Spiced Zucchini Bread

I usually have the best of intentions. Really, I promise. One of my coworkers brought in armfuls of zucchini and squash from her garden to share. One of the things I love about fall: free fresh produce. Seriously, at certain points in September and October, people beg you to take away their extras. I love that.

So Friday night, I put together my first-ever batch of gluten free zucchini bread. I decided to try Celiac Teen's Zucchini Bread. In tasting the batter (before baking), I decided to toss in a little cinnamon. After all, I have a really fresh large container of Saigon cinnamon. Mmmmm.

At about 12:45am (that's just after midnight), I put the bread in the oven. I sat down on the couch, computer on lap, and watched something on Discovery. Next thing I remember, I'm sprawled (splattered, as I like to say, since it's happened more than once) all over the couch, my laptop precariously sliding ever closer to the floor, one of my favorite infomercials for a collection of Power Ballads from the 70s and 80s is on TV, and it's 4:35 am. My zucchini bread had been in the oven for 3 1/2 hours! The house may have been filled with black smoke, and it certainly smelled bad! I pulled it out of the oven and turned it off, and then hopped back on the couch for my night's sleep. (Not without singing a few Journey tunes first...)

In the morning, I inspected my work. Well, let's call it: my first gluten-free doorstop, in black, to match the furniture. (Ha, if only I had matching furniture...) Anyway, I snapped some photos and threw it out. Now my kitchen smells better too.

Today, I made my second attempt. (I made sure the sun was high in the afternoon sky, in hopes of not repeating Mission Zucchini Bread #1.) This time, I decided to devise my own recipe. So, I call it

Spiced Zucchini Bread

2/3 cup rice flour
2/3 cup sweet rice flour
1/2 cup potato starch
3 1/2 Tbsp tapioca starch
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/8 tsp salt
1/3 cup milk to soak the flour in (this takes away the gritty taste)

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
2 cups zucchini, grated
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp fresh cinnamon
chopped almonds


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 9 x 5 loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Combine flours, starches, soda, xanthan gum and salt; set aside.
3. Cream butter until white.
4. Add sugar, brown sugar, molasses and mix.
5. After grating zucchini (which gets all over the kitchen/couch/guest bedroom on the 3rd floor), mix with butter and sugar; add vanilla.
6. Add dry ingredients into mixture, add almonds; stir until combined.
7. Sprinkle cinnamon in to taste.

Bake for 1 hour, then test for doneness. Bake longer if needed.

The results: scrumptious. However, I think it was a little heavy on the wet ingredients. Like, way too wet. However, the flavor was perfect!


My suggestions (and what I will do next time):

• Decrease molasses to 1/4 cup.
• Keep milk for soaking flour. Use as little as possible.
• Increase rice and sweet rice flours to 1 cup. Increase xanthan gum to 1 1/2 tsp.
• Decrease zucchini to 1 1/4 cup (it's not in the bread at the end anyway...it magically disappears.)