OK, this was one of the quickest loaves of bread I have ever produced. Also, one of the tastiest. And I know, I’m always telling you how wonderful this or that loaf tastes or how easy it is to produce. But then, that’s why I’m here, right? To share my recipes with you that turned out great. Believe me, there have been lots of recipes over the years that I have concocted or “borrowed” from others that didn’t make the cut. Like the Red Lobster knock-off cheese biscuit recipe I tried the other evening. (Apparently it was never in the cards for you to get that recipe from me! And regardless of how much you might beg or plead, it ain’t going to happen!)

But I can’t help it. I love bread. So, when I bake a loaf of bread that fulfills all my basic bread baking requirements (ease of preparation, no fancy ingredients, perfect crumb, and super delicious) – you can bet your last package of active dry yeast you are going to learn about that recipe from me!

So, I guess by now you’ve figured out that I really liked this bread. Actually, that would be putting it mildly. I loved the bread last evening as part of a Reuben Sandwich (see recipe on site). And tonight, keeping the “Reuben” theme going, I’m going to use it in a Reuben Sandwich Casserole. If all works out as planned, you will be getting the casserole recipe from me in the near future. If not, well, nothing ventured, nothing gained. (Got to use my homemade sauerkraut someway! See the recipe for Homemade Sauerkraut under Creamy Sausage, Potato, and Sauerkraut Soup.)

So, the only thing left to say, is that if you are into baking your own bread this is a recipe you really should try. Not too much rye or caraway flavor. But enough to live up to its name.

As always, have fun experimenting in your kitchen. I know for some cooking isn’t their life’s passion. But for me, every new recipe is an adventure. So, that’s why I keep trying new dishes, or baking a new kind of bread, or continuing my quest for the secret combination of 11 herbs and spices. Otherwise, I too would get horribly bored. For some it’s like discovering a new author. (Oh wait – that’s me too.) Or traveling to a new country. (Oops, me again too.) Or perfecting a new adult beverage. (Not me – that’s Mr. C.) It’s the thrill of victory, and even the agony of defeat. Who cares that the biscuits I made the other evening were not my best effort? They weren’t horrible. They just weren’t up to the quality standard I’ve set for myself. Even at that, they were still an interesting experiment. And I enjoyed making them. So, like I said above – have fun experimenting in your kitchen. You never know, you might stumble upon the secret recipe for Kentucky Fried Chicken (original recipe). If so, would you please share it with me.

Peace and love to all.           

1 c. sourdough starter discard

1¼ c. warm water 

2 tsp. instant yeast 

2 T. molasses 

1 T. kosher salt

1-2 tsp. caraway seeds

1¾ c. light rye flour 

2 c. unbleached all-purpose flour, or more as needed

olive oil 

In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the sourdough starter, warm water, instant yeast, and molasses. Let sit for 10 minutes.

Add the salt, caraway seeds, light rye flour, and all-purpose flour. Using your dough hook, mix/knead the dough for several minutes until smooth but still sticky. (Not tacky, but a bit sticky to the touch.)

Pour a little oil in the bowl, and using your hands and a stiff rubber spatula, form the dough into a ball. (The dough will be reluctant to let go of the sides of the mixing bowl. Be persistent.) Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rest in a warm place for 45 minutes. During this time, punch the dough down twice. (Helps develop the gluten.)  

Grease your hands. Shape the dough into a ball (boule). Place on a piece of parchment paper long enough to allow you to lower the dough into a Dutch oven or cloche (clay baker). Using a serrated knife, score a large X on the top.  

Cover the dough and let rest for 45-60 minutes. (It won’t double in size. But it should rise a bit.)

