Zucchini / Courgette Crown Bread

Zucchini / Courgette Crown Bread by DK on Feb 3, 2009

There is nothing more satisfying than Baking esp. Breads. If I had time, I would love to make breads everyday! - Oh well at least every other day.

Usually my better half always makes fun of me, that since I am vegetarian and don't eat eggs, that surviving in many places around the world would be mighty difficult for me. But then I can survive just on breads, may be little cheese and some basic tomato soup. These are always available everywhere. Anyways, when it comes to making breads, I am always fascinated with the ones using vegetables. My first experience with one was when I made carrot cakes after which I progressed to making carrot cupcakes.It was inevitable that I use Zucchini a.k.a courgette next.

The taste is something which I will leave to you – since I really can’t comprehend how I am going to explain the diversity of sensations it made on my taste buds. Where do I begin? With the ease of how simple it was to make bread out of it? The minimal preparation time it requires? The texture, which it provided to the bread and how little I had to do with my hands? Or simply just show you the picture and let it do all the talking? I think I will do the last.

I had been meaning to make crown bread for a long while now ever since I saw one at Costco here. They had some for display, dunno what they were made of but I was fascinated at the shape and look that it had to give. I wanted to wait for an apt moment when we had one of those simple Bread and side dish kind’ a dinner. It arrived few days earlier and I made this along with Vegetarian chili - and relished it like a sloppy joe.I saw this recipe in Muffins and Quick breads book at the library.I dint want to do any adaptation - it was simply perfect for us. The bread really does not require anything else and tastes wonderful on its own. Bookmark this one – You know you will love it

Cook time: Under 30 min
Prep time: 2 to 4 hours
Yields: Makes 8 Servings

Ingredients

About 3-4 cups of Zucchini, grated
5 cups of All Purpose flour
2 packets of fast rising dried yeast
4 tbsp grated vegetarian Parmesan
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper for sprinkling
1-2 tbsp of Sesame seeds for garnish

Method

1. Place the grated Zucchini in a colander and sprinkle it lightly with salt and toss it well. Set aside for 30 min. Then pat it down until dry with paper towels.

2. Meanwhile mix the flour, yeast and parmesan together and season with black pepper.

3. Stir in the oil and the Zucchini and add enough lukewarm water to make a firm dough.

4. Knead it in a lightly floured surface until smooth.

5. Return it into a mixing bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it rise in warm place until doubled in size - about 1 to 1-1/2 hrs.

6. Meanwhile grease a round oven pan - you can use a pizza pan and then line it. Preheat the oven to 400F. Punch down the dough, knead it lightly and then break into 8 balls. Roll each one and arrange them, touching, in the pan like a crown. one in the center and the rest surrounding it.

7. Brush it lightly with milk and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Let it rise again ( about 30 min) and then bake it for 30-40 minutes until golden brown. Set aside to cool.

8. You can always warm it enough while eating.

Filed Under these categories

Zopf (Züpfe) – Swiss braided Bread

Pan fried Falafels Recipe | Zucchini Recipes

Zucchini Falafels with Yogurt Tahini Sauce By DK on Aug 13, 2012

Zucchini, Potato, Carrot Patties | Zucchini Recipes

Zucchini Potato Fritters By DK on Aug 20, 2012

Easy Courgette Soup Recipe | Courgette Recipes

Cream of Zucchini Soup By DK on Jun 20, 2012

Easy and Moist Carrot Cake Recipe | Classic Carrot Cake for Holiday season

Classic Carrot Cake By DK on Oct 14, 2010

OPOS Carrot Halwa Recipe | Carrot Halwa in Pressure Cooker

10 minute Carrot Halwa (OPOS®) By DK on Feb 9, 2018

Easy Vegetarian Burger Recipe | Zucchini, Mushroom, TVP, Chickpeas & Brown rice Burger

“Garden” Burgers By DK on Jul 3, 2012

I love to hear from you! I read each and every comment, and will get back as soon as I am able to.

Did you try this recipe? Please share your feedback!

You need to login to share feedback. Use one of the following to login.

