So what the heck is Amish Friendship Bread anyway? To be honest I had to do a little google search since I was not completely familiar. In conclusion, Amish Friendship Bread is a bread and or cake that is made from a sourdough starter and then it gets past around to friends much like a chain letter or the common cold. The end result is a really tasty bread you can share with the same friends who gave you the initial starter. Check out the recipe below below.
Ingredients
Starter
- 2 tsp. active dry yeast
- 1/4 c. warm water
- 3 1/2 c. flour, divided
- 3 1/2 c. white sugar, divided
- 3 1/2 c. milk, divided
- In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in warm water. Let stand 10 minutes. In a 2 quart, glass, plastic or ceramic container, combine 1 cup flour and 1 cup sugar. Mix thoroughly or flour will lump when milk is added. Slowly stir in 1 cup milk and dissolved yeast mixture.
- Cover loosely and let stand until bubbly. Consider this day 1 of the 10 day cycle. Add mixture to a large zip-lock bag. Leave at room temperature.
- Days 2 through 5, mash the bag with your hands. On day 6, add 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk and mash the bag. Days 7 through 9, mash the bag.
- Day 10, add 1 1/2 cups flour, 1 1/2 cups sugar and 1 1/2 cups milk. Get out 4 large zip-lock bags. Measure out 4 cups of batter and place 1 cup into each zip-lock bag. Keep one starter for yourself and give the other 3 to friends along with this recipe. (You might have a little extra batter, because we added an extra 1/2 cup of each ingredient on day 10. This is because it is kind of hard to get the batter out of the bag, it sticks in all the little creases, so the extra is to make sure you have enough for each bag). Your friends can either make the recipe below or start the 10 day process over again.
Ingredients
Bread
- 1 Cup bread starter
- 1 Cup vegetable oil
- 1 Cup sugar
- 1 Tsp. vanilla
- 3 Eggs
- 1/2 Cup milk
- 2 Cup flour
- 1 1/2 Tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 Tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 Tsp. salt
- 2 Tsp. cinnamon
- 1 (5 oz.) Box instant vanilla pudding
- Topping: 1/4 c. sugar and 1 tsp. cinnamon
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- In a large, non-metal bowl, stir together the starter mix, oil, sugar, vanilla, eggs and milk.
- Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Stir into the starter mixture.
- Mix in the box of vanilla pudding. Grease two large loaf pans.
- Mix an additional 1/4 cup sugar and 1 tsp. cinnamon together and dust the loaf pans with half this mixture.
- Pour the batter evenly into the two prepared pans and sprinkle with the remaining sugar mixture. Bake for 60 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. This is also really good made into muffins!
Recipe source: Eat Cake For Dinner
Photo source: @tangledwebcrochetjen