Meanwhile, place your Dutch oven or clay baker (cloche) in your oven. Pre-heat the oven to 425-degrees. When the dough has risen sufficiently, carefully remove the Dutch oven or clay baker from the hot oven. Remove the lid and place the parchment paper and loaf in the bottom of your Dutch oven or on the bottom portion of your cloche. Then cover and place in the pre-heated 425-degree oven for 30 minutes. Remove the lid, reduce heat to 400 degrees and continue baking for an additional 10-15 minutes or until the crust is nicely browned and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped. You can also tell if the bread is done by taking its temperature with an instant read thermometer. Just make sure to stick the thermometer into the middle of the loaf. It should read between 200 and 205 degrees when the bread is fully baked.

Remove from oven and carefully transfer to a cooling rack. Let cool completely before slicing.  

I’m always amazed at how many recipes are out there for something as simple as sourdough bread. Because, at first glance, one would think there were only a finite number of ingredients you could add to the basic 4 ingredients that constitute a sourdough loaf. The basic ingredients being – flour, salt, sourdough starter (yeast), and water. But no, there are as many recipes for sourdough bread as there are for stew. (Well, maybe not as many. But pretty darn close!) I guess it’s because you can stick all kinds of different grains, fats, seeds, nuts, herbs, spices, sweeteners, etc. into a basic sourdough bread dough. And in this recipe, the addition of molasses and all-bran cereal (high in fiber and psyllium BTW) definitely add a lovely, deep rich color to the bread. Plus, a slightly sweet, slightly nutty flavor generally associated with whole grains. And of course there’s some whole-wheat flour in the mix too. Which only makes for a healthier and tastier product.

Now for some, the taste of bran is not to their liking. But for me, I absolutely love the taste of bran. In fact, bran muffins are my favorite kind of muffin. So, when I went to look up the recipe on this site for my favorite muffins, I realized I had never posted the recipe. But in all honesty, the thing that stops me from making and eating these fabulous muffins more frequently, is that they contain a great deal of sugar and vegetable oil. Much more than in this bread. So, when I eat this bread, I still get that beautiful bran flavor I love, without the guilt I feel when I eat a bran muffin.

But please don’t let me stop you from making bran muffins. They are so, so delicious. (See recipe below.) It’s just that I’m basically old. And staying as far away from sugar and fat is my ultimate goal. Unfortunately, one that I generally ignore in favor of living life to the fullest. But I’m still cognizant of the fact that I should restrict my sugar and fat intake in favor of a long life and a healthy body. (Why does this have to be so difficult?) Anyway, the gist of all this verbiage is – make this bread, and if you are younger than 40 – make the muffins too!

As always, live your life like it was the main event. Because – bottom line – it is! (The dress rehearsal was cancelled because of covid-19!) So, dance when the spirit moves. Sing at the top of your lungs in the shower. Kiss your spouse like it’s the first and last time. And cook like you and Julia were soul sisters or sister and brother. Life is short. Too damn short! Experience the joy NOW. Peace and love to all.

1 c. sourdough starter discard

1 c. warm milk (I use whole milk)  

1 pkg. or 1 T. active dry yeast

¼ c. molasses

1 lg. egg

3 T. unsalted butter, room temperature

1½ tsp. kosher salt

1½ c. whole-bran cereal (I use Kellogg’s All-Bran Buds)

1½ c. whole-wheat flour

1½ -2 c. unbleached all-purpose flour

veggie oil

Place sourdough starter discard in the bowl of your stand mixer. Add the warm milk, yeast, molasses, egg, butter, salt, and whole-bran cereal. Mix with the dough hook and let sit for 15 minutes. (This allows the bran buds to partially soften.)

Add the whole wheat flour and mix well. Add enough of the all-purpose flour to produce a smooth and elastic dough that cleans the sides of the bowl.

Pour a bit of oil around the dough, and using your hands and a stiff rubber spatula, form the dough into a completely greased ball. Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm place for about 90 minutes or until doubled in size.

Punch down the dough, halve it, and form into 2 loaf shapes. (Don’t worry if there are still little hard pieces of bran buds in the dough. They will soften as they bake.) Place in 2 – 8½ x 4½ greased loaf pans. (There is too much dough in this recipe for 1 standard (9 x 5-inch) loaf pan. So more than one pan is needed. But of course, you can choose whichever size loaf pans you want to use. Just change the baking time accordingly.)

