Did you know that they sell quick bread box mixes in grocery stores!? I think that’s so strange. Fake flour, loads of sugar, and ultra dehydrated blueberries in a box to be mixed with water and eggs. This concerns me… deeply. Exactly how quick does a quick bread have to be to make it in this world?
I think homemade quick breads are dreamy. With enough creativity and guts, you can throw just about anything into a quick bread and call it delicious. This go around I tried zucchini and sweet potato. The combination produced a full and unique flavor: not too heavy on the zucchini or sweet potato flavors. And of course, because I’m me, I also loaded the bread with spices, nuts and cranberries. You can modify if to your taste, I make room for that in the recipe. Because, yes, I care.
What’s your favorite kind of quick bread? If you say the boxed kind, I swear, I’ll scream.
Zucchini Sweet Potato Bread
adapted from Bon Appetit Magazine, November 1992
2 cups all-purpose flour (I used 1 cup all-purpose and 1 cup whole wheat flour)
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves (the nutmeg and the cloves are optional, you’ll just have a less spicy bread)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar (I used 1 cup granulated sugar and 1 cup brown sugar)
3/4 cup vegetable oil (I used 1/2 cup oil and 1/4 cup apple sauce. Less fat.)
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup grated zucchini
1 1/2 cup peeled and grated sweet potato
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup dried cranberries (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 9x5x3- inch loaf pan and set aside. Sift the first 7 ingredients into a medium sized bowl. In a seperate, large bowl, beat the sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla extract. Mix in the zucchini and sweet potato. Add the dry ingredients and stir just to combine. Fold in the nuts and cranberries and stir well.
Transfer batter to prepared pan. Bake until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Cool bread in pan on a rack for 15 minutes. Loosen the edges of the bread with a butter knife and turn out on a rack to cool completely. Can be prepared 1 day in advance. Wrap in foil and keep at room temperature.
Samantha
Do you know how you might be able to incorporate sweet potato puree in this instead of the grated sweet potato? I tend to have/use a lot of sweet potato puree and thought it would go great in a bread like this? Probably make it really moist!!
SummerJD
I must say some of your recipes are quite…interesting? but regardless of ther ingredients they all look delicious.
Katie Greenlaw
Joy, I made this and it was delicious! I omitted the cranberries and nuts since my husband doesn’t like them. It made 5 mini-loaves and froze beautifully. What a great treat! :)
Natalie
Boy, am I glad I ran into this recipe. What a lovely blog. I’ve been roaming around for at least an hour now.
I’m going to make this bread this afternoon. just need to run to the store real quick ;-)
Rita
Some of live high up in the mountains (8,000 ft) –any suggestions for adjustments to the bread recipes??
Thanks in advance
Rita
Ken Morgh
COOL RECIPE.. usually i buy the sweet in baxin.it because not like buy the food, and i like too much the italian food, but this time i want try this recipe..
bye
Malisha
WOW!!!!…soo good… my mom LOVED it…keep em coming Joy!!
Kristen
I was so excited to make this bread, but maybe I did something wrong? It stayed wet on the inside but I had to take it out as it was going to burn if I left it in any longer. Maybe I’ll try two smaller loaves or some muffins next time around. I tried to cut back on the sugar, but I think in the end that the sugar recommended is the way to go. Thanks for your beautiful, inspirational site!
Diane
Just discovered you through Twitter, this sounds yummy! I can’t eat much sugar though – do you think this would work if I left out all but about a tablespoon and made it more savoury?
Will be trying it out to feed to friends regardless :-)
Jen
I made this and it was fantastic. I left out the cranberries and cloves, but it was perfect! I lied and told my husband they were carrots because he hates sweet potatoes and he loved it too! Will definitely make again. I may try to lighten it up a bit next time with applesauce and less sugar, just to make it a bit healthier.