This Bacon Cheddar Zucchini Bread is perfect for breakfast, lunch, brunch or snack! Serve it with scrambled eggs, freshly snipped chives, and chopped tomatoes. It’s amazing warm right out of the oven. So make two loaves at least!
Ingredients:
For the bread:
4 tbsps unsalted butter
2/3 cup milk
3 cups all-purpose flour (divided)
2 Tbsps granulated sugar
2 1/4 tsps (usually 1 packet) instant yeast
1 tsp salt
2 large eggs
For the filling:
1 lb thick cut bacon, chopped
1 1/2 cups zucchini, grated, squeezed, and drained
1 1/2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, grated
bacon grease
a dash of salt
sugar, optional
Directions:
Make the dough:
Melt together the butter together with the milk over medium-low heat until the butter is fully liquid. Remove it from heat.
Combine 2 cups of flour, sugar, yeast, and salt in a bowl. Add your butter-milk mixture and mix until your flour is moist. Mix in your eggs one at a time. Add the remaining cup of flour and mix it in until a soft dough forms. Knead it for a few minutes more. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, cover it with a light cloth, and let it sit in a cool place for about an hour.
Make the filling:
Cook your bacon: Pan-fry your bacon (or cook it however your preferred method is). Set your cooked slices aside on a paper towel and let it sit. Reserve leftover grease to sauté zucchini.
Lightly sauté shredded zucchini in bacon grease.
Combine bacon, zucchini, cheese, salt & sugar (optional) in a small bowl.
Assemble the bread:
On a well-floured board (with a well-floured pin), roll out your dough into a very large rectangle or square (20in x 12in or 16in x16in at least is probably good). The dough is very stretchy, especially when you're putting it into your loaf pan, so more is better.
Spread your bacon, zucchini & cheese filling across the entire surface of the dough, even up the edges.
Turn your loaf pan into its narrow side. Slice your dough into long strips (probably about 4-inches wide each) and stack those strips on top of each other. Very gently cut the stacked strips into squares (or rectangles) and pile those stacked squares into the loaf pan until you've got a Jenga-like, filled pan.
Bake the bread:
In an oven preheated to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, bake your bread for 30-40 minutes (or until it's very golden brown on top).
Remove it from the oven and let it sit in the pan for at least 10 minutes before shifting it out.
Once the bread has cooled a little, serve and enjoy! (It's excellent drizzled with a little maple syrup, but awesome on its own too).