Cover pans with tea towels or greased plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for about 90 minutes. (You want the dough to rise a bit, but not too much. So, you can always give it the poke test. According to the experts at King Arthur flour, “Lightly flour your index finger and press it gently into the dough, about to the bed of your fingernail. If the indentation remains and doesn’t spring back/fill in, then the bread is well risen and ready for the oven”.)

Bake in a pre-heated 375-degree oven for 30 to 40 minutes or until golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped with your fingers. The internal temperature should reach at least 200 degrees.

Remove from oven and turn out of pans immediately. Cool completely before slicing. Store in an airtight container. Absolutely wonderful toasted and spread with peanut butter and jelly. Lightly spread with peanut butter and jelly, of course!

SIX WEEK BRAN MUFFINS

3 c. all-bran cereal (I use Kellogg’s All-Bran Buds)

1 c. boiling water

½ c. vegetable oil

1½ c. granulated sugar

2 c. buttermilk

2 lg. eggs

2½ c. unbleached all-purpose flour

2½ tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. kosher salt

Place the all-bran cereal in a large mixing bowl. Pour the boiling water over the cereal, stir, and let sit for at least 10 minutes. Add the oil, sugar, buttermilk, and eggs. Stir until well combined.

In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together. Add to the cereal mixture and stirring only until combined.

Using a large ice cream scoop, drop balls of batter into greased muffin pans. Bake in a pre-heated 400-degree oven for 20 minutes or until a pick inserted into a muffin comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container. Makes about 2½ dozen.

The muffin batter will happily reside in your refrigerator for up to 6 weeks. Thus, the name Six Week Bran Muffins.

And thank you again (Auntie) Evelyn for this wonderful recipe. It still produces the best bran muffins I ever tasted. And as always, love and hugs to you and (Uncle) Dan. (Dan and Evelyn are my kid’s uncle and aunt. And two of the grandest people you could ever hope to meet.)

Why in the wide world of sports did I ever put off making English muffins? OK, I know you don’t have the answer. But I don’t have a good explanation either. Because English muffins are so easy to build. And when I think of how much they cost in the grocery store, I’m shocked. Shocked, I tell you. Shocked! And yah, yah. I know that I’m not just paying for the ingredients. I get that. (I was a banker after all.) In fact, the ingredients themselves are practically inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. It’s the labor, preparation space, transportation, marketing, yadda yadda yadda, that really racks up the dollars. But I’m a reasonably smart gal. I should have figured it out years ago!

And of course, while I was still working, I didn’t have the time (or frankly the energy) to make English muffins. But what’s my excuse for the last 15 years? And why did it take a pandemic to open my eyes? OK, I will never have an adequate explanation. But going forward, I won’t have a good excuse either for buying English muffins! So, in order to keep me on track, let me elaborate on how darned simple these muffins are to prepare.

First of all, you don’t have to be a gluten guru to make English muffins. You don’t even have to spend hours in the kitchen. You must, however, own a large frying pan or a griddle. Because English muffins are not baked in an oven like most “muffins”. They are “baked” on your stove top like pancakes. (Of course, most “cakes” are baked in a pan and in the oven too. So, you must grant some verbal leeway to the name “muffin”, knowing full well that the English language is often difficult to fathom and arbitrary at best!)

Now, about the “everything seasoning” part of this recipe. If you don’t appreciate “everything seasoning”, leave it out. Simple. Or, if you have your own homemade version or a store-bought version that you admire, use it instead. I just wanted an English muffin that had a bit of savory flavor. And I got what I was after. But if you don’t hold “everything seasoning” in as high a regard as I do, like I said above – leave it out. The muffin will still be delicious.

So, for all you bread bakers out there, be you new to bread building or simply blessed with an adventurous culinary streak, please give this recipe a try. You will be so delighted when you experience how easy it is to build your own English muffins. And your family will love toasting these babies in the morning. Just a slather of butter or cream cheese, a bit of breakfast meat, an egg or two, and they are off to a great start to their day.

