Zucchini Yeast Bread is a nice change of pace from the more typical quick-bread, cakey style zucchini breads. Pureed zucchini adds great flavor, moisture and texture to this tasty yeast-risen bread.

Today the #Breadbakers are showing off their prettiest braided breads!

This is a recipe I’ve been working on for a while. Because I belong to a co-op farm I get LOTS of zucchini, all summer long. I’m always looking for new ways to use the prolific squash. I mean, there are only so many spiralized salads a gal can eat!

When I use zucchini for baking I basically treat it as added water, since that’s mostly what zucchini is made of. Because it doesn’t have a very pronounced flavor, zucchini is easy to slip it into all sorts of recipes.

For my Zucchini Yeast Bread I simply replaced some of the water in a fairly basic bread dough with zucchini. The first few times I made the bread I used shredded zucchini. But the bits of vegetable were breaking up the gluten strands in the bread dough.

At that point I was also using some Greek yogurt in the dough. Between the shredded zucchini and the extra richness from the yogurt, the bread structure was compromised enough that kept splitting apart in the oven.

Though I loved the flavor and richness from the Greek yogurt, along with the zucchini it just wasn’t working. So I’ve tabled the Greek yogurt for now. But I will be working on another bread recipe using Greek yogurt and will post it as soon as I’ve got it right.

Back to the zucchini…Since the shredded zucchini was breaking up the gluten, I tried making a zucchini puree and that did the trick. Now I had a bread that was soft and moist with a very slight vegetable flavor from the zucchini.

All that was left to do was make a pretty braid, top it with some cheese, bake until golden brown, and enjoy! We ate it with a green salad and smoked salmon for a light dinner. Perfect!

Click through the slide show to see how to make Braided Zucchini Yeast Bread:

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Braided Zucchini Yeast Bread

Yield: 1 large loaf

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Rising Time: 2 hours

Bake Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours 55 minutes

Fresh zucchini puree gives bread great moisture and flavor.

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Ingredients

• 1 large zucchini (8 oz, 225g) sliced 1/2" thick
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (4 oz, ml) water, 110-120F
• 1 tablespoon dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, or more to taste
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 2 1/2 - 3 cups (13-15 oz, 380-450g) bread flour 

Finish

• 1 egg whisked with 1 tablespoon water and a pinch of salt for egg wash
• 2 tablespoons shredded Parmesan cheese for garnish, or garnish of your choice.

Instructions

1. Toss the zucchini slices with the 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Set aside for 15 minutes. Spread the zucchini in a single layer on a paper towel. Lay another paper towel on top of the zucchini and press down to absorb the liquid. Puree the zucchini slices in a food processor until it looks like apple sauce.
2. Combine zucchini puree, water, yeast, salt, pepper and egg in a mixer bowl. Mix on low speed to combine. Add 2 cups of flour and mix 2 minutes to form a thick batter. Switch to the dough hook. Add the remaining flour a little at a time, until the dough gathers onto the hook and clears the sides of the bowl. Knead for 5 minutes. If working by hand, add as much flour as you can with a wooden spoon the turn the dough out onto a floured surface to finish kneading in the remaining flour.
3. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead into a smooth ball. Place the dough in an oiled bowl, turning once to coat. Cover the bowl and set aside to rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
4. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, knead a few times and divide into 3 equal pieces. Roll each piece of dough into a 14" long rope. Braid the three ropes, pinching each end to seal together and set the loaf onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap which has been oiled to prevent sticking. Set aside in a warm place for about 1 hour until the dough has almost doubled in volume and springs back slowly when poked.
5. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350°F convection or 375°F regular. Brush the loaf with egg wash Sprinkle with grated Parmesan Cheese or garnish of your choice. Bake about 30-35 minutes until golden brown. The interior temp should be about 190°F.

Recommended Products

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• Kitchenaide Stand Mixer
• 1/2 Sheet Pans
• Parchment Paper Sheets

You might also like:

Zucchini Bread

Zucchini Ricotta Pie

Zucchini Biscuits

Chocolate Orange Beet Cake

Golden Beet Orange Cake

Smoked Cornbread

This month’s Bread Baker’s theme is Braided Breads and is hosted by Gayathri Kumar of Gayathri’s Cook Spot

Here is the collection of all the beautiful braided breads from our team.

• Artisan Herb Bread Braid by Cindy’s Recipes and Writings
• Basic Challah Bread by Cook’s Hideout
• Braided Bread with Candied Papaya Chunks by Sara’s Tasty Buds
• Braided Garlic Bread by Sizzling Tastebuds
• Braided Herbed Breadsticks by Ambrosia
• Braided Rum & Raisin Buns by All That’s Left Are The Crumbs
• Challah Bread by Mayuri’s Jikoni
• Cherry Cheese Braid by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Chicken Cheese Braided Bread by Sneha’s Recipe
• Nutella Braided Bread by Veena’s Vegnation
• Orange Saffron Braided Brioche by Food Lust People Love
• Scali Bread by Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Spice and Herb French Braid by The Schizo Chef
• Two-Seed Potato Challah by What Smells So Good?
• Whole Wheat Challah Bread by Spill the Spices
• Whole Wheat Pizza Braid by Herbivore Cucina
• Whole Wheat Zopf Bread by I camp in my Kitchen
• Winston Knot Bread by Gayathri’s Cook Spot
• Zucchini Yeast Bread by Baking Sense

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely bread by following our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated after each event on the #BreadBakers home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send Stacy an email with your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com.