Amish Friendship Bread

Hey everyone!  Have any of you ever made Amish Friendship Bread?  Has a "friend" ever offered you "The Starter," but maybe you thought it was too much work?  Well, I'm here to tell you, it is not difficult and makes a wonderful bread with tons of variations.  I have "starter" that a neighbor in our previous home-town passed on to me over five years ago.  Over the years, I have probably passed on "starter" to at least fifty people.  I just love that concept, don't you?  Anyway, I have been a busy "baking bee" the last couple of weeks, using Friendship Bread starter that I had frozen -- yes, you can freeze it so you are not constantly baking bread if you don't want to do that!  It is so much fun to get the starter from a friend, but I realize that is not always possible; so HERE is a link to a recipe for the starter itself.

Don't these look scrumptious? 

Here is the recipe

Important Notes:

DO NOT use any type of metal spoon or bowl for mixing as this somehow can have a negative reaction and can affect how the starter processes.

DO NOT refrigerate!  If air gets in the bag, let out.  It is normal for the batter to rise, ferment and bubble.

After you have your starter, the 10-day count-down begins.

Day 1 -- Do nothing

Day 1 -- Mush the bag

Day 2 -- Mush the bag

Day 3 -- Mush the bag

Day 4 -- Mush the bag

Day 5 -- Mush the bag

Day 6 -- Add to the bag:  1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup milk (I use reconstituted evaporated milk),      

              then mush the bag thoroughly

Day 7 -- Mush the bag

Day 8 -- Mush the bag

Day 9 -- Mush the bag

Day 10 -- Follow the instructions below:

Pour the entire contents of the bag into a non-metal bowl.  Add 1 1/2 cups of flour, 1 1/2 cups of sugar, and 1 1/2 cups of milk.  This blends together easier if you do small amounts of each of the additions and stir after each.

Measure out 4 separate batters of 1 cup each into four 1 gallon ziploc bags.  Keep a starter bag for yourself and give the others to three friends along with a copy of this recipe or you can freeze the bags for later use.  If you freeze the starter, you need to allow at least 4 hours for it to thaw before using or starting the 10-day process.  If you give starter to friends, be sure to mark today's date on the bag.

To the remaining starter in your bowl, add:

3 eggs

1 cup oil

1/2 cup milk

1/2 t. vanilla

Blend and fold in:

1 cup sugar

2 cups flour

1 lrg. or 2 sm. pkgs. instant vanilla pudding (or flavor of your choice)

1 1/2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

2 t. cinnamon (this is optional, but I think cinnamon tastes good with just about anything)

Grease 2 large or 4 small pans (I use the Pampered Chef Baking Stone 4-loaf pan) -- I use Pam spray

Bake at 325 degrees for about an hour for large pans or 45 min. for the smaller ones.  Cool slightly and remove to wire racks to finish cooling.  These freeze very well.

If you want a  "Printer-friendly" version of this recipe, go HERE,  Nikki @ A Chef-In-Training has a great blog!

This was my Starter on Day 10.

I wanted to make Banana Bread -- I mean, seriously, who doesn't like Banana Bread?

Originally I was just going to double the recipe, so I used 2 cups of the starter, added the eggs and...

Started blending the dry ingredients.  Then I decided to triple the recipe!

I used Banana Instant Pudding instead of Vanilla.

I smushed up 4 large bananas (I like a strong banana flavor).

I alternated the dry ingredients and the bananas, mixing well after each addition.  Whew, this was a work-out!  This is my largest non-metal mixing bowl and it is big, and it was very full of batter!

I love my Pampered Chef stone loaf pan.  If you have never used these, this might look a bit gross, and it took me a while to get passed the need to scrub the dickens out of this pan.  But.....this is seasoning, and the more brownish color it gets, the better it bakes and your food never sticks.  

TRUST ME ON THIS!

I did three batches in the stone pan but had enough batter to do some more.  So, I grabbed three little individual loaf pans that I had and.......

One ramekin to finish off that third batch.  Now I wish I had made some more in 

ramekins -- it is so cute!  

I have something special coming up next week with a ladies' group I belong to and wanted to give each lady one of these little breads.  I have a fun packaging idea for them that I will share next week.  For now the little breads are all wrapped in plastic inside zip bags in my freezer.

Since I used all but one batch of my starter, I decided to use it for another 10-day processing.  

There are so many additions and variations you can make to this recipe, and you can find them on the internet.  Just enter Amish Friendship Bread variations.  HERE is a site with some good ideas!  Over the years I have made Gingerbread, Apple, Lemon, Pumpkin Spice, and even Fruitcake (simply added candied fruits & dates to the regular Friendship Bread recipe).  These breads make the perfect hostess gift or neighbor gift and packaging can make them extra special.  If you have any questions, ask away!

I am so happy you stopped by.  You are always welcome here!

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