As always, keep thrilling and delighting your family with great food. Keep challenging yourself with new recipes that even a year ago would have scared the pickles out of you. And keep smiling. It’s not easy always being Mrs. or Mr. sunshine. But it’s a heck of a lot more pleasant for your family if you at least give it a try. Peace and love to all.

2 T. poppy seeds

2 T. sesame seeds

1 T. dried finely minced onion (I crush the dehydrated onion in my mortar and pestle before adding it to the other ingredients)

1 tsp. granulated garlic

1 tsp. kosher salt

1¾ c. buttermilk

1 pkg. or 2½ tsp. active dry yeast

1 tsp. granulated sugar

1 lg. egg

¼ c. (½ stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

4½ c. bread flour

extra virgin olive oil

corn meal for sprinkling on pan

Combine the poppy seeds, sesame seeds, minced onion, granulated garlic, and kosher salt together in a small bowl. Set aside.

Warm the buttermilk to about 120 degrees in your microwave. (Use your instant read thermometer to take the buttermilk’s temperature.) The buttermilk might separate and look curdled. Not to worry. Pour into the bowl of your stand mixer.

Add the yeast, sugar, egg, and 2 cups of the flour and mix until combined using your dough hook. Add the poppy seed mixture and 2 more cups of flour. Mix/knead the dough using more flour as needed to produce a smooth and elastic dough. (The main part of the dough will form a ball around the dough hook. But in a perfect world, there should still be a bit of dough that clings to the bottom of the bowl.)

Pour a little olive oil around the dough, and using you hands and a stiff rubber spatula, form the dough into a ball well greased with the oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until the dough has doubled in size, about 60 minutes.

When the dough has risen sufficiently, sprinkle cornmeal on a clean surface and pat dough to somewhere between a ⅓ to ½-inch thickness. (I use a large-rimmed baking pan as my “clean surface”. The pan sides prevent the cornmeal from going everywhere!) Cut into 13-14 circles 3½ – 4 inches in diameter. And don’t waste the dough that is left after you cut out the first set of circles. Just moosh the remaining dough back together, pat it out, and cut out more muffins. Believe me, re-patting out the dough will make no difference to the tenderness of the final product. You might end up with a bit of corn meal in the interior of the muffins cut after the 2^nd or 3^rd pat-out. But who cares? The muffins will still be delicious.  

After each muffin is formed, flip it over to also coat the topside with cornmeal. Place on a lightly greased cookie sheet at least 1½-inches apart. Cover the pan with a lightweight tea towel and let the dough rest for 20 minutes.

Carefully place the muffins on a lightly greased (if your griddle is not non-stick), or dry griddle (if yours is non-stick) over medium low heat. (You will just have to figure out the best level of heat on your stove as you go. Not too hot or the muffins will burn before the inside is done. Not too low or you’ll be at it all day!) (On my BlueStar range, which has high BTU burners, straight up “low” works perfectly.)

Bake for 4-5 minutes on each side or until bottoms are a deep golden brown. (The internal temperature should be just under 200 degrees when the muffins are done).  Place cooked muffins on a wire rack to cool. Store in an airtight container or freeze for longer storage. Lovely toasted and slathered with either butter or cream cheese. Or for a real treat, make eggs Benedict. Yum

 Buttermilk Substitute:

1 c. whole milk

1 T. plain white vinegar or lemon juice

Whisk the milk and vinegar together.  Let sit at room temperature until it curdles, about 10 minutes. Stir and you’re ready to go.

No matter how many loaves or boules (as in this case) of bread I pull out of my oven, I am always in awe of what I have accomplished. Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not being conceited. I’m just stating that I still can’t get over the fact that a simple combination of flour, yeast, water, and salt can somehow miraculously transform itself into bread. And the mere fact that I had anything to do with creating this amazing wonder, I find truly amazing. Because let’s face it, bread baking isn’t rocket science. There is some science involved however, but only in the form of following a given formula. And even then, the formula for achieving delicious yeast bread is pretty darn loosie goosy. Not at all like baking a cake, for example, where in order to produce a really great product, you need to measure your ingredients very carefully.

