I made this quite a while ago, but never quite got around to writing it up. It's been sitting in my queue for months now. Figured it was finally time to write it up.

I'm really happy with how this came out. It was pleasantly cheesey with little zucchini flecks throughout. And it was nice to have a zucchini bread recipe that wasn't the standard sugary quick bread that I'm used to. (Not that I have anything against the sugary quick bread! For years that was the only way I'd actually eat zucchini. But I enjoyed that this recipe took zucchini bread in a different direction.)

Zucchini-Cheddar Sourdough Bread

Adapted from Zesty South Indian Kitchen

Ingredients

• 280g zucchini, grated
• 250-300mL water
• 400g hard (strong/bread/high grade) whole wheat flour
• 150g fresh (active/fed) sourdough starter¹
• 160g old Cheddar, cubed
• 9g coarse sea salt
• 2.5g black peppercorns, ground

Directions

1. Toss the grated zucchini with ~1/3 the salt and set aside for 15-30 minutes.
2. Reserving both the liquids and the solids, wring out grated zucchini removing as much water as you possibly can.
3. Add water to the zucchini liquid to bring it up to 300mL.
4. Add the water to the flour and mix until combined. Cover and set aside for 1-2 hours.
5. Add the starter to the autolysed flour mixture and fold and knead the dough until the starter has been fully incorporated. Cover and set aside for 30 minutes.
6. Add the grated zucchini, cheese, salt, and pepper and fold and knead the dough until these ingredients have been incorporated as well.
7. Stretch and fold the dough every 30 minutes for 2 hours and then every 60 minutes for three hours keeping covered between stretches.
8. If dough still seems a little sluggish, give it another hour or two.
9. Laminate the dough by stretching into a large rectangle, folding into thirds, then rolling up jelly roll style. Cover and set aside for 30 minutes.
10. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and round it, building up a bit of tension and pulling the gluten taut. Allow to rest, uncovered, for 30 minutes.
11. Round the dough again and place into a well-floured banneton or towel-lined bowl.
12. Allow to cold ferment in fridge for 12 hours.
13. Remove dough from fridge and preheat oven to 230°C (450°F).
14. Turn dough out of banneton and onto a sheet of parchment (baking) paper.
15. Dust with flour and score the dough as desired.
16. Transfer the dough -- still on its baking paper -- to a Dutch oven.
17. Cover and bake at 230°C (450°F) for 10 minutes.
18. Reduce heat to 220°C (425°F) and bake for another 15-20 minutes (still covered).
19. Reduce heat to 180°C (350°F), uncover, and bake until done (~30 minutes).

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¹ I recommend doing a 1:5:5 (starter:flour:water) feeding the night before and allowing it to activate overnight. Leave it out at room temperature and by morning it should be ready to go. ^Back