the summer zucchini glut + zucchini babka

Home Baked: A Year of Seasonal Baking

There are signs that the end of summer is on its way. The days are slightly shorter, the first early-season apples are available at the local roadside stalls, and the blackberries are starting to ripen. However, there are a few summer instalments of Home Baked still to come before we move on to Autumn. I really hope you have been enjoying the stories and recipes as much as I’ve enjoyed writing and baking them.

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Is it really summer if you don’t have too many zucchini?! Heading to our local crop swap at this time of year, it’s no surprise to find that everyone is hoping to offload their surplus zucchini. Invariably these are the items left on the table at the end of the swap, simply because everyone is in the same situation. It’s hard enough trying to use your own without adding more.

The adage that you shouldn’t shop when you’re hungry should apply similarly to when you are planting. Don’t plant summer vegetables when you have a winter craving. Each year, around this time, I make a mental reminder that next year I need not plant so many zucchini. I guarantee, however, that the same situation will occur again. It starts with having to narrow down the varieties I like. I have a preference for a ridged zucchini - they are attractive when sliced, and the Long Florence variety I’ve grown for the past couple of years has a somewhat drier, firm flesh that works very well for grilling or sautéing. They are prolific and mature with the flower still attached, which gives you the added option of stuffing the flower. My second go-to variety is the tromboncino, an elongated zucchini with a slight curve and a bulbous end that houses the seeds. I like these for that very reason - there is plenty of seedless flesh. This year, I also have golden zucchini, which I like for the contrasting colour.

Once I’ve decided on the varieties to plant, I set about sowing the seeds, and this is where it all starts to go wrong. I should plant just a couple of each variety, but then I worry that they might perhaps not germinate. Our growing season is short, and I don’t want to miss out by having to start again. But then they all sprout and keep going (if you’re a novice gardener, zucchini are a good place to start. They are quite bulletproof, produce well, and there are varieties that grow well in small spaces, even pots). By this stage, I’ve grown attached to them and feel awful about sending a few of the seedlings to the compost so they all go in the ground. Before you know it, harvesting zucchini becomes a daily activity, the vegetable drawer in the fridge is overrun with them, and you are searching for increasingly bizarre ways to include zucchini in every dish.

Then there are the giant zucchini, the ones that manage to escape detection and grow to huge proportions. You spy them, often hidden beneath the leaves, and wonder how you could have possibly missed something so enormous. They present a different challenge - trying to use the somewhat spongy flesh and the oversized seeds. Sometimes, it’s a step too far, and the chickens and sheep are the grateful recipients.

It’s easy to complain about having too many zucchini, but really, I’m quite partial to a seasonal glut. Not only does it inspire some creativity in the kitchen, but gorging on one particular thing ensures that by the time it’s finished, you have well and truly eaten your fill. The wait until this time next year doesn’t seem like such a bad thing!

This is not a recipe that will diminish your zucchini supplies in one go, but rather another way of incorporating some zucchini in another baked item. A traditional babka is a sweet braided bread developed by Jewish communities in Central Europe. Its appearance varies depending on the location; the loaf style in this recipe is typical of babka made initially by New York’s Jewish communities. It lends itself to all sorts of fillings and is quite forgiving when it comes to appearance. I’ve gone with a savoury version filled with a herby cream cheese and zucchini, topped with an everyday bagel seasoning.

Zucchini and Herb Cream cheese Babka

Makes 1, 21 x 11 cm loaf

For the dough

• 400 g bread flour

• 1 teaspoon instant yeast

• 1½ teaspoons salt

• 1 tablespoon sugar

• 180 ml milk

• 50 ml olive oil

• 1 egg

• a little milk for brushing the top

• 1 tablespoon of Everything Bagel mix

For the filling

• 225 g cream cheese, softened

• a large handful of mixed fresh herbs, finely chopped - any combination of parsley, fennel, tarragon, basil, chives, chervil, and oregano work well

• zest of 1 lemon

• 3-4 grinds of fresh pepper

• 140 g zucchini (approx), coarsely grated - about 1 medium zucchini, and squeezed to remove the excess moisture

To make the babka dough, add the dry ingredients to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. In a small bowl, mix the milk, olive oil and egg. Pour this into the dry ingredients and mix on a low speed for 8-10 minutes or until the dough is smooth.

Turn the dough out onto the kitchen bench and shape into a round. Put the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a tea towel and leave for 1-1½ hours or until the dough has doubled in size. How long this takes will depend on the warmth of your kitchen. Mine can often take longer unless I can find a warm, sunny spot outside.

While the dough is proving, make the filling. Use a fork to mash together the cream cheese, herbs, lemon zest and pepper.

Grease a 21 x 11 cm deep loaf tin and line with baking paper.

When the dough is ready, remove it from the bowl onto a lightly floured kitchen bench. Roll it out gently until it is an approximately 25 x 40 cm rectangle. Spread the cream cheese mixture over the dough, leaving a border of about 1 cm along the long edges. Spread the grated zucchini over the top of the cream cheese. Starting at the long edge closest to you, roll up the dough into a tight sausage. Gently press on the edge to seal it.

Cut the sausage in half lengthways, then twist the dough together. Don’t worry if it looks messy - it’s very forgiving. Carefully transfer the braid to the prepared loaf tin, tucking in the ends. Cover with a damp tea towel and leave for about an hour or until it has almost doubled in size.

Heat the oven to 180°C.

Brush the top of the loaf with a little milk and sprinkle with the everything bagel mix. Bake for 35-40 minutes. Check the loaf after about 25 minutes, and if it is browning a little too quickly, cover loosely with tin foil. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

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Next time: summer berry abundance + a berry cheesecake slice

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Home Baked: A Year of Seasonal Baking is a cookbook in weekly instalments. Each week I share a seasonal story and baking inspiration from our corner in Tasmania’s far south. I’d love for you to consider a subscription so that you don’t miss out. You’ll receive a free post each Wednesday.

For paid subscribers, a printer-friendly recipe card for the zucchini babka is below, along with two bonus zucchini recipes from my cookbook - a zucchini and herb frittata and a bread and butter zucchini pickle. As a paid subscriber, you receive this bonus material as well as an additional newsletter each Friday.