Oaty, delicious courgette bread that is Gluten Free, Dairy Free and Low FODMAP! Perfect for those with allergies and those who love yummy things!
Hallelujah! My internet is back! It was down for six whole days and what a dark and difficult time it was. All I can say is thank God for smart phones, I spent most of the time using my phone as a hotspot – which was especially useful since I work from home and can’t work without the internet. It didn’t eat through as much data as I thought it would and I get 20GB a month, so all in all I’m just being dramatic and it wasn’t really that hard haha! Still, it’s nice to have real internet back.
I had a pretty quiet weekend this last one gone, mostly because I was so full of cold and was on death’s door (aka I came down with a serious case of the dreaded “man flu”!) so I spent the weekend sniffling and feeling sorry for myself (and working!). I’m still a bit run down but I’m feeling much more human and even got back into the kitchen today. However, the previous weekend was much more action packed. As you may have read in my posts last week I was away at a hen party (the UK version of a bachelorette party) for a friend who’s very outdoorsy – it was a lot of fun but very exhausting! I wanted to bake something to bring along since we were staying in self catering place, plus that’s just what I do! For the majority I brought a banoffee bread, which was a loaf version of my Banoffee Muffins. But the bride to be is currently on the FODMAP diet which is basically an elimination diet to try and figure out what you’re intolerant to – there’s a long list of foods she can’t have, including gluten, most dairy and anything high in fructose. So I set about making something that she could eat (as well as another gluten free guest) that would still be yummy – armed with the list of allowed foods I came up with this Olive Oil Zucchini Bread!
Zucchini is funny word, where did that even come from? In the UK we call it courgette, which sounds French and probably is. But whatever you want to call it, it’s a very versatile vegetable that lends itself well to baking – particularly breads and muffins. Since I’d already made a banana bread, when I saw courgette on the list of allowed foods I knew I wanted to make another bread. The first decision was what flour to use, and oat flour seemed like the obvious choice because it’s gluten free (as long as it’s certified gluten free as sometimes they process oats with wheat flour) and easy to make – just stick some oats in the food processor and you have oat flour! Luckily eggs are allowed on FODMAP so I didn’t have worry about that, but I would love to try replacing the eggs in this with banana to make it suitable for vegans and those with egg allergies. Olive oil is a great oil to bake with and definitely under utilised by me, it worked great in this bread too – if needed it can be replaced with a flavourless oil though.
My original plan was to sweeten it with maple syrup to keep it all natural but my local supermarket didn’t have any pure maple syrup and the artificial stuff isn’t allowed on a FODMAP diet. My next idea was honey, but that’s not allowed on FODMAP either so in the end I used regular white caster sugar, which was allowed much to my surprise! It doesn’t need a lot of sugar though so it still feels pretty wholesome to eat!
- 115g caster sugar (super fine granulated sugar)
- 200g oat flour* (plus more for dusting tin)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 120ml olive oil (plus more for oiling tin)
- 1 tsp white wine vinegar
- 2 large eggs
- 160g grated courgette/zucchini (approx 1 medium courgette)
- 1 tbsp oats for sprinkling on top (optional)
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Lightly grease a 1lb loaf tin with a little olive oil and a sprinkling of oat flour. Set aside.
- Add the sugar, flour, bicarb, baking powder, salt and cinnamon to a bowl and lightly whisk to combine. Set aside.
- Put the eggs, oil and vinegar in a bowl and beat to combine. Stir in the courgette.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and stir to combine.
- Spoon into your prepared loaf pan and spread out evenly. Sprinkle with oats if desired.
- Bake for 45 minutes, until golden brown and a skewer comes out clean. If the top is browning too quickly, loosely cover with foil.
- *to make oat flour, measure out just over 200g oats (always best to have a little extra, as you'll want some for dusting too). Put in a food processor and blitz until you have a fine flour. It won't be as fine as store bought flour, but that's okay - texture is good.
