Chock Full 'O Goodness.....

I bought a bread machine about a month ago, but the house has been staged enough that I haven't really been able to use it much. (It takes up half the counter and that's a big no-no in staging a house.) We haven't had showings the past few days so I pulled it out to give it a workout.

Two loaves of sandwich white (using all purpose flour) came out nice, without much fussing over measuring the ingredients. Good bread for sandwiches, hearty enough to hold chicken salad or to make some grilled cheese. The french, using bread flour, turned out well too.

Honestly, I had low expectations when I saw a recipe for quick bread. I'm a big fan of banana or zucchini or pumpkin bread. A good quick bread should be moist and weigh enough to double as a door stop. I didn't expect a bread machine version to stack up very well against one baked in an oven.

It was a nice surprise to wake up this morning and be found wrong.

Here's the recipe:

Chock Full o' Chocolate Walnut-Zucchini Bread

1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate pieces
2 cups all-purpose flour, divided (hold out 2 Tbsp)
3 large eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp grated orange zest
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground allspice
2 1/2 cups shredded zucchini (about 2 mdm)

In small bowl combine walnuts and chocolate pieces. Add 2 tsp flour, toss well and set aside. Spray bread pan and kneading blade with nonstick cooking spray. Attach kneading blade in the bread pan.

Place ingredients into the bread pan in the following order (important!): eggs, oil, remaining flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, cinnamon, orange zest, salt and allspice. Add zucchini and then the floured walnuts and chocolate pieces along with any flour remaining in the bowl.

Insert bread pan into breadmaker and close lid. Bake, using the quickbread program selection. When baking cycle is complete, let bread cool completely before removing from baking pan.

I didn't have enough zucchini so I used 1 cup zucchini, and substituted 3 mashed bananas. This bread came out moist and a beautiful chocolate color. It had enough body to hold together, much like you'd expect a quick bread baked in the oven to be.

I can't wait to try the oatmeal date bread recipe the little booklet provided. I have visions of my freezer, packed full of these loaves, waiting for someone to stop by for coffee or tea. I even think I might be able to give my sister's recipe for Amy Grant's grandmother's banana bread recipe a whirl too... wonder if it would come out nice? A bread machine baking away on the counter in the summer doesn't seem to heat up the kitchen too much.

By the way, does anyone else hate that our brochures now have several different languages printed in them, and I speak one? A pair of scissors took care of that very quickly.