Amish Friendship Bread

[keljonma]

This conversation came up in my journal. So I am posting the recipes I have for Amish Friendship Bread. Below are the Starter Recipe, and 2 different recipes for handling and baking the Amish Friendship Bread. I am also including Variations, which can be used with either recipe.

Amish Friendship Bread Starter
This is the starter that youll need to make the Amish Friendship Bread. It is very important to use plastic or wooden utensils and plastic or glass containers when making this. Do not use metal at all!

1 pkg. active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (110F)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1 cup warm milk (110F)

In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in warm water for about 10 minutes. Stir well.

In a 2 quart glass or plastic container, combine 1 cup sifted flour and 1 cup sugar. Mix thoroughly or the flour will get lumpy when you add the milk.

Slowly stir in warm milk and dissolved yeast mixture. Loosely cover the mixture with a lid or plastic wrap. The mixture will get bubbly.

Consider this Day 1 of the cycle. For the next 10 days handle starter according to the instructions.
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Amish Friendship Bread Recipe 1
Day 1 - Make or Receive the starter or Do Nothing (if you have already baked)
Day 2 - stir
Day 3 - stir
Day 4 - stir
Day 5 - Add 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup milk
Day 6 - stir
Day 7 - stir
Day 8 - stir
Day 9 - stir
Day 10: Follow The Instructions Below

On Day 10
Add 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk. Mix well.
Divide into 4 containers, with 1 cup each for 3 of your friends and 1 cup for your own loaves. Give friends the instructions for Day 1 through Day 10 and the recipe for baking the bread.

After removing the 3 cups of batter, combine the remaining 1 cup of batter with the following ingredients in a large bowl:
2/3 cup oil
3 eggs
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 to 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda

Beat by hand until well blended. Grease two loaf pans with butter, sprinkle with sugar instead of flour. Bake at 325F for 45 minutes to 1 hour (until a pick comes out clean). Cool 10 minutes, remove from pans. Makes two loaves. This bread freezes well.
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Amish Friendship Bread Recipe 2
Please note the following:
If Air Gets In Bag, Let It Out
It Is Normal For The Batter To Rise And Ferment
Do Not Refrigerate This Recipe

Day 1: Make or Receive the starter or Do Nothing (if you have already baked)
Day 2: Mash The Bag
Day 3: Mash The Bag
Day 4: Mash The Bag
Day 5: Mash The Bag
Day 6: ADD 1 cup Flour, 1 cup Sugar, 1 cup Milk & Mash The Bag
Day 7: Mash The Bag
Day 8: Mash The Bag
Day 9: Mash The Bag
Day 10: Follow The Instructions Below

On Day 10:
Pour the entire contents of the bag into a NON-Metal bowl. Add 1 1/2 cups Sugar, 1 1/2 cups Flour, & 1 1/2 cups Milk. Mix well.

Measure out 4 separate batters of 1 cup each - put into separate ziploc bags. Keep 1 bag of batter for yourself and give the other 3 bags to friends with the instructions. You will have 1 cup of batter left in the bowl to make into bread. NOTE: If you keep 1 bag, you will be baking in 10 days. If you give someone a bag on a day other that Day 1, please tell the person what day it is in the cycle.

Preheat the oven to 325F. Grease 2 large loaf pans. In a small bowl, mix together 1/2 cup Sugar & 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Sprinkle the greased pans with this mixture, tapping to remove all excess. Set aside.

To the remaining batter add the following and mix well:
3 eggs
2/3 cup oil
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 cups flour
1 large box (or 2 small) instant pudding - vanilla, or other flavor
Optional: 1 cup raisins or chopped nuts

Pour batter evenly into prepared pans. May sprinkle the remaining cinnamon sugar (from coating the pan) on the top of the bread, but this is optional.

