Are you thinking about making zucchini bread as a weekend treat? This type of bread can be quite enjoyable and your entire family is likely to appreciate it.
If you’re new to baking with zucchini, you might want to take a step back before you get started. You need to prepare it the right way so that it can be used to make bread.
Those who haven’t baked zucchini bread before might have no clue how to go about preparing the zucchini. It’s not that difficult once you know what you’re doing, though.
Continue reading to learn everything you need to know about the process. After you finish reading it’ll be easy to proceed with confidence and bake your bread.
Do You Peel Zucchini for Zucchini Bread?
Peeling the zucchini isn’t something that you need to do. You might be surprised to hear this, but peeling is truly an unnecessary step.
When baking zucchini bread, the zucchini is essentially going to melt into the bread. Zucchini has very high water content and peeling it simply isn’t necessary.
Of course, peeling the zucchini isn’t harmful to the bread. So you can peel the zucchini if you’d like to.
Some people choose to peel zucchini simply because they don’t enjoy seeing green specks in the bread. Peeling isn’t a necessary step, and it’s likely that you’d prefer to save yourself a bit of time.
There are other things you need to do to get the zucchini ready, though. So read on and you’ll learn exactly how you should approach preparing zucchini so you can have the best experience.
You Need to Shred the Zucchini
To prepare zucchini to be used in the bread batter, it’s necessary to shred it. Get a shredder and use it to shred the zucchini into little pieces.
The shredder side of a box grater will work perfectly to get this job done. If you have a food processor, you can also shred the zucchini using a shredder blade and the food processor.
For many, using a food processor will be the best method. It’s faster and it’ll allow you to prepare the zucchini without putting forth much effort.
Using a manual grater/shredder can work just as well, though. Once you’re done, there’s one more thing that you should do before using the zucchini to make the bread batter.
Remove Excessive Moisture From the Zucchini
Earlier, you learned that zucchini contains a lot of water. The high water content of zucchini can lead to issues when you’re baking zucchini bread.
To keep things safe, it’s best to squeeze the zucchini to get rid of excess water. You can squeeze the zucchini over a clean sink or some dish towels.
This will make it simple to remove the extra liquid so the zucchini won’t be too juicy. If the zucchini is very juicy it’ll make it tough for the bread to bake all the way through.
So it’s usually best to squeeze the zucchini just as a precaution. However, it’s considered to be an optional step.
If the zucchini isn’t particularly juicy, it might be fine to skip this step. Most people choose to squeeze the zucchini and get rid of excess moisture just to be on the safe side.
Leaving the zucchini moist will cause the bread to be a bit denser. If you squeeze the zucchini the bread will turn out a little drier, but it’ll also be far lighter and easier to eat.
It’s up to you to decide how to approach things. Just make sure that you don’t try to use zucchini that is far too juicy since the bread won’t bake properly.
Are Big Zucchini Good for Zucchini Bread?
No, it’s not wise to use zucchini that are too large when baking zucchini bread. Instead of using large zucchini, it’s best to use small or medium-sized zucchini.
Larger zucchini are more likely to be bitter. You don’t want your bread to taste bitter, and this is why you should go with smaller zucchini.
It’s also true that smaller or medium-sized zucchini will generally be moist. They’ll also be a bit sweeter, and this should make your bread turn out that much better.
Of course, if the zucchini is overly moist, you’ll need to squeeze it out. Otherwise, the bread likely won’t bake properly and you won’t be able to eat it.
Go to the grocery store and look for small or medium-sized zucchini. These zucchini sizes will be perfect for making zucchini bread.
How Much Zucchini Do You Need for Zucchini Bread?
Exactly how much zucchini you’ll need for zucchini bread might differ based on what recipe you’re following. Most recipes call for three to four cups of grated zucchini.
Make sure that you buy enough zucchini so that you’ll have three to four cups once you grate them. You might need to buy several small zucchini to ensure that you’ll have enough to bake bread.
Remember that you need to use fresh zucchini to bake zucchini bread. It’s best not to use zucchini that is a bit too old since your bread won’t turn out well if you do so.
It’s easy enough to get the zucchini that you need to bake bread. Go to your local grocery store and pick out several small or medium-sized zucchini.
You might wish to buy slightly more than you need to ensure that you’ll have enough. Also, many people like to bake more than one loaf of zucchini bread so that everyone in the house gets to have a few slices.
Avoid Mixing the Batter Too Much
Mixing the batter too much is going to be bad when baking zucchini bread. Many beginners make the mistake of over-mixing, which leads to undesirable results.
When you mix the bread too much it can cause various issues. It might make it sink in the middle or it can lead to other problems.
Make sure that you mix the batter lightly when making zucchini bread. This will give you the best results so you can enjoy your bread and get it to turn out well.
Over-mixed batter will turn out very dense and it’ll be hard to even eat the bread. This isn’t going to be good and you’ll be rather disappointed.
Cool the Bread Properly
Cooling the bread properly is imperative. If you try to cut into zucchini bread too fast, you’re going to cause the bread to crumble.
You should take the bread pan out of the oven when it’s done cooking and put it on a cooling rack. Let the bread cool in the pan for around ten minutes and then remove it from the pan.
Letting it stay in the pan too long isn’t a good idea, as the edges of the bread might burn.
Be careful when removing the bread from the pan. You can use a butter knife to separate the bread from the edges and then plop it down carefully on the cooling rack.
It’s important to wear oven mitts while handling the pan, of course. It will still be hot when you’re trying to remove the bread.
Allow the loaf to completely cool before cutting into it. It might need to cool for over an hour before it’ll be ready.
Final Thoughts
It should be easier to prepare zucchini for baking now. You have the information that you need so you can do things properly.
Make sure that you grate the zucchini bread using a shredder or a food processor with a shredder blade. You don’t need to peel the zucchini first unless you want to.
It’s sometimes important to squeeze the zucchini to remove excess liquid. Sometimes zucchini will be way too juicy and this excessive moisture can negatively impact the baking process.
So long as you approach things right and use the advice above, it’ll be easy to do the preparation work for your zucchini bread. You’ll be enjoying delicious bread with your family and friends before you know it.
Sarah is the founder of Baking Kneads, LLC, a blog sharing guides, tips, and recipes for those learning how to bake. Growing up as the daughter of a baker, she spent much of her childhood learning the basics in a local bakery.