Zucchini Cheese Loaf

My Pullman Loaf pans have been sitting at the back of the kitchen drawer for a very long time. About a year, actually. Both of them, untouched, for a year. I bought them about two years ago when my colleague Jane and I started a sandwich enterprise — which we called Crazy Juliet — making sandwiches for sale at our workplace. I say 'enterprise' and not business since we were both more concerned with concocting new sandwich recipes rather than making money. We kinda called it quits after a year and a bit when the job became a little too routine and a little less fun. We did make some money from it... i think.

See? I told you we were so NOT businesswomen.

So anyway, the enterprise ended, the pans went at the back of the drawer and that was it for a year. Until yesterday when I felt the urge to play around with sandwich fillings once more. And for that, I had to first make the bread for the sandwiches.

What are Pullman loaf pans?

The Pullman Loaf Pan

They're narrow pans, about a foot or so long, with a slide-on lid and they're used to make Pullman loaves or as we all call them, sandwich loaves. The pans allow the bread to rise evenly into a rectangle, allowing you to slice even, square slices of bread for sandwich making. Mine were inexpensive and made from aluminum and they look pretty beaten up, but I love them all the same.

Yesterday, I felt like experimenting a little with the bread. Instead of a plain white or wholemeal loaf, I decided on a flavoured loaf.  I'd tried Jamie Oliver's recipe for zucchini bread (not a quick bread but a proper, yeasted bread) some time back and I vaguely recall what goes into it. I decided to take a chance and incorporate his ideas into this zucchini and cheese loaf.

The zucchini is grated fine and added to the flour, yeast, sugar and salt at the very start of the process. Because the zucchini is full of water, I had to be very careful with the water added to make the bread dough. Usually, for 500g bread flour, I use about 315 ml water. This time, I added 100ml water first with the intent to add more as needed once the dough came together. As it turned out, I didn't need to add much more, maybe just another 30 to 50 ml.

I also added some cheese when kneading the dough. I remember Jamie Oliver used goats cheese but I only had cheddar and mozzarella and so I used a bit of both.

Oh, and thyme too.

Unlike the dough of a typical Pullman or sandwich loaf, this one was a little wet and sticky. The zucchini obviously added extra hydration to the dough and even with reducing the water for the recipe, the dough remained wet.

This is by no means a problem. All it meant was the kneading process would be a little more messy: wet or grease your hands when kneading to avoid too much dough sticking to your hands. Or, you could flour your hands and the surface though you may end up using a lot of flour and thereby changing the consistency of the dough.

Also, the wet dough resulted in a loaf that wasn't as dense. Which was nice, really. It held together enough to use it for a sandwich but it was also light enough to eat with just a spread: I slathered some cream cheese onto a slice and it was divine. Hummus worked well too.

Zucchini and Cheese Loaf
500g bread flour (a little more on standby)
3 tsp instant yeast
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp salt
100-150 ml tepid water
2 large zucchinis, shredded/grated fine
1/2 cup cheese, grated
a tbsp thyme, leaves only

Mix the flour, yeast, sugar and salt together in a bowl. For a well in the centre and add 1/3 of the water along with the thyme and zucchini. Starting from the middle, stir the flour into the wet mixture with a fork, gradually bringing in more flour into the well. The dough will start to look stodgy, like porridge. Add more water and continue to bring in more flour. Once the dough comes together — it will be wet and sticky still, wet, grease or flour your hands and start kneading: fold the dough, stretch and fold again. Pick it up and slam it on the counter (floured or greased counter top, please). Repeat until you get a silky, elastic dough. Still sticky: about 15 mins.

Grease a bowl and tip the dough into the bowl, making sure all sides of the dough is oiled. Cover and leave to rise for about an hour or till it doubles.

Once the dough has risen, punch it down lightly with your knuckles and gently knead the cheese in. Shape the dough and gently lower it into the Pullman pan. You can also use a basic loaf pan or shape the dough into a round and place it on a greased baking sheet.

Allow it to proof for another 30 mins and preheat the oven to 180C.

Bake for 30 − 40 mins or till the top gets crusty and the loaf sound hollow when knocked.

Leek, Potato and Zucchini Hot Cakes

I love leeks. I only discovered the wonder of leeks about a year ago when I read a recipe for a leek and mushroom quiche in some recipe book. I regretfully failed to write down the source of the recipe and therefore cannot credit the source which led me to my now near obsession with the vegetable. My bad!

