Zucchini Sourdough Bread

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Probably a dumb question, but I don’t understand what you mean by “80g (1/3 cup) leaven (all purpose flour)”. Obviously not 80g of yeast. Since this is a sourdough bread, you might mean sourdough starter - which is used in every other sourdough bread I’ve been baking. Can you clarify?

Yes, ripe and floating sourdough starter or leaven. Mine is all purpose flour, but whatever you’ve got is good. Also 80g for my starter is 1/2 cup if I don’t stir the starter down, and 1/3 cup if I do. All questions welcome :slight_smile:

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I can’t wait to make this bread, but I have a question about the bulk fermentation. “Cover and let bulk ferment for a total of 6-12 hours from when you added the leaven.” How does one know when it has fermented long enough? What are we looking for? Thank you for replying.

This is the existential question of baking :slight_smile: Big range is to account for varied starter strength and room temp. At 65F my typical dough needs about 10 hrs. At 78F it needs 6 hrs.

Every dough is different. In addition to room temp…
–Warmer water will boost the process (or warmer cooked zucchini! Beware of too hot.)
–Higher hydration and more stretching and folding (vs lower hydration and no knead) seems to make the ferment a little faster.
–Sprouted grains and/or sprouted wheat flour speeds things up.
–Sugar or honey can speed up the fermentation.
–Oils and acids (e.g. kalamata olive run off) can slow it down.

Look for growth, puffiness, often bubbles. Use a glass bowl if you can to be able to look through the side.

Check out the various photo galleries for the recipes I’ve contributed to Breadtopia. I try to always include a start of bulk photo and an end of bulk photo. Also start of proof and end of proof photos. I wouldn’t dare say I hit the peaks with perfection but my end points and what the dough looks like at them can function as approximate targets.

Good luck with the recipe! I’d love to hear and see how it goes.

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Thanks for responding. This was helpful!

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I’ll be trying this loaf very soon. Should be no problem getting zucchini at this time of year, or next month. As Erma Bombeck said some time ago, in August, people with gardens leave zucchinis on the doorstep of other people, ring the doorbell, then run away!

Brilliant! Lol

thank you for giving a weight for the zucchini. if i used the one i just bought it would probably be appropriate for three or four loaves. i will try this recipe as soon as the current heat wave abates.

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Melissa,
On the Zucchini Sourdough recipe, will the amount be the same if using a Rye starter ? Thanks.

Linda,

Yes, rye starter is fine, and you can use the same amount.

If you’re super into ratios, you can reduce the rye flour by 40g and increase the bread flour by 40g. Then you’ve accounted for the flour in 80g of rye starter vs. all purpose starter. But i don’t believe these are amounts that would cause a difference in the end product.

Enjoy your baking!

-Melissa

Hi, everyone.

I’m gearing up to make this loaf, and I’d like to know how you’ve experimented with cooking the zucchini. Has anyone tried roasting it in the oven or maybe throwing it into a cast iron pan to brown it? We don’t have a microwave, so I’m looking for an alternative.

I finally got around to making this loaf, and it was delicious. Thanks for another great recipe! My only complaint about it involves my own scoring job, since there’s a silly looking split off to the side of the main scoring line. But the bread itself was great, both the flavor and texture.

The one I baked was the rye version, without seeds.

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Yum - looks good! The split in the score adds character. How did you end up cooking the zucchini? lightly oiled saute? steam?

We ended up putting the zucchini in a covered roasting pan and sticking it in the oven. Before roasting, I tossed it in a small amount of olive oil, along with some black pepper. I would have liked to use a cast iron skillet, but I was afraid I’d lose too much of the liquid from the zucchini, which in this recipe seems key to retain.

Sounds like your strategy worked well!

It just occurred to me that you could weigh the vegetable before cooking and after, and add any missing water weight. But this is a level of precision that isn’t necessary imo. An interesting exercise though, perhaps.

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I made the Rye version (no seeds) today - wonderful! I used pattypan vs zucchini and my “bread flour” is WheatMontana all purpose. It is a hard red winter wheat flour so high protein, but I added a bit of vital wheat gluten (20 g) anyway. Otherwise all measurements per the recipe. My starter is 100% hydration of the WM and my own sweet well water. I adjusted technique a bit to what I normally do for my sourdough.

Result was softer crust and crumb and as you described, perfect for sandwiches and toast. Mild taste of the squash … I think. Not sure I’d notice if I didn’t know it was in there. Thank you so much for this recipe and the variations.

You’re welcome! I’m glad you had a good experience with the recipe. Pattypans are so pretty :slight_smile:

This is a great recipe! I made the standard sourdough zucchini and it comes out perfect every time. Do you have an equivalent “non zucchini” version? This comes out way better than my normal sourdough recipe…wondering if the zucchini just works magic.

Is your normal sourdough also all bread flour? How wet does it feel compared to this zucchini dough? Those two factors may play a role.

But also, zucchini has some sugar in it. I just looked it up: A medium zucchini has about 4.9g sugar, which is a little more than a teaspoon of sugar (4g). Does that sugar help your dough ferment? Probably.

You could put a bit of honey in your dough instead if the idea of putting refined sugar into your sourdough is a little unnerving or substitute another vegetable that is full of vitamins and fiber and a tiny bit of sugar :grin: