Sunday, October 7, 2007

Amish Friendship Zucchini Bread

Amish Friendship Zucchini Bread

I was thrilled to open my packet of Amish Friendship Bread Starter, received from Laavanya. I quickly opened it to check the content and was little scared about the gooey-creamy like thing. This starter has to be nourished while left for fermenting for 9 days, and we bake it on the 10th day or freeze it and save for later. I received my starter on Day 3

On days 2 through 5, just mash the bag and remove excess air, if any.
On day 6 stir in 1 cup each sugar, flour and milk, mash the bag.
On days 7 through 9, mash the bag.
On day 10 stir in 1 1/2 cup each of flour, milk, sugar. Mix well and distribute 4 cups equally. Keep 1 cup of starter for myself and share the other 3 with friends.


After much research on AFBS, I came to know that cooks have been baking with starters for thousands of years. Sometime back before the ancient Egyptians, however, bakers learned that if they captured airborne wild yeast and fed and nurtured it properly, they could produce an endless array of breads, cakes, pancakes, biscuits, scones, muffins, rolls, all light and fluffy and made possible by the hard-working little fungi (yeast). Article Source: Texas Cooking

This is the first time I am trying my hands on baking bread and decided to bake a more traditional bread than something like cake/muffins/rolls/buns. This way I can teach myself to handle more of tough bakes. I brought some books on baking from local library and found this very nice and interesting recipe for Zucchini bread.

I used coarsely grated zucchini shreds which offers color and just-perceptible contrast of texture to the bread. Because it is exceptionally moist, zucchini must be salted and squeezed to rid of it excess liquid before it is mixed with the flour, starter and water. It took me two days to make this bread and learned some new techniques in baking. Like overnight standing ~ to raise and humidified baking with boiling water in the bottom to ensure crunchy bottom crust.

My first bread baking session

Zucchini Bread

Source : Breads, Time-life books
Cuisine: International

Prep time: 10 mins and left overnight to rise
Cooking time: 40 mins
Makes: 7-inch cylindrical loaf

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup amish friendship bread starter
2 zucchini, medium-size, washed ends trimmed off
1 tbsp salt
3/4 cup tepid/warm water
olive oil or 1 egg yolk beaten
Method:

1. Coarsely grated zucchini into a deep wide bowl. When the zucchini gratings cover the bottom of the bowl, sprinkle them with salt. Grate in another layer of zucchini and sprinkle again with salt. Repeat alternate layers if zucchini and sprinkle again with salt. Leave it for 30 mins so that the salt will draw out the excess moisture. Then press out the moisture by squeezing the zucchini in your hands.

waiting to Rise!!!

2. In another bowl combine the starter, flour, salt and thoroughly mix zucchini, add enough tepid water to make a smooth but fairly firm dough. Knead the dough well for about 10 mins. Return it to the bowl, cover it with a damp cloth towel or plastic wrap and let the dough rise for about 2 hours.
Knead the dough into a loose round, then shape it into a tapered cylindrical loaf. Lay it on a buttered baking sheet, cover it with a towel and let it rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk or left overnight.

brushing olive oil to prevent zucchini from burning!


3. Just before baking, brush the loaf with olive oil or egg yolk to prevent the pieces of zucchini on the surface from burning. Preheat the oven to 425, place a roasting pan filled with 1 1/2 inch of boiling water in the bottom of your oven. Bake the bread in a humidified 425 degrees F for about 40 minutes, until the bottom sounds hollow when rapped, while checking the water in roasting pan every 10 mins. Cool the loaf on a wire rack.

Zucchini bread slices

I am sending this starter to two of my dear friends Chandrika and Saroja to keep the tradition. Hope you guys will enjoy baking with it, as well!


starters dispatched, let me know when they arrive!


27 comments:

ramya said...

Nice Zucchini bread looking very soft,fluffy. Ready to go.Ur pics are so tempting.

bee said...

no yeast?? freaking awesome!!!!

Sreelu said...

Zucchini bread, just brought few Zucchini's from farmers market. I should try this

Sig said...

Great job Padma, your bread looks perfect. BTW, did you get my email?

Richa said...

hey, the bread looks awesome, good job!

Pravs said...

That looks perfect! beautiful texture.Well done, Padma :D

Apple said...

Looks perfect Padma...loved the pics too

Vcuisine said...

Very nice bread that too without yeast? Wonderful. Viji

Srivalli said...

That looks wonderful Padma...good job..

Rajitha said...

you baked bread for the first time!! awesome padma..looks fantastic

lakshmi said...

you baked bread with zero yeast :O - it looks awesome

Nupur said...

That is an incredible loaf! And it looks like real, proper "bread" instead of the cake-like thing that I ended up making with my batter :)

Siri Kilambi said...

zucchini bread looks hot :-))
It rocks dear :-)

Laavanya said...

Hey Padma... That's amazing!! The bread looks very good and am sure the zucchini made it soft. Nice technique with a humidified oven.

Chandrika said...

The bread looks delicious. Thank you for passing the starter..I am eagerly looking forward to the parcel...

Sharmi said...

this is a different try! looks nice and professional. very healthy too:)

Neitha said...

hey pam ur zucchini bread looks awesome!! wow now u have become a pro in food shots tooo ... cool pics men !! its so tempting ... hey i shd try this zucchini bread ... good one... keep on doing the good job!!

TBC said...

Zucchini bread looks fab! And no yeast either! Simply awesome.:-)

Puspha said...

Looks very fresh. I`m sure it smelled super good.

Mishmash ! said...

Does the starter act as the leavening agent..? Is that the reason why you havent used any of such stuff?? btw, you pics of eggs were quite beautiful:)

Shn

sandeepa said...

Doesn't look like your first bread baking session at all. This is the work of a professional...really beautiful bread

Shivapriya said...

Wow Padma, I have been seeing Amish bread all over the blog sphere, everyone's is unique n interesting. Ur zucchini bread looks awesome.

Cinnamon said...

I see Friendship starter every where!!! and the ZUchini bread looks delicious!!!

Susan said...

A great take on zucchini bread, Padma. Most times the batter is loaded into a loaf pan (a time-honored method), but yours was baked in the French manner with a steam bath that ensures a crackly crisp crust. Perfect for sandwiches or a glide of softened butter.

East Meets West Kitchen said...

Beautiful Zucchini Bread. I did one years ago, and think it's time to do it again. :)

Adhi Potoba said...

That is a sexy looking piece of bread.

Thea said...

I made this bread it came out sooo good :) I added in a little oatmeal. I made a blended olive olive oil dip soooo good :)

Yummy thank you for this awsome recipe!

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