for the bottom and sides.  

Mix dry ingredients in a medium bowl

 Mix eggs, oil, zucchini, etc. in a larger one, then combine well.

At this point I had to taste the batter. Yum.  Probably the bacon grease!

Plop the batter into the prepared pan, and level the top somewhat

Bake at 350 degrees for about 55 minutes, check for doneness with the point of a knife--it should come out clean.  Let the bread cool before slicing (if you can!) (okay, mostly cool...) and enjoy.  

Because of the coconut flour, it has a kind of coarse texture, almost like cornbread...as I said, next time a bit of cassava flour, or if you're not allergic, you could try almond flour.  

I liked it with butter and honey (so much for low carb, right?  Hush!) and it makes wonderful skillet toast.  It's a bit tender, so I'm not sure how it would work for sandwiches.

DO store in an airtight container, for only a few days.  If you can't eat it all up within 3-4 days, slice and freeze for later...it tends to get moldy fairly fast, especially in warm damp weather.

Paleo Zucchini Spice Bread--gluten free and delicious!

Paleo Zucchini Spice Bread

This reminds me so much of the spicy cake my mom used to make...she called it "fishin' trip cake," so of course I made it for our recent trip to Bennett Spring!  Good hot, cold, toasted, buttered, or with cream cheese...give it a try!

We froze what was left for next time...

Ingredients:

2 eggs

½ cup maple sugar, coconut sugar, or unrefined cane sugar

½ cup olive oil (can use another healthy oil of course)

2 cups grated zucchini (about 2 medium zucchini)

1 cup cassava flour or garbanzo flour or a combination of the two (or sure, wheat if you must...)

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp allspice

½ tsp nutmeg

½ tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp cloves
(this time I also added almost a tsp of pumpkin pie spice since we had it...I like spicy!)

½ tsp sea salt

1 cup raisins (optional)

½ cup sunflower seeds (optional) (Other nuts optional as well.)

Use butter, lard, ghee or coconut oil and cassava flour to grease and flour pans, or line pan with parchment paper.

Instructions:

Grate and drain zucchini ahead of time–that’s a SOGGY vegetable. (Sometimes I put it in a cloth and squeeze additional moisture out.) 

Preheat oven to 350F.

Grease and flour one large or two small loaf pans (or cut parchment paper to fit.)

Beat together eggs, sugar, and olive oil, then stir in drained zucchini.

Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and salt. Add to egg mixture and stir to fully incorporate. Fold in raisins, seeds or nuts.

Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.

Bake for 1 hour or until sharp knife inserted into the loaf comes out clean.

Remove from loaf pans, invert onto cooling rack. It keeps well if you can stay out of it!

Adapted (quite a bit!) from a recipe from Sarah Ballantyne, the Paleo Mom.

Nordic Nut Bread (okay, mostly seeds...), gluten free

I have no idea if this actually is Nordic...some sources call it Viking Bread, which may be even harder to nail down.  I call it GOOD, and make it when I want a hearty, filling bread-like creature.  (No flour, no grain of any kind, no yeast.)

It's not inexpensive to make, but it is a special treat.

The original recipe calls for walnuts and almonds, but since I'm allergic, I tweak it!  It's quite versatile--the original recipe has no raisins or sweetener, but I added a little of both--sometimes I do, sometimes I don't.  It would be good as a savory herb bread as well.

Dense and rich, and full of nutrients!

So here's how:

Preheat oven to 320 degrees, and prepare a loaf pan by greasing and flouring, or lining with parchment paper.

Ingredients

dry ingredients

• 6 T pumpkin seeds
• 6 T sunflower seeds
• 6 T cashews (raw or roasted)
• 2 T sesame seeds
• 2 T poppy seeds (optional)
• 1 T hempseed (optional)
• 1-2 T  flaxseed meal
• handful of raisins (optional)
• 1 T coconut or maple sugar (optional)
• spices, if you like...cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves?  about a tsp (optional)
  
• 1 tsp salt

wet ingredients

• 5 eggs
• 1/4 cup olive oil (or other healthy oil)

I'm reasonably sure you can substitute any nuts or seeds you prefer, just end up with about the same amount.  I've made it without any sweetener and fruit and it's still delicious.

Bake for one hour or until knife inserted comes out clean.

Beat eggs, and add oil and dry ingredients, stirring well to mix.

