Zucchini Bread

As promised in the last post, my zucchini bread recipe follows after the jump


Ingredients

• 3 cups flour 
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt 
• 1.5 tsp cinnamon
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable or canola oil
• 2 cups grated zucchini. Use the finer, but not finest, holes on your grater. After grating,  push out water by pushing against the grated zucchini in a fine mesh strainer. The two cups should be without all the extra liquid.
• 1.5 tsp vanilla 
• 0.5 cups plain yogurt 
• 0.5 cups of walnut pieces (optional)

 Directions

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Combine the dry ingredients (flour through the cinnamon) in a large bowl. Using a whisk, make sure the ingredients are thoroughly mixed.
• In a smaller bowl (or a blender) combine the wet ingredients (what remains except walnuts). When the wet ingredients are thorougly mixed, add to the dry ingredients.
• Mix the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients just enough to ensure there are no large pockets of dry ingredients hiding in the bowl. Overmixing will encourage the formation of gluten and cause the bread to be tough rather than tender. 
• Oil one large or two small loaf pans. Add the mixture to the pan(s), and sprinkle walnuts on top, if using. Place in oven, and cook until a knife can be inserted into the middle and pulled out cleanly, about 1.5 hours.