Garden Harvest Bread

  • Garden Harvest Bread

    I haven’t baked with vegetables this much since my honestly and truly yummified Morning Glory Muffins, and must say: veggies rock- especially when a little bit of fruit comes to the party.

    Don’t worry- this bread isn’t healthy to the point of cardboardosis.  In fact, it’s downright moist and sweet (thanks to the apple, I do believe).  If you’re interested in amplifying the fiber, replace the flour with whole-wheat pastry flour… but with so much fruit & veggies going on, you might not need/want to tempt fate.

    Adapted from Cooking Light’s recipe… 

    1 cup all-purpose flour

    1/2 cup sugar

    1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed

    1 teaspoon baking soda

    1/2 teaspoon salt

    1/2 cup apple- about 1 medium (grated and peeled- ideally tart like a Granny Smith)

    1/2 cup carrot- about 1 medium (grated and peeled)

    1/2 cup zucchini- about 1/2 medium (grated but not peeled)

    1/4 cup walnuts (toasted and chopped)

    2 eggs, lightly beaten

    1/4 cup canola oil

    1/4 cup buttermilk (nonfat or low fat)

    1. Preheat oven to 350°, and lightly grease an 8 x 4″ loaf pan.  (I used a bigger pan in the batch photoed above, so my loaf was wider & flatter.)
    2. In a large bowl, whisk flour, sugars, baking soda and salt until well combined.  Add grated apple, carrot, zucchini and walnuts to dry mixture and toss well.  
    3. In a medium bowl, combine eggs, canola oil and buttermilk together.  Add eggy mixture to flour concoction, stirring until just combined.  
    4. Pour batter into loaf pan and bake for about 50 minutes (until cake tester comes out mostly clean of crumbs).  Allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and cool on a rack before indulging.

    Tips:

    • Muffins?  What a great idea; just decrease the cooking time to about 20 minutes or so.  Check often!
    • Want more excitement?  Yes, you do.  Add a bit of well-drained pineapple, and maybe some coconut?  Or how about chocolate chips?  No one ever said chocolate couldn’t play with fruits and veggies.
    • The nutritional info provided by the good people at Cooking Light reveals that one slice (a hefty 1/9th of the bread) is only 223 calories.  The good news is that canola oil makes your body happier than butter does, but I don’t want to get all “butter is bad” because butter is a wonderful and delectable and heavenly thing.  I will never put you down, butter.  But sometimes canola oil gets to take center stage in the interest of omega-rich fatty acids, that’s all :)
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    October 10th, 2012 | More Sweets Please | No Comments | Tags:

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