Raw Zucchini Walnut Bread

When I used to be Raw Vegan, this recipe was a staple in my diet. It's a recipe that has questionable ingredients since it's raw, but is definitely something worthy of saying, "the end justifies the means."

I had been Raw for almost a year without a dehydrator and remember begging and begging my parents for an Excalibur for Christmas. On Christmas morning I was the lucky one that got exactly what she wanted (never happened again), and had to test out the good immediately. I had seen a recipe in Cafe Gratitude's cookbook for some raw onion bread and that sounded so bizarre to me. How could a raw onion not be extremely overpowering, even if it's in the dehydrator for a long period of time? Although the recipe only consisted of two ingredients--onions and walnuts--and required a food processor instead of a high-speed blender, the results were amazing. The onion is slow cooked--just as if you had done a confit--and had a sweet, milder flavor. The nuttiness of the walnut was a perfect compliment as well--my only problem with everything was the weak consistency of the bread. Since it was full of onion slices only held together by ground walnuts, it was a floppy substitute for anything I would want to use it for, except eating it by itself. This is when I started to adapt and improve upon the recipe.

The adaptation I created has been successful dozens of times. It's most definitely a kitchen sink recipe because the ingredients are just a suggestion as long as you stay with the base, onions and walnuts. Sometimes if the moisture ratio is off, the bread will dehydrate with cracks or holes, which is simple to improvise with--just dehydrate longer and make crackers! I will soon included my favorite recipe to make with the raw bread, which makes for an enormous amount of flavor.


Materials:

• Dehydrator
• High-Speed Blender

Ingredients: (makes 1 dehydrator tray)

• 1 medium onion
• 1 cup walnuts
• 1 zucchini
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp fennel powder
• About 1/2 cup water

*I omit pepper from this recipe because it tends to make the mixture bitter.

Directions:

• Place all of the ingredients into the blender and add a little water to loosen up everything to make for an even texture. Blend until it's a smooth consistency. (You can make the mixture as smooth or chunky as you would like, it's purely based on personal taste.)
• Pour the contents of the blender over the mesh sheet of the dehydrator tray that has been lined with a Teflex sheet. If you don't have a Teflex sheet, just use a fitted sheet of waxed paper. You want to use a non-stick sheet over the mesh sheet so that the liquid doesn't seep through the little holes. Score the wet batter however you would like your bread or crackers to break. I usually just divide the mixture into 4. 
• Replace the rack back into the dehydrator and set the temperature between 110-120ºF. 
• The next part is the hard part: the waiting game. This could take anywhere between 18 hours to 2 days, depending on if you want this recipe to set into bread or crackers. After about 12 hours, or when the mixture has properly solidified, I flip the sheet upside down to evenly dehydrate the other side of the bread. I do this by placing another trace with the mesh sheet (without the Teflex sheet) on top of the bread and quickly flipping it upside down. 
• At this point dehydrate for as long as it takes to make the bread sturdy enough to hold and break along the divisions easily. 
• Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Keeps for about a week. Warm up in the dehydrator to freshen up!