Last weekend, I was on the sidelines at my daughter’s soccer game chatting with Gina, a fellow soccer mom, when I mentioned that I had recently made bread for the first time. I’m so glad I mentioned it. Little did I know, but she makes Amish Friendship bread all the time and had some starter ready to share.
The Key is the Starter
Intrigued (I’ve never had Amish friendship bread before), I immediately started peppering her with questions. Gina is an AP Chemistry teacher and told me about how friendly bacteria and yeast are created and fed and allowed to grow to create a starter which is used as a basis for bread. The bread gets its name from gifting the extra starter to friends. In that manner, the original starter is handed down over time. As a matter of fact, Boudin’s Sourdough bakery on Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco boasts they still use the same sourdough starter from 1849 during the Gold Rush era!
In my case, I think the storyline is a little less glamorous…I think she created some to study fermentation in her class and I was the lucky recipient of the extra starter. No matter, it’s the sharing that counts.
Day Seven Starter
A day later, she gave me the starter and instructions on how to handle the starter every day until Day 10: Baking Day. She gave the starter to me on Day Seven, so that gave me a little time to gather up my ingredients, the oddest of which was instant pudding. Instant pudding? Huh?
That weird ingredient aside, the rest was straightforward and pretty clear-cut. Store the starter in the pantry (not in the fridge) and just mash the bag up every day. On the 10th day, make the bread.
Start with making more of the starter. Add flour, sugar, milk and whisk it together.
Split that up in to four bags, with about a cup each in the bags. (There may be more bags if the starter was particularly active.)
Be sure to keep a bag of starter for yourself, so you can make more later.
Then, make the batter for your bread. Add more flour, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, milk, and instant pudding.
Grease two 5×7 loaf pans, dust with cinnamon-sugar topping, and fill. In my case, I opted to use a heart-shaped, cast-iron mold in lieu of one of the loaf pans. (How’s that for a friendship theme?)
Bake for an hour, and enjoy.
I added the topping at the end of baking. You’re really suppose to add it before baking, but I forgot. Oops.
I know one sweet lil’ dumpling who loves the idea of heart-shaped bread.
In no time at all, I was enjoying moist, cinnamon-y friendship bread. Thank you Gina, for sharing!
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Amish Friendship Bread
Equipment
- (2) 5"x7" loaf pans
Ingredients
Starter
- The bag of dough you were gifted
- 1 1/2 cup all-purpose, unbleached flour
- 1 1/2 cup granulated, white sugar
- 1 1/2 cup milk
Bread
- 2 cups flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup canola oil
- 3 larger eggs
- 1/2 cup milk
- 7 ounce box vanilla instant pudding
- 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup walnuts, chopped optional
- 1 cup raisins
Toppings
- 1/2 cup granulated, white sugar
- 2 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
Create More Starter
- On Day 10, in a large glass or plastic (that is, non-reactive) bowl, add the ingredients to stretch out the starter (1 1/2 cup flour, 1 1/2 cup sugar, 1 1/2 cup milk). Mix together with a whisk.
- Measure out equal portions of about 1 cup each into four to (7) 1 gallon plastic freezer storage bags. The actual number of bags will vary, depending on how active your starter has been, especially if you made it from scratch. For me, there were four portions (I baked the fourth.)
- Leave your portion in the mixing bowl. Set aside the portions to share.
Make Your Bread
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees, Fahrenheit.
- Grease two 5x7 loaf pans.
- Add to the mixing bowl the ingredients listed above for BREAD.
Make Toppings
- In a smaller bowl, mix together the ingredients listed above for TOPPING.
- Dust the greased loaf pans with the topping.
- Pour the batter evenly into the pans and sprinkle the remaining cinnamon-sugar mixture on the top.
- Bake for one hour or until the bread loosens evenly from the sides and a toothpick inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean.
Instructions for Sharing
- You have 10 days to let the starter prep. You can give to your friends at any point during this time frame.
- Day 1: Do nothing
- Day 2: Mash the bag. Using your hands, massage the bag so that you are mixing the ingredients together.
- Day 3: Mash the bag.
- Day 4: Mash the bag.
- Day 5: Mash the bag.
- Day 6: Feed the starter. Add to the bag: 1 cup flour, 1 cup milk, 1 cup sugar. Mash the bag.
- Day 7: Mash the bag.
- Day 8: Mash the bag.
- Day 9: Mash the bag.
- Day 10: Make more starter to give to friends and make your bread.
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