But with yeast breads, the equation is more liberal. As long as you use enough leavening (yeast or sourdough starter) to feed on the sugars in flour that result in the expulsion of carbon dioxide which makes bread rise, you can go wild and crazy with the other ingredients.

So, when I decided to try my hand at Pain de Campagne yesterday, I donned my mad scientist hat and came up with this recipe.

Now, putting all modesty aside, this boule turned out to be one of the best breads I have ever produced. And it was stinkin’ easy to build. The crust turned out perfectly crunchy, the crumb soft but chewy, with a pleasant flavor from the small inclusion of both rye and whole wheat flour in with the bread flour. In other words, a basically simple loaf of everyday bread, but with a bit of character thrown in for good measure.

Now, something you should know. Most Pain de Campagne recipes do not include active dry yeast. Leavening is provided solely from the sourdough starter. But I have grown a bit weary of making bread that takes 2-3 days. I still do it, but the older I get, the less time I feel like pampering ingredients. Plus, I usually only think about making bread when we are down to our last couple slices from the previous loaf. (Pre-planning our meals, has never been my greatest accomplishment.)  So, is this a “true” Pain de Campagne? Perhaps not. Is it close enough for Mr. C and me? Darn tootin! So, whatever it may be, I hope you enjoy this bread as much as we do. And call it what you may. Who cares? What’s in a name anyway? Whatever it is, it’s damn fine bread!

As always, keep thinking peace, keep reflecting goodness, and keep cooking and baking up a storm. And always remember to look outside. Mother nature has not been impacted by covis-19. And she is sharing all that is glorious with us every single day. Peace and love to all.  

1½ c. warm water

¾ c. sourdough starter discard, room temperature

2 tsp. active dry yeast

1½ tsp. kosher salt

¼ c. rye flour

¼ c. whole wheat flour  

1 T. vital wheat gluten flour

3 c. bread flour, plus more as needed

extra virgin olive oil 

Place the warm water, sourdough starter, and yeast in the bowl of your stand mixer. Let sit for 5 minutes. Add the salt, rye flour, wheat flour, vital wheat gluten flour, and 1 cup of the bread flour. Mix together with your bread hook. Let sit for 5 minutes.

Add enough remaining bread flour to make a soft, elastic dough. Dough should ball up around the bread hook, leaving just a bit stuck to the bottom of the bowl. The dough should be a bit sticky, but not tacky. Pour a bit of oil in the bowl and using your hands and a stiff rubber spatula, form the dough into a ball, completely greased with the oil.

Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise until doubled in volume, about 90 minutes. Punch down once during this rising.

Cover a cookie sheet with a rectangle of parchment paper. (Enough parchment paper to allow for lifting the dough into a Dutch oven or clay baker.) Gently shape the dough into a ball, using flour as needed, but avoid kneading. Place the dough ball on the parchment paper. Dust with a bit of flour and cover with the same piece of plastic wrap. Place in a warm spot for an hour.

In the last half hour of rising, preheat your oven to 500 degrees. Place your clay baker or Dutch oven on the middle rack of the oven at the same time. You want your clay baker or Dutch oven to get hot right along with the oven.

Once the oven comes to temperature, slash an “X” on the top of the dough. (Don’t use too much force or you will deflate the bread.) Just let the weight of the knife do the work.

Remove the Dutch oven from the oven being very careful not to burn yourself. Carefully, using the sides of the parchment paper, lower the dough into the hot Dutch oven. Cover the Dutch oven.  and return to the oven.

Bake covered for 30 minutes, then uncover and allow to finish baking. Total baking time is about 40- 45 minutes. The top should be dark brown. The internal temperature should reach at least 205 degrees. Remove from oven and carefully lift the parchment paper and bread out of the clay baker or Dutch oven onto a wire rack to cool. Cool completely before slicing.

