Coming in with a FLOP

As the first post on this newly created blog, be warned that today's cooking adventure is all about the flop. I have a friend who asked me to take a look at a zucchini bread recipe and try to "fix it". Admittedly, I am not an expert chef, but I do possess enough knowledge generally to give a helping hand. So. First I decided to make the zucchini bread exactly as the recipe called for:

3 eggs beaten

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

2 tsp vanilla 

3 cups grated zucchini

2 cups flour (1 cup white, 1 cup wheat)

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

Mix eggs, sugar, oli, and vanilla. Add zucchini. Add dry ingredients.  Pour into 2 greased loaf pans and bake 325 for approx 50-60 mins.

My knee jerk reaction was that the baking soda to baking powder ratio was off, and there were too many eggs/oil for the amount of flour. I was thinking this bread is going to be heavy, not rise and taste like baking soda. It did...

Exhibit A:  F.L.O.P.

Now what? I added a cup of flour for some stability, increased the sugar slightly to account for the extra flour, decreased the soda and salt, but increased the powder simply because I used whole wheat flour and thought it could use a little oomph. Here is what I came up with:

The Fix??

3 eggs beaten

2 cups sugar (added to account for extra flour)

1 cup canola oil

1 tsp vanilla (reduced, sometimes excess vanilla causes baked goods to fall)

2 cups grated zucchini (reduced; zucchini adds acidity to the mix)

3 cups flour (2 cup white, 1 cup wheat) (added 1 cup of white flour for stability)

1 tsp baking soda (reduced)

1/2 tsp salt (reduced)

2 tsp baking powder (increased)

2 tsp cinnamon

The result? Hmmm, well. Not really zucchini bread, but at least edible (unlike its predecessor). The color was light and the top had a pound cake'esque top. I made both a loaf and mini muffins from the batter. Time to bring in my "taster" (enter the hubs; he sampled a muffin). 

"They taste like cookies...like a muffin with a cookie top...Cookie Top Muffins!". Okay, so maybe I didn't fix the zucchini bread recipe, but I apparently created cookie top muffins. 

As a consolation prize, please enjoy MY zucchini bread recipe which I have made numerous times and just love! 

Zucchini Bread

3 cups all-purpose flour (Or 1 c whole wheat and 2 c all-purpose)

1 3/4 cups sugar (or 1 1/2 c packed brown sugar)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon baking powder (2 t if using ww flour)

3 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 cup sour cream or plain yogurt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups shredded zucchini

1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)

In a large bowl, combine the first eight ingredients. In another bowl, beat the eggs, oil, sour cream/plain yogurt and vanilla. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in zucchini and nuts.

Transfer to two greased loaf pans. Bake at 350 deg F for 60-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 15 minutes before removing from pans to cool completely on wire racks.