- Makes 1 x 1lb loaf.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature, will keep for up to 5 days
When I set out to bake something gluten free, dairy free and low FODMAP I was a little worried it would end up being kind of bland and have a nasty texture. I guess I have a lot to learn about eating with allergies because this bread is absolutely delicious and it disappeared way faster than the banoffee bread (which is full of bananas, toffee and chocolate!), and wasn’t just enjoyed by the gluten free guests! With the addition of cinnamon it tasted a lot like an oatmeal raisin cookie, without the raisins – which are my favourite cookies (and I’ve never made them!) so I was very happy with it. The texture is very crumbly, which could be helped with perhaps a little more oil or maybe adding a banana. But personally I really liked how crumbly it was, it didn’t make for great photos or neat slicing but it was pleasant to eat! If you wanted to toast it though I wouldn’t recommend using a regular toaster – under the grill (broiler) or in a toaster oven would be your best bet. We didn’t try it toasted but I imagine it would be amazing.
The courgette adds a lot moisture and a subtle taste to the bread, but you could definitely use this as a way to sneak in a little vegetables for the kiddies and veggie haters in your family, if you don’t tell them they’ll never know! I’m no nutritionist and how healthy a bake is doesn’t cross my mind usually (which is no surprise if you look at the rest of my recipes!), but I would say this bread is pretty damn healthy. I mean it has vegetables for starters, and oats are wholesome and good, olive oil is full of healthy fats (right?) and, well, a little sugar never hurt anyone with a functioning pancreas!
The most important part of any bake, for me, is the taste though and this one definitely ranks high! It’s healthy (I’m sticking with that), it’s delicious, it’s allergy friendly and all the ingredients are regular cupboard supplies! You can’t get much better than that!
So, what do you think? Will you have a go at some allergy friendly baking?
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What a great recipe! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you!
What a great friend you are by bringing a yummy treat that everyone can eat.
😀 Thanks!
Zucchini bread is totally on my agenda of things to MAKE! In fact…. It could be coming up VERY soon! 🙂
😀 I can’t wait to see yours!
Hi Michelle, great recipe! I want to make this for a party on the 24th May. How far in advance can I make and store it? Thanks!
Thanks Nicky!
The fresher the better of course, but you could make it 1-2 weeks in advance and it still be good. Wrap it well in clingfilm and store it in the fridge. I haven’t tested this as I only made mine a day in advance and it was gone the second day – but with the vegetables and oats it will keep pretty well. Let me know how it turns out!
This looks delicious! I love how some recipes come out so well when you are adapting for particular diets (oddly enough, the zucchini muffins I made not so long ago were partly as I was wanting to make something a vegan friend could enjoy) but the end result is so tasty everyone loves it. Thanks for sharing with Fiesta Friday!
Me too! Vegan and GF definitely get a bad rep, I think that’s why we’re surprised when the results are so good haha! I definitely need to try a few more recipes – and def some more vegan stuff!
Thanks Caroline 🙂 Happy FF!
Beautiful!! Saving this recipe up for when my Mother comes to visit! I’ve been making Dairy free recipes to save up for my mum so this is definitely going on the list!!
It looks delicious Michelle and I am yet to make a Zucchini Bread that I am in love with!!
Thank you Dini! I hope your mum likes it, I definitely fell in love with this one – it’s the oat flour that does it for me!
I love using olive oil in baking and zucchini bread is a family favorite, this sounds wonderful!
Thank you!
Hi Michelle,
I wanted to extend you the chance to join several of my Pinterest food group boards if you are interested. My #1 Pinterest board is my Best Comfort Foods group board with over 440,000 followers and over 12 millions repins. This board is currently open to new contributors (this week only). If you are interested in joining please go to the board and follow the directions. Here is the link: https://www.pinterest.com/lindadwiseman/best-comfort-foods/
Thanks,
Linda
Thanks Linda, I will check them out!