American · Baking

Courgette Bread

A spiced loaf that uses up a glut and tastes of nothing green whatsoever: the courgette dissolves into moisture, and the crumb ends up somewhere between a cake and a bread. Squeezing the grated flesh is the difference between damp and sodden.

1 hr 20 min prep and cooking plus 15 min cooling plus time for cooling completely, which the recipe does not time at least 1 hr 35 min start to finish Serves 10 servings Easy
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Courgette Bread

Photograph credit: Costata Romanesco zucchini and zucchini bread by Temaciejewski · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons · this resized copy is shared under the same licence

Storing and Planning Ahead

Wrapped at room temperature for 4 days and better on day two. Freezes whole or sliced for 3 months.

Making Courgette Bread

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  1. Heat the oven to 175°C / 350°F. Butter a 900 g loaf tin and line it with a paper strip.

  2. Pile the grated courgette into a clean tea towel and wring it hard over the sink. You want to lose about 120 ml of liquid — roughly half a cup — and be left with a damp, compact mass.

  3. Whisk the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt together.

  4. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs with both sugars for a minute, then whisk in the oil and vanilla until emulsified and slightly thickened.

  5. Stir in the squeezed courgette, breaking up any clumps with a fork.

  6. Fold in the dry ingredients and the walnuts until just combined — no more.

  7. Scrape into the tin, scatter with demerara, and bake 55 to 65 minutes until a skewer comes out with a crumb or two.

  8. Cool in the tin 15 minutes, then turn out and cool completely. It slices properly once cold and crumbles while warm.

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A Few Pointers

  • Grate on the coarse side of a box grater, not in a processor. Processed courgette turns to purée and the strands are what hold the crumb open.
  • No need to peel or seed a medium courgette. A marrow-sized one, yes to both.
  • Cover with foil at 40 minutes if the top is already dark — this loaf browns before it is done.

Why the Method Is What It Is

A courgette is more than ninety per cent water, so 300 g of it carries around a cupful of liquid into the batter. Squeezing out roughly half that is the whole technique: too little and the middle never sets, too much and you lose the moisture that makes the loaf worth baking. The rest is a standard oil-based quick bread, where oil keeps the crumb soft cold and the brown sugar and cinnamon do the work that the vegetable cannot.

Serving Ideas

Salted butter, thickly · Cream cheese · Black coffee

Quick Answers

How long does Courgette Bread take to make?

20 minutes of preparation and 1 hour of cooking, plus 15 minutes of cooling, so allow 1 hour 35 minutes from start to finish. The method also needs time for cooling completely, which it does not time, so treat that as a minimum. The recipe serves 10.

What's in a Serving

Per serving, an approximate calculation from the ingredient list. Treat it as a rough guide: optional ingredients are counted. How the figures are worked out.

431Calories
6gProtein
50gCarbs
23gFat
2gFibre
29gSugar
400mgSodium

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Compiled by Turab

Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.

First published ; last changed .