Pour into greased or parchment lined loaf pan (can use two small ones for special treats or gifts!)

Nuts need not be chopped--I didn't--but you can.

Serve with butter, if you wish, but it sure doesn't need it.

Cauliflower Naan--gluten free, AIP

Sometimes you just want something "bready" to dip into a dish a la' naan or other flatbread.  If you're off grains and gluten, this recipe is a decent substitute--PLUS you're getting more vegetables!

I got the basic recipe here, from the always helpful Louise Hendon: https://healingautoimmune.com/paleo-aip-bread-recipe--but as usual, I tweaked!

Preheat oven to 450 degrees (yes, HOT.)

• 1 cup cauliflower florets
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup arrowroot flour (see the last ingredient if needed)
• 1 Tablespooons garlic powder more or less
• 1/2 t. Salt or to taste
• You may need to add coconut or cassava flour, a tablespoon at a time--I'm trying cassava next time, we find it a one-to-one substitute for wheat.

Cook cauliflower florets till tender--I steam them, but you could use a microwave--and drain.  Use your blender or food processor to make a smooth paste--if that doesn't happen (and it didn't, for me), add the oil and blend.  Turn out into a bowl, flour, add salt and garlic.

This was supposed to make a malleable dough you could roll out without the additional flour but it didn't--it was more batterlike, so I added a couple of tablespoons of coconut flour till it thickened into a soft dough.

Remember, coconut flour is REALLY absorbent, so just add a bit at a time and it will thicken.

use a sheet of parchment paper on your baking sheet and plop about a third of your dough onto it...flatten with your palm or a big spatula to about 1/4" or less (I went for less!)
Bake for about 15 minutes, but keep an eye on it, oven temperatures vary and that parchment paper gets brown.

I used my toaster oven, but next time will try the oven in the stove, where there's more room...

This really was supposed to stay light colored, but I was pleased with the slight crispiness at the edges.

Let cool and enjoy...it's supposed to remain soft and even a bit stretchy inside--that's the arrowroot flour at work!  I used it as a dipper into a meat sauce, my husband used his as pizza crust.  Either way, it was GOOD, low carb, and gluten free.

Whole wheat/white bread...smells WONDERFUL on a cold snowy day...

So once again I couldn't find my old bread recipe, and decided to combine whatever sounded good from a variety of other sources.  It rose beautifully, both in the bowl and in the pans, and continued to rise as it baked--gorgeous!

So, before I forget, here's the current recipe! 

1 T. active dry yeast (we got bulk, which is less expensive than in the packets.)
1 T. brown sugar (we use raw, organic sugar that just happens to be brownish


sprinkled over and stirred gently--

1/4 C. warm water--let this set for a couple of minutes and add

1 beaten egg
1/4 cup melted butter

Yes, we're getting into naughty territory, here...

Add 1 1/2 t. salt (sea salt is nice...)
And 1/4 to 1/2 C. honey (I got tired of squeezing the bear somewhere between those...)

Mix those into the yeast/egg/butter mixture.

One recipe called for 4 C. whole wheat and 4 C. white flour, but I was short of whole wheat, so I added a half cup of wheat germ, 2 C whole wheat and 6 of organic white. 

Whatever, stir them into the liquid mixture and then turn out on a floured board and knead this it sticks together reasonably well.

Let it rise in a BIG bowl till you're afraid it's going to run over, punch down and knead again.  It'll feel a lot silkier now...

(It's winter, we don't have a wood fire going, so warm places are a bit short.  I half submerged the bowl in the sink in warm water, which I refreshed twice during the rising.  You could probably use a heating pad too...)

Divide in two, form into loaves, and put these in buttered loaf pans.  I made decorative cuts in the top of the loaves, rubbed butter on top, and let them rise again--then baked at 350 for 45 minutes.

Oh, my.  VERY, VERY good.

Here's what it looked like, done--made two BIG loaves...

(I made an organic baby romaine, yellow bell pepper, and fresh mushroom salad, with Joseph's gorgonzola dressing, J. made his herb-encrusted roast from one I got him at Christmas at Whole Foods, and we mopped up the herbs and juices with bits of bread.  Doesn't get any better than that...)

This is artisan bread, also very good, but you have to keep a starter in the fridge for it...I ran out of room and time!