Not-so-Amish Friendship Bread Instructions
My sister-in-law brought by an Amish friendship bread starter the other day. Reading over the instructions, I decided to tweak the instructions just a little. Enjoy!
Amish Friendship Bread
Don’t use metal spoons or bowls for mixing. Don’t refrigerate the starter unless you’re lazy or forgetful. Then you can refrigerate it. Just mush it when you remember it. It’s supposed to bubble and ferment, but be sure to let the air out of the bag; it might pop.
Day 1: Accept the starter. Say thank you. Put it on the counter. Glance at the instructions, pretending to be interested. Begin plotting who you’ll foist this on next week.
Day 2: Mush the bag.
Day 3: Squish the bag. Think about who would actually accept this.
Day 4: Let your toddler mush the bag.
Day 5: Add 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk. Oh and guess what? Mush the bag.
Day 6: If you forgot to add that stuff yesterday, do it today. And mush the bag.
Day 7: Squeeze the bag repeatedly.
Day 8: Remember that you only have two days to figure out who to give the starters to. Panic. Beat the bag to vent your aggressions.
Day 9: Mash the bag. Make a list of all your friends within driving distance. Call two of them to ask if they’d like friendship bread. Sense their hesitation. Decide not to call anyone else and just drop in bearing ‘gifts.’ Go get gallon zipper bags if you’re running low and photocopy the instructions.
Day 10: Mix and divide the starter. Pour the contents of the bag into a bowl (remember non metal) adding 1.5 c flour, 1.5 c sugar and 1.5 c milk. Mix (though, if you’re on a roll, you could certainly try pouring all these into the bag and . . . you know, mushing it). Measure out 4 separate batters of 1 cup each into 4 gallon zipper bags. Write the date on the bags. Look at your list of friends again. Pick the three or four you can afford to lose if necessary. Give them the bags later. Heck, you could even ease their ‘burden’ by giving them the bags on day four. Or five. Or nine. Don’t forget to include the instructions.
With the remaining batter in the bowl, make bread. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Add
3 eggs
1 c oil (or 0.5 c oil and 0.5 c applesauce)
0.5 c milk
1 c sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
0.5 tsp vanilla
1.5 tsp baking powder
0.5 tsp baking soda
1.75 to 2 c flour
1 large box instant pudding mix (any flavor. Very Amish, yes?)
Grease 2 large loaf pans and divide mixture. Bake 55-60 minutes. Sprinkle cinnamon/sugar over the top before or after baking.
If you keep a starter bag for yourself, you must be a glutton for punishment. Or you need the stress relief of four seconds of squishing a somewhat viscous liquid. Maybe you should get a bag of honey instead. But, hey, you could have fresh Amish bread every 10 days. And continue forcing the starters on your friends. Until you run out of friends.
Only the Amish know how to create a starter bag, but apparently they got on Allrecipes. If you give away all your starters, you’ll have to wait until someone gives you one back. But I’m sure your friends would be eager to return the favor if you’d like one.
Experiment with bananas, raisins, nuts and other mix-ins (I saw a comment on Allrecipes that said they added crushed pineapple and coconut) and other flavors of pudding mix.
After the stress of baking and probably losing your daily four seconds of stress relief, it’s probably time to sit down with your loaves of Amish bread and eat them both in a single sitting.
It can’t be fattening if it’s Amish, right?
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At first I thought you were kidding, but wow.
If I’m seriously considering it, am I a bona fide masochist?
February 21st, 2008 at 5:14 pmNo, not at all. It’s not hard. Can I mail you a starter?
I used half brown sugar (half white) and butterscotch pudding, with brown sugar on top. I haven’t decided what I think of it, but I’m trying to tell myself they’re caramel cake to see if that makes a difference.
February 21st, 2008 at 5:34 pmGot a gluten-free version? (LOL - just kidding!
)
February 21st, 2008 at 6:11 pmI loe AMish friendship bread. What I did was split it into the 4 baggies and put them in the freezer until I wanted a batch. It was breaking the rules, but it works just fine. When I was down to the last baggie, I then repeated the 10 day process and put the 4 baggies into the freezer at the end.
February 21st, 2008 at 7:11 pm@childlife—LOL. I’ll leave that to the expert
@Christy—I wanted to do that but I had all these visions of endlessly multiplying gallon bags
. Did you just not add all the ingredients to the starter on day 5 or 10 or did you start giving them away after that?
February 21st, 2008 at 8:51 pmThat’s awesome! I’ve actually never received a starter from anyone, but your comments seem wonderfully accurate.
It’s not bread, but I’m having a pie recipe contest for my step daughter. We have to make pies for FFA fundraiser in march and I’m looking for recipes. If you’ve got a good one please stop by and share it.
PIE RECIPES
February 22nd, 2008 at 10:33 amhttp://www.killlashandra.org/wordpress/?p=269
Ok my link didn’t work above….
February 22nd, 2008 at 10:34 amI tried Amish friendship bread–and it made my husband and I sick. Twice. So we threw the whole thing out.
March 3rd, 2008 at 9:45 amRyan and I ate one piece each. Out of two loaves. I have all the starter bags, which are ready to make new loaves, sitting on the counter still. One actually ‘popped’ the other day. A bit of a mess…
March 3rd, 2008 at 9:51 amCan you send a starter through the mail to someone? If so, how long/far do you think you could send it without pushing your luck? Thanks!
March 6th, 2008 at 3:00 pmAbsolutely! Do you want one
?
It depends a lot on the weather, of course. If it’s really hot, I would guess three days would be the max. If it’s colder, probably as long as a week.
March 6th, 2008 at 3:22 pmHi! I just received a bag from a friend yesterday and am so excited about it! I want to try your not-so-Amish friendship bread recipe soon!
I am wondering if you have ever sent the starter to someone else through mail (like how do you package it and if you send it through regular mail,) since I want to share it with my mother who’s at another state. Please let me know, thanks
April 3rd, 2008 at 8:13 amI had someone give me this for Easter. I loved the bread and so did my husband! I’m not being a friend and I’m going to freeze my four bags and make it for a party (what a great idea!)
April 3rd, 2008 at 12:19 pmI make 4 breads at a time and keep one bag of starter (saves electricity and time). Most of my friends want the bread but not the starter. I wrap three of the breads and put them in the freezer to eat later or give away. Every 10 days I bake. It works great.
April 12th, 2008 at 1:25 pm