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Raw Zucchini Bread
Some days I just crave something soft and chewy and filling. Like a piece of bread.
But any time I’ve eaten a piece of good quality, wholemeal organic sourdough bread recently, it just tasted like cardboard – flat and tasteless. Bleck!
Funny how quickly our taste buds adjust.
So I was over the moon when I tried this recipe for raw bread, based on buckwheat, red capsicum and zucchini, and found that it was both strong and soft, just like bread should be.
I spent most of my childhood years unable to eat bread, and then a good many more years after that perfecting a baked gluten-free bread recipe, just so I could enjoy the taste and texture of bread.
Sort of.
Although it was soft and tasty, it was never really strong enough to make proper sandwiches that you could pick up and bite, without the bread falling apart.
So the search for a good bread recipe is a well-trodden path for me.
I’ve played with raw wraps and raw crackers and raw crepes and things calling themselves raw bread, but everything I tried was too tough, too crumbly or too full-flavoured.
But this bread, I can make sandwiches with.
Sandwiches that hold together when I pick them up.
Sandwiches that I can bite into, and chew easily.
Sandwiches that taste like the fillings, not the bread.
Yay!
I’d even go so far as to say that this recipe is better than my “amazing gluten-free bread” recipe that I must have cooked hundreds of times over the years.
So it’s safe to say I’m pretty happy about discovering this recipe for raw zucchini bread.
And because the flavour of this raw bread is so neutral, you can put almost anything with it.
Like raw walnut bolognese, home grown Tommy Toe cherry tomatoes and fresh basil. (Mmmm.)
Or almond butter, mashed banana and fresh blueberries. (Heaven.)
Or cashew cheese, avocado and tomato. (Oh yeah.)
Or cashew butter and raw honey. (Sweeeeet.)
Or avocado caesar dip and tomato. (Yum.)
Or my favourite, almond butter and mashed banana. (Wow.)
It’s my raw equivalent of peanut butter and jam, and boy does it taste good!
The possibilities are endless and terribly exciting.
So the next time I’m craving something filling and soft and chewy, I know what I’m going to make.
Bread.
It’s the simple things that make life so wonderful.
Raw Zucchini Bread
This raw zucchini bread is strong and soft, just like bread should be. Using buckwheat, zucchini and red capsicum, it's neutral flavour goes with anything.
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Makes: 18 pieces (9 serves)
Calories per serve: 221kcal
Ingredients
- 2 cups buckwheat , soaked overnight (380g)
- 1 cup flaxseed / linseed meal (110g)
- 1/2 med zucchini / courgette (100g)
- 1 small red capsicum / bell pepper (170g)
- 3 tsp onion powder
Method
- Soak buckwheat overnight in water, and then rinse thoroughly.
- Put everything into your food processor and process until mix is smooth and doughy.
- Spread half of the mix onto onto each of two dehydrator trays, covered with Teflex sheets. Spread to about 1/4" (6mm) thick and remove any unprocessed chunks you find as you're spreading out the mix.
- Dehydrate for about 2 hours, then flip the bread and remove the Teflex sheet.
- Dehydrate for another 3-5 hours, for a total of 5-7 hours, until the bread is soft but firm.
- Cut each sheet into nine pieces (3 x 3), ready for making sandwiches, or whatever size you want.
Preparation
- Before: Soak buckwheat 5-6 hours or overnight
- During: 20 mins
- After: Dehydrate for 5-6 hrs
- Need: Food processor, dehydrator
Nutrition Information
Serving: 85g (2 pieces); Calories: 221kcal; Carbohydrates: 25.9g; Protein: 8.4g; Fat: 6.7g; Saturated Fat: 0.8g; Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g; Monounsaturated Fat: 1.4g; Sodium: 5.6mg; Potassium: 392mg; Fiber: 8.1g; Sugar: 1.3g; Vitamin A: 650IU; Vitamin C: 38.8mg; Calcium: 50mg; Iron: 1.8mg
Tips
- Flaxmeal is made by grinding flaxseed (also called linseed) into a powder, using a coffee grinder, or the dry jug on your Vitamix / high-speed blender. I recommend that you use golden flaxseed, rather than brown flaxseed, because the taste is milder, which is especially important for this neutral-tasting bread recipe.
- If you like your bread a little firmer, you can dehydrate it for longer. Just keep breaking small pieces off the edge of your bread to see how it’s coming along.
- This bread keeps really well in the refrigerator. Although it can get a bit moist in places, especially if you only dehydrate for 5-7 hours, I’ve had it keep for almost two weeks without spoiling.
Have an awesome day!
I studied Biochemistry and Genetics at Monash University, graduating with a Bachelor of Science, with Honours.
I've always had a passion for natural health, having grown up with asthma, eczema and numerous food allergies, and I wanted to help my kids avoid the same issues.
I love blending science and alternative approaches to find the best of both worlds, and I'm always looking for ways to create more amazing health and happiness in my life.
Learn more about me
Mecca says
Hello. Is there any way to make this bread without a dehydrator? I cannot eat bread and this looks like a delicious alternative.
Nikki says
Hi Mecca,
I’ve only ever made this bread in a dehydrator, but there are lots of great resources on making things without a dehydrator, so I’m sure you could do it.