Bake for 1 hour, or until pick comes out clean. Cool bread in pans, until it loosens evenly from the sides of the pans. Turn onto a plate. Store in ziploc bag or in covered container. This bread freezes well.
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Amish Friendship Variations

Banana --Add 1 cup mashed bananas, reduce oil to 1/3 cup, add additional 1/2 tsp vanilla, omit cinnamon

Apple --Add 1 large diced apple

Carmel Apple --Add 1 large box caramel pudding, additional 1/2 cup milk, 2 cup dried apples, omit cinnamon

Raisin or Date --Add 1 cup raisins or chopped, pitted dates

Nut --Add 1 cup nuts of your choice

Lemon Poppy Seed --Add 1 large box lemon pudding, additional 1/2 cup milk, use lemon extract in place of vanilla, omit cinnamon, add 1/4 cup poppy seeds

Strawberry --Add 1 cup strawberries (thaw if frozen), 1 small box strawberry flavored gelatin, additional 1/2 cup milk

Cranberry Orange --Add 1 cup chopped cranberries, 1 T grated orange zest, substitute orange juice for milk in recipe

Pumpkin Spice --Add 1 cup canned pumpkin, 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice, substitute brown sugar for white sugar, reduce oil to 1/3 cup, reduce cinnamon to 1 tsp

Butterscotch --Add 1 large box instant butterscotch pudding, 1 cup butterscotch chips, additional 1/2 cup milk

Chocolate --Add 1 large box instant chocolate pudding, 1 cup chocolate chips, additional 1/2 cup milk

Chocolate Chip Mint --Add 1 large box instant chocolate pudding, 1 cup chocolate chips, additional 1/2 cup milk, use mint extract in place of vanilla

Mounds Candy Bar --Add 1 large box instant chocolate pudding, 1/2 cup chocolate chips, 1/2 cup coconut, additional 1/2 cup milk

Carrot Cake --Add 3 shredded carrots, 1/2 cup raisins, 1/2 cup chunky applesauce, 1/2 cup walnuts, 1 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp ground cloves, increase cinnamon to 1 Tablespoon. Bake in bundt pan instead of loaf pans.

 

[me&thegals]

That's funny, because my Amish friendship bread recipe says you MUST keep the starter going unless you have Amish friends, since they are the ONLY source of starter

I keep a cup of this in my freezer for the kids' bake sales at school, but when it's time to make it I can never find my recipe and all the variations. It will be great to have it on SS! Thanks, Keljonma!

 

[gettinaclue]

Keljonma,

Thank you so much for posting this! I have a starter in my freezer now but could not find the recipe to save my life.

I had no idea about all those variations!

Thank you thank you thank you!

I have some neighbors who just drool over this bread. I'm sure I can work out a trade with them for something

 

[SKR8PN]

Thanks very much keljonma!!
Right click,copy-paste, save as.

 

[Dace]

Awesome! Thank you for sharing...the variations look delish.

I tried to keep some started in a plastic ziplock and it flopped. Do you have suggestions on how to avoid killing it?

 

[keljonma]

You're welcome for the post. If you were all closer, I could give you all a bag of starter today! (No, I am NOT kidding )

me&thegals -

the recipe I had in the 80's must have been the one you have. Of course, back then, living in the 'burbs, I didn't know any Amish women. Maybe because we are now surrounded by Amish, the starter recipe is more apt to be "in the English community". Or maybe we have the internet, so more people are aware of it.

gettinaclue -

I have never frozen the starter. BUT I have read that you can freeze it for up to 2 months. Just bring it back to room temperature and then treat it like you are on Day 10 and feed it, divide it, and bake. Or divide the defrosted starter into 1 cup portions and bake each portion with 1 recipe from Day 10.

Dace -

I'm not sure why your starter died. Here are some thoughts...

-It could be that your starter was in a room that was too cold. Although, as I mentioned in my journal, our house temps hover around 50 all winter long. Our kitchen is between 50 - 60 this time of year.

-If you don't feed the starter in the middle of the cycle or if you go too far beyond Day 10 without feeding it, the starter will die.

Additional Notes:
If you want to bake in the middle of the cycle, you can remove 1 cup of batter and treat it as Day 10 and bake. This works really well, if you want to bake a couple times a week - or have bags and bags and bags of starter...