Please note: A trick I use to make lifting my clay baker in and out of the oven, is to place it on a low sided baking sheet before it ever goes into the oven. It’s much easier to lift a baking sheet in and out of the oven than a clay baker. Much less likely to burn yourself. Dutch ovens – no problem. They have nice handles made for the purpose.

Also, if you don’t own a clay baker or a Dutch oven, simply lift the risen bread, parchment paper and all, onto a baking sheet. Then bake away as instructed above. (May take longer to bake then the time given above, so to be certain, take the breads temperature to make sure it is done to perfection.)

I love cornbread. And I have several really good cornbread recipes already on this site. But for whatever reason, this cobbled together recipe I think is going to be my favorite. First of all, I love using buttermilk. (I almost always have some on hand.) Now granted, I don’t drink the stuff, but I love adding it to pancake batter, for example, because I love the tiny bit of tang it provides. Another reason for this recipe – I didn’t have a super plain, slightly sweet, buttermilk cornbread recipe at the ready. Now I do. And as far as I’m concerned, it is the perfect cornbread recipe. Easy to build. Just enough sweetness for my taste. And super moist. All the qualities I believe a fabulous cornbread should possess. And it contains only the most essential of ingredients, all of which I normally have on hand.  

Now don’t get me wrong. My other cornbread recipes are great too. And I will still enjoy eating them when I serve certain dishes. But for an all-around, multi-purpose, you can serve this with just about any dish cornbread, this is now my go to recipe. It is perfect for breakfast slathered in butter and drizzled with warm maple syrup. Great with a big old bowl of soup or chili for lunch or dinner. And if you are into cornbread dressing, this recipe would work really well. (See recipe below) However, I would suggest reducing the sugar to 1 or 2 tablespoons. Your choice of granulated or brown sugar.

So that’s it for today. It’s rainy and very windy here in our part of the world. I can still see Port Susan, but the mainland and the mountains are hidden from view. I know they will come back to me, but for now all I have is their image in my memory banks. It’s kind of like how we are planning to celebrate Thanksgiving this year. We are going to treasure our memories of past gatherings. And lift a glass or two to our family and dearest friends. But we are going to stay safely tucked away in our own home. And by doing so, help our dearest friends stay safe too. All the while looking forward to when we can all once again celebrate and give thanks together.

Happy Thanksgiving Day my friends. And please stay safe. And as always, peace and love to all.

½ c. (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted (I use a large glass mixing bowl and melt the butter in my microwave)

¼ c. granulated sugar

¼ c. brown sugar, packed

1 c. buttermilk

2 eggs

1 c. cornmeal

1 c. unbleached all-purpose flour (fluffed)

½ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. kosher salt

fleur de sel or other flaky salt

Butter an 8-inch square pan or an 11×7-inch rectangular pan. (I use glass Pyrex dishes.) Set aside.

Mix the melted butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together. Stir in the buttermilk and then the eggs. Stir until well combined.

In a separate bowl, whisk the cornmeal, flour, baking soda, and kosher salt together. Add to the butter mixture and stir just until combined. Avoid over-mixing the batter. It doesn’t need to be completely smooth. Pour into the prepared pan. Lightly sprinkle with fleur de sel.

Bake in a pre-heated 375 degree oven for 22-26 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Don’t overbake.

CORNBREAD DRESSING

½ lb. Italian sausage (pork or chicken)

4 T. (½ stick) unsalted butter

¾ c. diced celery

¾ c. chopped onion

6 button mushrooms, thinly sliced

½ tsp. dried sage

½ tsp. kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

2 tsp. poultry seasoning (or more to taste)

¼ tsp. granulated garlic

1 tsp. dried parsley

3 c. cubed rustic bread, toasted (I like part sour dough)

2 c. cubed and dried cornbread (just cube the cornbread and let it sit for a few hours on your counter) 

1 egg, beaten

2 c. chicken broth

Fry sausage (crumbling it as it browns) in a large frying pan or Dutch oven. When browned add the butter, celery, onion, and mushrooms; cook until the onion is transparent.  Stir in the sage, salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, granulated garlic, and dried parsley. Remove from heat and gently stir in the bread cubes and cubed cornbread. (Don’t worry if the cornbread breaks down.) Whisk the egg and chicken broth together. Pour over the bread mixture; gently stir until combined.

