Amish Friendship Bread

Last week, I told you about the Amish Friendship Bread starter I had received and promised that this time I would take a picture for you and give you the instructions.

I do not have the recipe for the starter. It’s been said that you have to get the starter from someone else. I’m sure you can make your own. Does anyone know how?

Here’s a picture of one of the loaves. Sorry this bread is not as pretty as the one I made at my mom’s house. I prefer to cook with a gas oven. I cooked my first loaves at my mom’s house with her gas oven and the second loaves were cooked at my house with electric. There really is a difference!

Some tips: 

• As you can see in the instructions below, it calls for vanilla pudding.  You can use other flavors of pudding.  So far, I have tried vanilla and chocolate and I prefer the vanilla.  Someone told me that they enjoy using pistachio pudding in their bread.
• After day 6, you will see that your baggie is filling with air and it looks like it might explode.  It is important to let the air out and to reclose the bag.
• I did not have good luck with easy-zip bags.  They seemed to leak out some of the bread batter.
• The starter should be kept at room temperature.  Refrigerating the starter slows down the process.
• The starters may be frozen.  It is a good idea to freeze one or more of the starters so that you always have a starter on hand.
• Don’t forget to write the dates on the bag so that you don’t forget when to add the ingredients.

Here are the instructions that need to be passed along with the starters:

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Amish Bread

Do no use any type of metal spoon or bowl for mixing. Do not refrigerate. If air gets in the bag, let it out. It is normal for batter to bubble, rise, and ferment.

Day 1 – Do nothing. Go by the date on the bag.
Day 2 through 5 – Mush the bag.
Day 6 – Add to the bag: 1 cup of flour, 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of milk, and mush the bag.
Day 7 through 9 – Mush the bag.
Day 10 – Follow the instructions.

Pour entire contents of the bag into a non-metal bowl.
Add 1 1/2 cups of flour, 1 1/2 cups of sugar, 1 1/2 cups of milk.
Measure out 4 separate batters of 1 cup each into four one gallon ziploc bags.
Keep a starter for yourself, and give the 3 others to friends, along with instructions.
Be sure to tell the friend which day the bag is at when you give it to them.
It is helpful to date the bag.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Add the following to the remaining batter in the bowl:
3 eggs
1 cup oil
1/2 cup milk
1 cup sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups flour
1 large box instant vanilla pudding

Grease 2 large loaf pans.
Mix an additional 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon.
Dust greased pans with half of this mixture.
Pour batter evenly into the pans.
Sprinkle with remaining sugar/cinnamon mixture on top.
Bake 1 hour.
Cool until bread loosens from the pan evenly (about 10 minutes). Turn out onto serving dish.

If you keep a starter for yourself you will be baking every 10 days. The bread is very good and makes a great gift. Only the Amish know how to make the starter, so if you give them all away, you will have to wait until someone gives one back. Enjoy!

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image by Karen Weideman