Many of you know about my love for baking. I love the aroma of baking bread and a fresh bread just out of oven tastes heavenly. I normally make spicy breads as we both enjoy them a lot. This recipe was in my drafts for a long time now, finally thought of posting it today.
I had read about zucchini bread in many recipe books/sites/blogs. I zeroed on one particular recipe from a book, but it was a sweet bread. I was in no mood to make a sweet bread, so I started changing it to make it a non-spicy, non-sweet bread. It came out very soft, fluffy and very tasty. I had actually baked it for the next day’s breakfast but finished it as soon as it came out of oven :). I served this with sun dried tomato pesto.
Ingredients: 2 cups all purpose flour 1 Egg 1 cup grated zucchini 1 tbl spn active dry yeast 1 tbl spn chopped fresh basil 1/2 tea spn finely chopped ginger 1 tea spn sugar 1/4 cup water 2 tea spns olive oil 1 tea spn salt
Method: Heat the water till it is luke warm. Add yeast, sugar, salt. Leave aside for 10mins till it becomes frothy. Now add all other ingredients and mix (If it is too sticky, add more flour). Knead for few minutes till it becomes a smooth dough. Apply olive oil inside a big vessel and transfer the dough. Leave the vessel in a warm place for about 2hrs till the dough doubles in volume. Take the dough on clean surface and press it down. Shape it to desired shape, keep on baking tray and leave for another 30mins till it increases in volume again. Preheat the oven for 350F for about 10mins. Bake the bread at 350F for about 40mins or till it is baked.
Pesto is Italian sauce. I have been watching many pesto preparations in food network ever since I started watching it. So from this experience, pesto meant a chutney like preparation in which olive oil is used to bring to a required consistency in place of water in our chutneys. I may be totally wrong in this perception, but that is what I have seen on TV. I am always horrified to see the amount of oil that goes into this. What bothers me most about olive oil is, its smell and taste. I am slowly getting used to it, but there is a long way to go :).
The pestos I have seen are usually a bit thinner in consistency than what I am posting here. I did not add any extra olive oil, but since I used sun dried tomatoes that were preserved in olive oil, it still had that taste to it. I made a coarse paste so that I could taste small bits of sun dried tomatoes and also the cheese. It goes well with a freshly baked bread. I think this can also be used as a sauce for some kind of pasta.
Ingredients: 1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes 1/2 tea spn chopped garlic 1/2 tea spn chilli flakes 1/4 tea spn dried basil Salt 1 tea spn grated parmesan cheese
Method: Grind together sun dried tomatoes, garlic, chilli flakes, basil and salt. Add parmesan cheese and grand a bit. Serve.Â
PS: To bring it to more spreadable consistency, add a table spoon or so extra vergin olive oil while grinding.
Serves : 2-3 Preparation time : 5mins