Here are some links that might help. They’re mostly about making flax crackers, but the principles would be pretty much the same for bread. You’ll just have to play a bit with thicknesses and timing.
These first two methods aren’t raw, because they basically cook the ingredients in the oven, but if you’re not too fussed about that, they might give you some ideas:
– Flax Crackers @ Clean Green Simple
– Garlic Parmesan Flax Seed Crackers @ About.com
If you don’t want to cook them at such a high temperature, these articles explain a few different ways you can dehydrate things without a dehydrator:
– How to Dehydrate Raw Food Without a Dehydrator @ Real Foods Witch
– How to Dehydrate Without a Dehydrator @ Farmers Market Vegan
Hope this helps!
Caroline says
I am allergic to flax so I am wondering if or what I can substitute for the flax?
Nikki says
Hi Caroline,
Some people have success using psyllium husk instead of flax meal, as it adds both bulk and binding to a raw recipe, so if you’re not allergic to that it might be worth a try. Other possibilities are chia seeds (good for binding), ground oats or wheatgerm (good for bulk, and a bit of binding), or hemp meal. I haven’t used any of these in this recipe, so I can’t speak from personal experience, but if you have any success with substituting the flax, I’d love to hear all about it. Hope this helps :)
Besa says
Hello! Thanx x the recipy!
Is there a way to replace buckwheat?
Nikki says
Hi Besa,
You should be able to use a range of activated nuts, seeds or grains instead of the buckwheat.
Buckwheat is quite starchy, so you could try something like activated sunflower seeds, or if you’re happy to use grains, you could try rolled oats.
Apparently quinoa, millet and rice might also work, according to this article on buckwheat substitutes (although they are talking about flours, it might still work with the whole cooked grains).
I haven’t tried it with anything else though, so I am just guessing wildly and I don’t know if it will work.
Let me know how it goes if you give it a try.
Justin says
Wow amazing I will try these out next week when I have time! Are these regular sized sandwiches or small bite sized ones? Can’t tell from the pic. If so…If I cut these bigger to make regular sized ones, how many do you think it would be?
Nikki says
Hi Justin,
I think my pieces were slightly smaller than regular bread slices – maybe 3/4 the size?
The dehydrator trays are around 40cm (16″) square, and I chopped my big sheets of bread into thirds, so I guess my pieces were about 13cm (5″) square.
If you don’t want to waste any bread, then you’d want to chop them in half instead – giving you four pieces – but that would make them a bit too big I think.
You might have to play with it a bit, and maybe change the size of the big sheet you spread out to begin with, so you can chop them into the size you prefer once they’ve dried, keeping in mind that it will probably shrink a little as it dries.
Alternatively, you could spread out individual slices to begin with, allowing for a little shrinkage, although that would be more fiddle than I have patience for.
Let me know how it goes.
Terry says
This is excellent. I am wondering …. could you sub eggplant for the zucchini?
Nikki says
Hi Terry,
I’m not entirely sure. The textures are reasonably similar, but I don’t know how the eggplant flavour would go, and whether it would need any special preparation.
The skin of an eggplant has a different texture to zucchini skin as well, so you’d need to keep an eye on that too, but definitely worth an experiment!
AlysMawm says
This has been up for a while but I’m just catching up to it. Is the buckwheat 2 cups before soaking, or two cups after soaking. Soaking doubles the volume. Thanks!
Nikki says
Hi Alys,
That’s 2 cups (380g) before soaking. Enjoy!
Helen says
I would like to make this bread. I do not have a dehydrator but would like to make this bread and cook it in the oven. What temperature would you recommend as I would prefer it cooked rather than raw. Thanks for your great website and recipes. Loving it.Helen
Helen says
I would like to make this bread but do not have a dehydrator. I would prefer to cook it if that’s possible rather than raw. What temperature should I set the oven at and would it work if cooked?
Nikki says
Hi Helen,
I’ve never actually cooked these in the oven, so I can’t say for sure whether it will work, but you do have some options if you don’t have a dehydrator.
You can either cook them outright in the oven, or set your oven as low as possible and wedge the door open to keep the temperature as low as possible.
To cook them fully, you could try spreading the mix on baking paper on a flay tray, score it, and cook it at 180°C (375°F) for around 10-20 minutes. You’ll need to watch the bread closely and play with the timing to get the results just right.
If you do give this a try, I’d love to hear how it goes.
Nicole Wegscheider says
Hi Nikki,
I have not made the recipe, however, it looks amazing. What dehydrator temperature settings do you use to start this lovely raw soft bread and to finish the bread?
Nikki says
Hi Nicole,
I used around 40-45°C (105-110°F) to dehydrate my bread, but you could use 65°C (150°F) for the first hour or so, because the mix won’t warm up enough in that time to get above 45°C, but it will get it dehydrating faster.
And then just flip it over and turn it down to finish it off.
Enjoy!
Kathy Cambridge says
hi, can you substitute onion fo onion powder?
Nikki Stokes says
Hi Kathy,
I’ve never tried it but I don’t see why not. It might just take a little longer to dry but it’s worth a go! I’d love to know how it turns out.