Upload Your Recipe Photos

4 Member Reviews

By Sarika on Jul 8, 2012

Thank you! This turned out yummy......and bread with Green Vegetable,can't get better then this!!

By Apeksha on Apr 10, 2012

tried this, turned out good, halfed the ingridients...added 2cups all purpose flour and 1/2 cup wheat flour. Once question though...can we use the yeast by mixing it in the water and letting it rise and then adding it to the flour versus directly adding it to the flour? and the reason I ask this question is because i added the yeast the way mentioned in the recepie but after almost 2 hrs couldn't see much rising so i added a little yeast again. I also didn't take out any water from the zucchini after adding the salt. I simply used the zucchini without mashing the water out of it., should that make any difference?

-----------

Hi Apeksha - The "fast rising/ raid rise" yeast is normally added along with the dry ingredients. The Active Yeast is the one that needs proofing ( i.e adding it to lukewarm water, waiting for it to froth and then adding to dry ingredients). If your dough did not rise, then that would mean that your yeast was dead. When you salt the grated zucchini, it tends to ooze out water. Wiping it with dry towel helps to remove excess. But if you were able to shape the dough with not much additional water, then its fine to do it that way--DK

Read All 4 Reviews →

27 Comments

By sara on Mar 21, 2014

i see that u havent used any baking powder here. will it come out to be fluffy without using BP?

It uses Yeast, so it will. --DK

By das_archana@yahoo.com on Oct 2, 2013

hi this bread looks lovely, i wud certainly make it . can u tell me how much is 2packets of fast rising yeast? i hv active dry yeast , will it do?

By Sarika on Jul 8, 2012

Hi DK, I have been trying to bake bread ,Zucchini bread today looked beautiful and overall turned out good.sometimes my bread is not so successful.......mostly the problem is the crust becomes chewy:( even today it was kinda chewy but better then other times.I wonder where am I going wrong? Do you have any suggestion? Thankx, Sarik

By Lakshmi Canteen on Jun 14, 2012

I made this bread yesterday and it turned out well. Texture wise I was very happy. Only thing was it lacked salt. So how much salt would you suggest me to add? Next question- I thought the Parmesan cheese will induce a different taste but it was as if I didnt add any? Did I go wrong anywhere or the quality of cheese was not good? :!: Please help DK as this was my first ever bread. Anyways thanks for the recipe. You rock always :-D

By meenakshi on Sep 18, 2011

:) I made this recipe yesterday. I substituted all purpose with whole wheat and it did come out a bit dense. I think its because of the heavier flour. taste wise it was very good. another way to get zucchini into my kids, who dont like it at all! :lol:

By Vona on Dec 9, 2010

Wow the beetroot brownies look dellicious! I also looked at your zucchini Crown Bread looks great also! I have been eating zucchini bread (sweet version) for many years and it is the best way to use up a surplus crop! Keep up the great ideas!

By Minoo on Sep 17, 2010

:wink: :-D :)

By Archana on Sep 16, 2010

Cant i make this with wheat flour? Since all purpose flour is nothing but maida (not that healthy), i was just wondering if we could make this yummy recipe with wheat flour. By the way, hats off to you, for trying out and also sharing with all of us such innovative, modern and very different recipes. One more QQ what/who is your inspiration?? :-D

One small correction - All purpose flour is not "unhealthy" - its simply devoid of nutrition thanks to all the bran and endosperm having been removed from wheat flour. In other words empty calories but not unhealthy like a wad of butter is :) You can of course try using whole wheat - but pls do keep in mind that the result will not be as spongy as this. If you can get hold of "Vital Wheat Gluten" then you can add 1 tbsp or two along with whole wheat to give that spongy texture. This is in order to create more gluten to wheat. Or try using half and half of AP flour/Wheat. Again - experiments are the best things in the kitchen...:) Do give it a try with wheat flour too. And Thank you for your kind words about the site. Means a lot to me. W.r.t your question - is it Inspiration for cooking or for maintaining a site? If its cooking, then I have to say its my husband who loves to eat what I cook. If its for maintaining a website/blog - then its simply my thirst for learning - the more I blog and share my thoughts, more inputs I get from readers like you which in turn enriches me and paves way for more knowledge :)

By viji on Jun 28, 2010

hi, i want to try this,but i dont have cheese in stock. Can i still try this one without cheese?