Spoon the dressing into a buttered casserole pan, cover with lid or aluminum foil, and either refrigerate until ready to bake or place in a pre-heated 375 degree oven for 35-40 minutes. Remove lid and bake an additional 5 minutes or until starting to brown on top. Serve hot.

I love receiving our every other Saturday farm box. And in our last box we received 2 beautiful organic zucchini. Although zucchini is one of my favorite vegetables (actually it’s a fruit, but who gives a hoot about nomenclature for all practical purposes), I forgot about these 2 beauties in my quest to use up some of the more exotic veggies before our next delivery arrived. So when I decided to take another look in my veggie drawer, I was met with 2 veggies I know had seen better days. I felt so bad. So I decided to honor these 2 zucchini by preparing something with them that would pay homage to their versatility. And the first thing that came to mind was zucchini bread.

Although I already have daughter Ursala’s great zucchini bread recipe (Zucchini Seed and Nut Bread) on this site, I was up for an adventure. So I went on line and found Jenn Segal’s (Once upon a Chef) Zucchini Bread recipe. Now I very much respect this wonderful chef. But I can almost never leave a recipe alone. So I made a few changes and came up with this version. And it turned out very nicely. In fact – we loved the bread.

So if you too would like a moist and tender, very tasty quick bread to serve to your family, I offer up this recipe. It really is a fabulous way to use zucchini, even zucchini that has seen better days. And one of the marvelous things about this recipe, besides not having to use a mixer – you don’t have to wring the liquid out of the grated zucchini. Just pile it into a measuring cup and call it good!

So as always, I hope you enjoy this recipe. I also hope you are planning to make this Thanksgiving as special as every other previous Thanksgiving. Even if, or should I say, especially if only immediate family members are going to be at table. All the more reason to make this Thanksgiving meal memorable. After all, who is more important than your own family members?

If you need inspiration, don’t hesitate to search my blog under Thanksgiving Dinner Recipes for suggestions and recipes for everything from appetizers to desserts. For help deciding on a menu, search under Thanksgiving Menu. Peace and love to all.

1 T. brandy, apple juice, or water

½ c. golden raisins

2½ c. unbleached all-purpose flour, fluffed

½ c. whole-wheat pastry flour or regular (fluffed) whole wheat flour in a pinch

3 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. ground nutmeg

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. kosher salt

3 lg. eggs

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 c. granulated sugar

¾ c. brown sugar, packed

2 c. grated zucchini (do not wring out the liquid)

1 c. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and mostly cooled (slightly warm is fine)

1 c. chopped walnuts

Generously grease two 8×4-inch loaf pans (glass preferred) with nonstick cooking spray. Place a piece of parchment paper along the bottom of each pan and give the parchment paper a light spray too. Set pans aside.

Gently warm the brandy and golden raisins in a small pan. Remove from heat, stir, and set aside to cool. (Plumped raisins are best in any kind of recipe. Especially when they are plumped with booze!)

Whisk the flours, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder, and kosher salt together in a small mixing bowl. 

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla together. Add the grated zucchini and melted butter. Using a rubber spatula, stir to combine.

Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture and stir until just combined. Stir in the nuts and golden raisins. Divide the batter evenly into the prepared pans.

Bake in a pre-heated 325 degree oven for 55 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick poked into the middle of each bread comes out clean.

Remove from oven and set the pans on a wire rack to cool for about 10 minutes before turning out onto the rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container. Great gently warmed and lightly spread with room temperature butter.