New Recipe

My boss made this Amish Friendship Bread and brought it in to work with the extra starters. I tried it and thought it was simply OK, but I took a starter anyway. The dough takes ten days to ferment, or whatever it does, and of course that tenth day we were staying at the new house. We still don't have everything moved and I had to run to the grocery store for the things I had forgotten to bring. I even had to buy new baking pans! But it was totally worth it. It turned our great! I chose Vanilla Pudding and I added pecans to the mix and on top. I also used McCormicks Cinnamon Sugar instead of just cinnamon in the mix and as the cinnamon sugar combination they say is optional. I also mixed it all in a metal bowl with a metal spoon(*gasp*) which apparently is a no-no, but it didn't catch fire or anything dramatic. I kept one of the starters for myself and I think next time I will try Banana Pudding with pecans and see how that tastes. I also did not use the 1/2 tsp. of salt they call for.

Amish Friendship Bread

Do not use any type of metal bowl or spoon for mixing.
Do not refrigerate; it is normal for the batter to bubble, rise, and ferment.

Day 1 – Do nothing. (This is the day you receive your starter.)
Day 2 – Mush the bag.
Day 3 – Mush the bag.

Day 4 – Mush the bag.
Day 5 – Mush the bag.
Day 6 – Add to bag: 1 c. flour, 1 c. sugar, 1 c. milk. Mush the bag.
Day 7 – Mush the bag.
Day 8 – Mush the bag.
Day 9 – Mush the bag.
Day 10 – Pour batter out of bag into a non-metal bowl.
Add 1 ½ c. each of milk, flour, and sugar. Mix well.
Measure 1 c. batter into 4 separate gallon size zipper bags.
Give starter bags to friends along with a revised copy of this recipe.

Preheat oven to 325°.

In a separate bowl, combine 1 c. sugar, 2 c. flour, ½ tsp. baking powder, 1 large (5.1 oz.) box of instant pudding (pudding flavor will determine flavor of bread), ½ tsp. salt, and 2 tsp. cinnamon (optional). Mix well.

In the bowl with the starter batter add 3 eggs, 1 c. oil, ½ c. milk, 1 tsp. vanilla. Mix well.

Optional: In a small bowl, mix ½ c. sugar and 1 ½ tsp. cinnamon to dust pans and top of bread.

Grease pans (2 large loaf or 3 smaller pans). Use above mixture to coat pans. Pour batter into pans, adding remaining cinnamon/sugar mixture on top.

Bake 1 hour at 325°.

Try getting creative with your mix! Add raisins, chocolate, Heath chunks, toffee, even marshmallows for a taste and a recipe that's all your own! Yum!

Here is the recipe for the starter (from allrecipes.com), in case you don't have any friends passing them around.

1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
3 cups all-purpose flour, divided
3 cups white sugar, divided
3 cups milk

DIRECTIONS
In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Let stand 10 minutes.
In a 2 quart container 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. Leave loosely covered at room temperature.
On days 2 through 4; stir starter with a spoon.
Day 5; stir in 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk.
Days 6 through 9; stir only.
Day 10; stir in 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk.
Remove 1 cup to make your first bread, give 2 cups to friends along with this recipe, and your favorite Amish Bread recipe. Store the remaining 1 cup starter in a container in the refrigerator, or begin the 10 day process over again (beginning with step 2).