Oh yes, since its only few tbsp, I dont think it will cause any major difference in the result of the bread. You can skip it :) --DK

By hema on Feb 21, 2010

hi Dk i tried this, it came out well... my son liked very much me too. thank u.

By MyKitchenInHalfCups on Feb 8, 2009

Now when zucchini come into season and we're swimming in them, this will be magnific! Beautiful bread.

By Farmgirl Susan on Feb 7, 2009

Your rolls are beautiful! I love the idea of cramming all that zucchini into a yeast bread. I definitely need to try this. : )

By coffeegrounded on Feb 6, 2009

Your bread is stunningly beautiful! I'll bet it is so moist, too.
I'm bookmarking this. I HAVE to bake it!

Thanks.

By Susan/Wild Yeast on Feb 6, 2009

What a great way to use zucchini and so different from the typical sweet zucchini quick bread. Lovely!

By Madhuram on Feb 5, 2009

Another amazing bread creation of yours DK. I love savory breads. Will look for fast rising yeast in the store this time.

By Pavani on Feb 4, 2009

Thanks for the detailed info on fast raising yeast. Will look for it next time I'm in the store.

By DK on Feb 4, 2009

@Pavani - Yes Fast rising and regular active yeast is different. Fast rising yeast also comes in those small sachets only..they will be just next to Active yeast ones. Whats convinient about Fast yeast that..well it is..fast :) :) The dough rising much much faster than regular yeast. All you need is to add it to the dough, add some lukewarm water to make the dough and set aside..and Viola! you have double the dough in an hour or so, as opposed to at least 1-1/2 to 2 hrs for regular yeast..give it a try..makes life easier in the kitchen! :)

By DK on Feb 4, 2009

@all : thank you girls...am so glad u like it :)

@A.I - haha I laughed straight for 5 minutes at your comment.You are funny indeed. But I am sure you have been told that often enough...I still cant help grinning....

@foodierunner - Thanks for your sweet comment..and congrats on the book. Looking fwd to it. I really admire you for combining so many time consuming things remarkably well. As for as the bread goes - I have never made a bread in the machine, so I really dont know about the water. I dint use any precise measurement for water in this recipe..it was more as and when required enough to make it into smooth soft dough. May be around 1 cup or so..Zucchini is moist enough. Hope this helps.

@Asha - coming right up to peep into yours..:)

By Pavani on Feb 4, 2009

OMG DK.. that bread looks awesome. Looks like there is lot of bread being baked (in the) blogosphere (is that an aliteration!!). Just saw Asha's Asiago bread and now this one. I've never made bread before, but will give it a try soon. One question: is fast raising yeast different from regular yeast that we get in small satchets. Thanks a bunch for the recipe.

By KALVA on Feb 4, 2009

love the bread... You have used zuccini in a very sumptuous way!

By Asha on Feb 4, 2009

Looks perfect, easy too. Zucchini breads are always moist and yummy. These are great for soups. Good one DK! :)

I agree, nothing more satisfying than baking bread. I baked a bread too for this week! :D

By Happy cook on Feb 4, 2009

Wow the bread looks super beautiful and yummy delicious.

By foodierunner on Feb 4, 2009

This bread looks fantastic. I'm looking at vegetable-based cakes and breads at the moment (made sweet potato cake yesterday and will blog about this next week) I'd love to make this bread and I might see what happens in if I make it in my bread machine. How much water would you use?

By A. I. on Feb 3, 2009

Am so glad u're not my 'naathanaar'. :))))))))) You actually make all this??????????????? Man! Just reading your blog makes me feel guilty about not trying out new recipes. I better get back to my kitchen with this page open!!

By DEESHA on Feb 3, 2009

that looks really really good

By rekhas kitchen on Feb 3, 2009

wow this one is in my to do list yours looks so soft and yummy DK

By Madhu on Feb 3, 2009

Zuccihini bread looks super good DK.