Amish Friendship Bread

[Michelle67]

Ever done it? You know, the stuff you moosh in the bag and feed for ten days before you get to actually make it, and then you bake some and pawn off three or four starters on your friends.

My daughter's GS leader gave me a starter last week, and I'm baking right now. Just had a slice and some coffee for dessert. Pretty yummy. I could only find one person willing to have a starter pawned off onto them, and I'm going to keep one alive for myself, so I'll be baking three batches tonight. That's okay, I'm making most of it into mini muffins and I'm going to freeze them to add to Christmas goody platters along with the mini zuchini muffins I made and froze last month.

 

[Tinijocaro]

Yes I was doing it this year over the summer. You can vary it by changing the pudding flavor (if your recipe uses pudding) You can add stuff to it too, before you bake it. I'd like to do it again some time, now that the cold weather is here.

 

[minniecarousel]

I have some right now. My DDIL gave it to me. I baked one loaf and a dozen muffins last evening. I'll keep the starters alive until Thanksgiving, but if no one takes them, I'll let it die. I like it well enough, but the thought of baking it every 10 days doesn't appeal to me.

I made blueberry muffins 10 days ago. Very good! hmmmm....maybe I should invest in some mini muffin pans.

 

[emer95]

How funny- I just made some tonight! I made one square cake pan, and four mini loaf pans. I'm going to freeze the mini loaves and give them to my coworkers for Christmas. It is so cinnamony and good. It sure uses a lot of sugar, though. Not a healthy treat by any means, but boy is it yummy!

 

[#1hockeymom]

anyone have the recipe for the starter? Specifically the pudding one?

 

[Michelle67]

Oooooh blueberry! Yummy! Next time, for sure. I have some blueberries in my freezer left from this summer. I have raspberries and blackberries too, but I don't like seeds (I use those for jelly). I have evergreen huckleberries too, bet those would be good. Thanks for the .

Tonight I made some plain and some cranberry. I used vanilla pudding for both, but I bought a chocolate pudding for the next round too. I saw on allrecipes or something where someone said pistachio pudding was really great.

Hockeymom, I don't have the starter recipe for getting the original starter going, but I think I saw that on allrecipes too.

 

[#1hockeymom]

thanks! I'll go check it out!

 

[Michelle67]

I'm sure you found it, but just in case:

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)
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 thru 4; stir starter with a spoon. Day 5; stir in 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk. Days 6 thru 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).

This says to do it in a loosely covered bowl, but I've always done it in a gallon ziplock and just let the air out when I moosh it every day.

 

[AuntieM03]

We were doing it earlier this year, but had to stop when my roommate gained 8lbs

 

[Michelle67]

We were doing it earlier this year, but had to stop when my roommate gained 8lbs

Ooooops.

 

[MsDisney23]

OK, sounds very good, I've never heard of this.

 

[mamamary]

My daughter just got hers in scouts this past Wed. We were supposed to add some stuff last night but DD got sick. Honestly it doesn't seem very appetizing to me. I'll see if we can work on it today. Hopefully being a day off won't matter.

 

[Serena]

It is really good. I haven't had any in a long time.

How and when do you change the recipe to add the other flavors?

 

[Jennifer S]

I love this bread - I add chocolate chips to it- fabulous!!

 

[js]

My dm tried to do this last year. When she gave it to me, I got those little fruit flies and threw it right out. My dm's bread did not get the little flies and I have no idea how/why I got them except that I had this concoction of yeast that was sitting out not cooked. I'm glad you all had success though but I won't have that stuff in my house again

 

[loco4dis]

I'm sure you found it, but just in case:

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)
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 thru 4; stir starter with a spoon. Day 5; stir in 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk. Days 6 thru 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).

This says to do it in a loosely covered bowl, but I've always done it in a gallon ziplock and just let the air out when I moosh it every day.

Hey, thanks. So what's the actual bread recipe when you finally have your 1 cup of…stuff? Thanks!

 

[veraletta]

Okay I got some a few years ago, I made the bread but was afraid to eat it.

 

[Michelle67]

You were afraid to eat it? Why? Because it was a live culture and sat out on the counter? Ever eaten sourdough? Same process. Be brave and try it next time you get the chance. It's wonderful. I've made it many times over the years and I swear to you I would never feed my kids anything that would hurt them.

 

[Jeafl]

Between my mother, my sister and I, we kept it alive for several months! I think we made every flavor imaginable!

Here were our favorite add-in's:

--1 large granny smith apple diced very small, and 1 tsp cinnamon (use vanilla pudding (don't use other kinds of apples, it gets mushy)

--1/2 cup (or more) mini chocolate chips and use chocolate pudding

--1/2 cup white chocolate chips, and 1/3 cup chopped macadamia nuts with white chocolate pudding

-- 3/4 cup fresh cranberries (chopped) with lemon pudding and some nuts if you want

--lemon pudding with poppyseeds

--pistachio pudding instead of vanilla

--1/2 cup chopped almonds with coconut cream flavored pudding


The thing about this bread is that you cannot ruin it! I've waited 2-3 weeks to bake it instead of 10 days, I didn't add the stuff on the right day, I went several days without smooshing the bag, you name it. I did everything possible to destroy it (not intentionally!) and you cannot ruin it. It doesn't go bad, and it tastes the same no matter how you treat it!

 

[veraletta]

because it sat out on the counter.