Gluten-Free Zucchini Loaf! :)

I’ve been planning this for a little while and I feel that there is no better time to launch a new little focus here in terms of baking.

There’s been a little bit of research going on after my uncle and aunt came a few months ago and talked about the benefits of gluten-free lifestyle and suggested that maybe it was the hidden cause of the sudden downturn of my health from the relapse of lactose intolerance to caffeine sensitive among the many other stuff.  Generally, my sensitive digestion system.  I have accepted and worked around to how to live with all these foods that I can’t eat but it sure would be nice to not have to go out and worry about it one day or just at least not feel bloated all the time.

After taking a little time to adjust, I’ve decided to slowly go on the gluten-free path.  Its going to be hard to find alternatives and from the look of it, might even be more costly but nonetheless, my health is the most important and I want to be sure to feel better.

With that, here is my new little focus in baking & cooking: Gluten-free meals and desserts 🙂

Of course, I’m only doing this little by little and my first step was to cut bread out of my life.  Plus, I picked up my first bag of gluten-free flour from Costco a month ago so when I had an an abundance of zucchini stacked up in the fridge, I decided to finally try my hand at making a Zucchini Loaf.

Here’s how it turned out 🙂

I got the recipe in the Butter Baked Goods by Rosie Daykin.  The recipe itself is called Grandma Daykin’s Zucchini Loaf.

Here is the original recipe, however I halved it to make one loaf only.

Ingredients

Makes 2 loaves, about 8 to 10 slices per loaf

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
2 large eggs
2 cups grated raw zucchini
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 tbsp pure vanilla

How to make it:

1. Preheat the oven to 325F.
2. Onto a large piece of parchment paper, sift together the flour, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, salt, baking soda and baking powder.  Set aside.
3. With an electric mixer, beat the eggs on medium speed until light and fluffy.  Add the zucchini, sugar, oil, and vanilla and mix to blend.
4. Turn the mixer to low and slowly add the dry ingredients and mix until just blended.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
5. Pour the batter evenly between the two prepared pans.  Use a spatula to spread the batter smoothly across the pan.
6. Bake in the preheated oven for about 60 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.
7. Remove from the oven and allow the loaves to cool slightly, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Use a serrated knife to slice the loaves, then serve.

Other than halving all the ingredients to make one loaf, I also had a few modifications.

• The all purpose flour was replaced by the Cloud 9 Gluten Free All-Purpose Baking Mix. Its one to one cup replacement so it makes the whole process easier.
• I don’t have pumpkin pie spice so I had to do a little rough blend of ground cinnamon, ground ginger and ground nutmeg.
• As for zucchini, my grater miraculously vanished.  It could have gotten mixed up in my packing somehow so I spent some extra time to finely chop it.
• In terms of vegetable oil, I used canola oil since that was the closest I had (the other would’ve been olive oil and I’m not sure that would do so good).
• I didn’t have enough vanilla but I did pour all the remainder I had left.

This recipe is pretty much in the awesome area.  It had the right amount of sweet to balance off the zucchini.  Plus, I’m not sure if it was the flour or just the entire recipe itself but every bite melted into my mouth literally.  I fell in love with this more than I expected. If this is what zucchini loaf tastes like, sign me up for more 😉

Have you tried eating gluten-free foods? Do you have any suggestions as to how to slowly get into it? Have you tasted zucchini loaves before?