Zucchini Pineapple Bread * how to grease and flour a pan * how to grate zucchini * what to substitute for oil

Zucchini Pineapple Bread

3 c all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

¾ tsp nutmeg

3 eggs

1 ¾ c. sugar

1 c vegetable oil (or ½ c vegetable oil and ½ c unsweetened applesauce)

2 tsp vanilla

2 to 3 c grated zucchini

1 8-oz can crushed pineapple, drained

1 c chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and flour two loaf pans.

In a large bowl, mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. In a very large bowl, beat eggs with a fork, then add sugar, oil, and vanilla and mix well. Add zucchini and pineapple and mix in well. Add dry ingredients to wet alternately with nuts.

Pour batter evenly into the loaf pans. Bake for 55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Welcome to the Real Life Cooking Podcast. I’m Kate Shaw and this week we’re going to learn how to make zucchini bread! Yes, you can finally do something with all that zucchini your coworker has grown and keeps bringing into the office to give away.

Zucchini is a type of summer squash. It’s usually green but there are golden varieties. You can cook it like squash, and if you don’t know how to cook squash just stick around a few weeks because that’s an upcoming episode. But zucchini is also traditionally made into zucchini bread, which to my mind is the very best thing you can get at any bake sale.

Zucchini bread is a good way to use up large zucchinis, which aren’t as tender as young ones. If the zucchini you get is large, you probably only need one. The first thing you’ll need to do is give it a quick wash to remove any dirt.

This recipe makes two loaves, so you’ll need two loaf pans. You’ll also need a medium mixing bowl, a large mixing bowl, and a very large mixing bowl--the giant one that came with the set of bowls that you thought you’d never use. And, of course, you need a cheese grater to grate the zucchini up so you can use it.

Once you’ve got everything gathered, your first step is to grease and flour the loaf pans. Grease them as usual with Crisco or that spray stuff. Take extra care that you grease the corners and all the way up nearly to the top of the pan. Then put a small handful of all-purpose flour into one of the pans, pick it up, tilt it, and pat the bottom of the pan so that the flour falls to one side. You’ll see that some of the flour sticks on the grease, and you want to flour all of the grease. This will keep your zucchini bread from sticking and will allow you to actually get it out of the pan when it’s done.

Pat the sides and bottom of the pan as you tilt the flour all around. As more of the flour sticks to the grease, less and less flour will be available to grease the rest, but there should be enough from one small handful. If you run out, give the bottom of the pan a good hard bang with your hand. This will loosen some more of the flour. Make sure you’ve floured all the grease, then turn the pan upside down over the trash and give the bottom a final thump to release any loose flour. Then do the same for the second loaf pan.

This is a good way to get flour all over you and the floor, so you might want to wear an apron. I always end up cradling the pan to my stomach at some point, which means my shirt always ends up with lots of flour on it.

Once you’ve greased and floured the pans, set them aside and get out the large mixing bowl. Not the giant one, just the large one. Measure out your dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Whisk it together well with a whisk or a fork. If you don’t have nutmeg, you can use an extra spoonful of cinnamon instead. Set the dr