Our zucchini harvest this year has been massive. I think of zucchini is the ninja vegetable; you don't even know there is one growing under there, and then suddenly you've got a huge zucchini on your hands. Or 2. Or 5. They seem to grow into baseball bats overnight.
The zucchinis just keep coming, so we're making lots of ratatouille, zucchini chips and sauteed zucchini, throwing zucchini in smoothies, freezing zucchini, and making lots of Einkorn zucchini bread.
Why Einkorn?
My family switched to Einkorn wheat flour 8 years ago. Einkorn is an ancient variety of wheat that has never been hybridized; as such it is naturally lower in gluten and higher in protein than modern wheat. Some people who have sensitivities to gluten in modern wheat can actually consume Einkorn with no problems.
This recipe for Einkorn Zucchini Bread uses all-purpose flour. When consumed in moderation, white flours can be a healthy part of the diet. (Did you know that, in traditional cultures, much of the bran and germ was actually discarded after the whole grains were ground into flour? Somehow, humankind seemed to know that consuming too much whole grain can be unhealthy.)
Mildly Sweet and Loaded with Healthy Fats
This Einkorn zucchini bread recipe is moist and soft, and it gets a flavor boost from cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. This recipe is mildly sweetened with sucanat (unrefined cane sugar) for a bit of extra nutrients.
It is also loaded with healthy grassfed butter. The best butter is from cows that have been grazing on their natural diet of grass, rather than grains. The easy way to tell if butter is nutrient-dense is to look at the color.
While conventional butter looks almost white, nutrient-dense butter has a beautiful yellow color. This color indicates the presence of nutrients, especially carotene and vitamin A. In Weston Price's studies, he found that Activator X (now known as Vitamin K2) "was only present when the animals were eating rapidly growing green grass. In most regions, this occurred in the spring and early fall." In addition to having more nutrients, grassfed butter also has superior flavor.
Einkorn Zucchini Bread
Makes one loaf
1&1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) of butter
2 cups Einkorn all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sucanat
3/4 tsp finely ground Celtic sea salt
1&1/2 tsp Ceylon cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp dried ginger
3 eggs, preferably from pastured hens
1&1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups packed shredded zucchini (from ~2 medium zucchinis, or half a large zucchini)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Turn off heat and allow to cool a bit.
Generously butter the sides and bottom of a loaf pan. (I use a 9.5X4.5 glass pan.)
Combine the Einkorn flour, sucanat, baking powder, salt, and spices in a large bowl. Whisk to mix it all together well.
Shred the zucchinis using a box grater. There is no need to peel the zucchinis.
Combine the eggs, vanilla, zucchini, and melted butter in a medium bowl. Mix together with a fork.
Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients with a spatula or large spoon.
Pour the batter into the greased loaf pan and smooth out the top with the back of a spoon or spatula.
Bake at 350 degrees for about ~53-60 minutes. It will be done when it is set in the middle (you can lightly touch it, or check to see if a toothpick comes out clean).
Let the loaf cool for a few minutes, then put the loaf pan on its side to allow the bread to loosen from the pan for a few minutes. Then switch the loaf pan onto the other side and let it sit a few more minutes. You should be able to tell that the loaf is loosening away from the sides of the loaf pan.
Invert the pan and move the bread to a cutting board.
Once the bread is mostly cool, slice and serve! A Rada bread knife works excellently for slicing this bread.
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer. If you're freezing it, place parchment paper between the slices so they will be easy to separate later on. We like to re-warm this bread in the toaster oven and serve it with a smear of butter and perhaps some cream cheese or goat cheese.
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