I have more variations I can try to dig up - the ones I posted were the ones I already added to my recipe files on the computer. Some are still on scraps of paper in a box of cookbooks.

I am baking AFB today. I may try to make some as cupcakes and see how they turn out. I'll post later...

 

[DrakeMaiden]

Thanks for posting this. Someone gave me some starter a while back, but I was waaaaay too busy at the time to take care of it or bake the bread. Good to know I can start over.

 

[keljonma]

More Variations....

Coconut --Add 1 large box instant coconut cream pudding, additional 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup coconut

Corn Bread --Combine in large bowl 1 c Starter, 1/2 c flour, 2 eggs, 1 1/2 c milk, 2 tsp sugar, 1 1/2 c cornmeal. Add 1/4 c oil, 3/4 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt 1 tsp baking powder. Mix well. Pour into greased 9 x 9 pan. Bake at 425 for 25 to 30 minutes.

Mock Scones --Bake in muffin tins for 25 minutes

Biscuits --In large bowl combine 1 cup flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 2 tsp baking powder. Make a well in center. Set aside. Mix together in a separate bowl 1 cup Starter, 2 eggs, 1/4 c oil. Pour all at once into well of dry ingredients. Stir and add 1 T flour at a time until dough cleans sides of bowl. Pour on well-floured board. Roll 1/2 inch thick. Cut out biscuits. Place close together on greased cookie sheet. Brush tops with melted butter. Cover. Let rise 30 minutes. Bake at 350 for 15 to 20 minutes.

Pancake and Waffles --Combine in large bowl 1 cup flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp baking powder. Combine in smaller bowl 2 cups Starter, 2 T oil (increase to 1/4 c for waffles), 1/4 to 1/2 c milk, 1 egg. Combine ingredients and mix until well blended. Spoon batter onto greased griddle or waffle iron.

Chocolate Brownies --In a bowl, combine and mix well 1 c oil, 1/2 c milk, 3 eggs, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 c Starter. In a separate bowl combine the following dry ingredients and mix well 2 c flour, 1 1/2 c sugar, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1 - (5.1 oz) box instant chocolate pudding, 3 heaping T cocoa, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 c pecans or walnuts. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Mix and pour into two well greased and sugared bread pans. Bake at 325 for 1 hour.

Cinnamon Rolls --Add 2 cups flour, 1 cup Starter, 1 cup milk. Let set overnight and stir down in morning. Dump into large non-metallic bowl. Add 3 t sugar, 1 egg, 1/2 c shortening, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp baking powder. Pour dough onto well-floured board. Knead until no longer sticky. Roll out into 1/2 thickness rectangular shape. Brush with softened butter. In separate bowl combine 1/4 c sugar, 1 T cinnamon, 1/2 c crushed nuts Sprinkle cinnamon mixture over dough. Beginning at wide side, roll up and seal seam. Cut 1 slices (with thread). Place on greased cookie sheet. Let rise 30 minutes. Bake at 350 for 30 to 35 minutes.

Sourdough Bread --In large bowl combine 1 cup sugar, 1/2 c oil, 1 tsp salt, 1 to 1 1/2 c warm water, 1 c Starter, 6 c bread flour. Oil bottom and sides of large bowl & put bread dough in. Let stand overnight at room temperature. In morning, punch down dough 4 or 5 times and divide into 3 equal balls. Knead each ball 8 to 10 times and put into 3 greased and floured pans. Brush tops with oil and cover with oiled foil. Let stand 4 to 5 hours or all day. (If dough has not risen well, put small pan of water on bottom rack in oven, heat to 200, turn off oven. Put dough on top rack for 1 to 2 hours.) Bake at 350 for 30 to 40 minutes. Cover with foil after lightly browned.

 

[TanksHill]

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH not the Amish Friendship bread...... It follows me wherever I go. I can't get away.... But it is really good.



Edited to say... Sorry I could not help myself. Amish Friendship Bread is very popular where I live and seems to come around very often.

 

[gettinaclue]

Thank you for those variations!