Since that first quiche, I realised that leeks are much more than an allium, certainly much more than a supporting ingredient. The leek more than deserves to be a star ingredient in quiches, pies, soups, curries ....

Leeks have given me so much satisfaction that I decided to single them out in Monday's Don't Call Me Chef: Singled Out column in The Star for which I made two dishes: a leek tart and a leek and potato soup (pictured below). I will add the link to the column and those recipes as soon as it is up tomorrow.

 Leeks are also great with pasta. Simply saute some garlic and leek in butter for about 10 mins and then toss your cooked pasta in in, add some parsley and, if you want it a little spicy, some dried chilli flakes and there you have it. Season with salt and pepper, of course. Italian-born cook Marcella Hazan adds some cream to her leeks for a richer dish but I am not a fan of creamy pasta (though I am a fan of Ms Hazan).

These Leek, Potato and Zucchini hot cakes are a delicious snack that can be eaten on its own or with a simple dip — sour cream and dill/chive would be my recommended dip. I was making this for myself and so I omitted the dip. God knows, I don't need the extra calories!

Ingredients

I medium potato
2 cups sliced leeks (white and pale green parts only)
1 cup shredded zucchini
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 egg (I fried the other half, shredded it and used it as a garnish)
2 tbsp dried red chilli flakes
salt and pepper

Bake the potato until it's tender enough to pierce through with a fork, about 40-45 mins, 180C.

Boil a saucepan of salted water and add the sliced leeks and cook till tender, about 5 mins. Drain and wrap in a tea towel; wring out any extra moisture. Set aside.

Drain the shredded zucchini of it's moisture. Wrap in a tea towel and wring it as well. Set aside.

Once the potato is cooked, peel it and roughly mash it. 

Mix all the ingredients together and season to taste. 

Heat about 2 tbsp oil in a skillet. When hot, gently drop about 21/20inch patties of the leek-zucchini mixture into the oil (medium heat), flatten with a spatula and let it cook till it is nicely browned on both sides. Remove and drain on paper towels. 

* You can also cook the patties it till they're just firm and only lightly brown and then pop it into the oven for about 7 mins to reduce the oiliness of the hot cakes.

Eat your veggies ... in a cake

I wasn't surprised when I saw David Lebovitz's post about a zucchini cake. Zucchini, in the squash family of vegetables, is one of the most versatile vegetables/ingredients to cook with. Whether in a savoury tart, bread or dessert, the zucchini takes on and enhances flavours really, really well. So a zucchini cake? Sure, why not.


Over in these parts, Zucchinis are expensive but I pay the price because I love cooking/baking with zucchini.  This was my first zucchini cake, though and I was excited. I was sure it would taste good, but I wanted to know just how good.


So, apart from the usual ingredients required to bake a cake -- flour, baking powder/soda, sugar and eggs -- this cake used olive oil instead of butter, a bunch of spices (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg) and grated lemon rind. Oh and toasted walnuts ... lots of walnuts.

It also has a glaze. A deliciously tangy glaze with lemon juice, granulated sugar and powdered sugar. Sounds like a whole lot of sugar, right? But the cake itself isn't too sweet so the glaze is just the perfect finish. The use of granulated sugar adds a crunch to the glaze which contrasts well with the moistness of the actual cake. 


And the lemon? It's not what I would have envisioned for the cake but what do I know? Turns out it is just what's needed to complement the spiciness of the cake.


So, back to the zucchini.


The high-moisture content of the zucchini helps make the cake moist, I think. The result? A lovely fluffy and moist cake.


Try it. You won't regret it. I promise.

Zucchini and walnut cake
adapted from David Lebovitz

1 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped fine.
2 cups flour
2/12 cups finely grated zucchini
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sea salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground ginger
3 large eggs (at room temp)
11/2 cup sugar
1 cup olive oil
2 tbsp grated lemon zest

For the glaze
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup icing sugar

Beat the sugar, eggs and oil in an electric mixer till light, about 3-5 mins; med speed. Add vanilla extract, mix for another 30 seconds.
Sift the flour, baking powder and soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and salt. Add to the egg mixture and beat till well incorporated.
Fold in the zucchini and nuts.
Pour batter into a greased baking pan and bake in  a preheated oven (180C) for 45-50 mins or till a cake tester comes out clean.

Remove and let cake cool for 10 mins. Meanwhile make glaze by whisking the juice and sugars till they're all well mixed. Drizzle generously on cake before the cake cools.

Eat warm. Or cold.