Comments on: Not-so-Amish Friendship Bread Instructions

By: Ty

Ty — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 03:27:30 +0000

I LOVE that the comments on this post go two years strong…people are always googling for the instructions on feeding and care of their starter, I guess. Just wanted to share…tomorrow I am making pancakes from my starter. I made the recipe last week for my toddler and I to try out and oh my Lord, were they good!
The first time I got a starter I told my mom about it and she replied, “Oh, Herman!” I had no idea what she was talking about, but she explained to me about when she used to have Herman…you had to feed him and burp him. I looked it up “Herman” is a very similar sweet sourdough starter. There are quite a few recipes online that use a cup of Herman starter, so that is an easy way to not get overwhelmed with needing to pawn off starters on friends!
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Herman-Pancakes/Detail.aspx

By: Heather

Heather — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 21:56:37 +0000

Thank you all for the delightful time I had reading all of the comments. I learned a lot and am SOOOO excited that I do not have to add the mid-cycle ing. to cut on the starters! YEAH! 3 of those puppies are going in the freezer now, to save for later, keeping my last to be a starter refresher for more future bread baking adventures. Thanks for all of the ideas and good laughs!
God Bless you all!

By: Nursekim

Nursekim — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 18:01:50 +0000

I just laughed and laughed. Too funny! More if you’ve experienced several “rounds” of friends and family!

By: JJ

JJ — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 00:47:03 +0000

Thanks.. I’m such an idiot. LOL. Will start from scratch & try this again.

By: akageorge

akageorge — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 00:33:52 +0000

And yes, JJ, I agree with melissa — hope you tossed that batch out and started over! O.o

By: akageorge

akageorge — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 00:30:28 +0000

The starter is very forgiving. I forgot to feed my first batch before measuring out my recipe amount on Day 10, so I just fed what was left (reducing the amounts accordingly, giving me only enough to keep one and pass one along). It’s fermenting just fine and I’ll be baking tonight.

I didn’t care for the pudding recipe, either, so I did a search, found one on allrecipes.com, then modified it to make a cranberry orange pecan loaf — oh, yum! (Used AFB III with dried cranberries instead of apples, pecans instead of walnuts and 1-1/4 tsp orange extract instead of vanilla.)

By: melissa

melissa — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 15:00:36 +0000

LOL JJ! sounds ruined to me!

By: JJ

JJ — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:27:31 +0000

I am new to the Amish Bread and someone gave me a recipe without clear instructions so I need some advice. I baked the bread last week and it turned out great, however,I mixed all of my ingredients on day 10 and created starters from that. I just re-read the instructions & think my “starters” are probably ruined. Please advise because I am concerned about the eggs sitting at room temperature. This may sound like an incredibly stupid question, but please confirm that this is ruined.

By: Diane

Diane — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 05:46:57 +0000

ugh..I didn’t read Melissa’s comment close enough to notice that she’s taking a cup of starter out on day 11 without adding the 1.5 cups of flour, sugar and milk. I have never done that since I thought it would leave me short for the baking process. Usually if the additional 4.5 cups of ingredients are not added, then the starter batter that is left is the amount needed to make the two loaves of bread (plus the baking ingredients of course). By not adding the 4.5 cups of flour/sugar/milk on day 11, I believed you were choosing to not continue the starter cycle and just end it with the two loaves of bread.

As to your last question about reducing the Day 7 ingredients (since it sounds like you are using the 7/14 day cycle), even with the regularly added mid-cycle ingredients, when I end the cycle on Day 11, I still only make two loaves using the the batter in the bag. How are you making 4 loaves? Maybe pan size variations could account for the discrepancy. I have made one regular sized loaf and 4 small loaves with the ending batter. but not 4 large loaves.

I don’t believe you can cut down on the mid-cycle ingredients, but maybe someone else has been successful trying it – that’s what is so great about this forum .. we can all learn something new, regardless of how long we’ve been makint the Friendship Bread.

By: Meagan

Meagan — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 01:40:48 +0000

I’ve read all the comments and I just want to make sure I’m understanding this correctly:
I can make this into a 14 day cycle to make a consistant baking day. On day 7 – I do the normal feeding of 1 cup each flour, sugar and milk. On day 14 – I don’t add the 4.5 cups of flour, sugar and milk. I remove one cup of starter for myself and double the recipe for the bread I’m going to bake(giving me 4 loaves of baked bread) and end up with only 1 starter to repeat the process with 2 weeks from now.

I sure hope that’s correct, it would make this process soooo much more pleasent!

Not to be difficult, but I have one more question/variation. Can I somehow lessen the amount of flour, sugar and milk that I add on day 7 so that on day 14 I can still take out 1 cup of starter for myself and yet only bake the normal 2 loaves of bread (instead of doubling it to make 4)?

Thanks for helping!!