Amish Friendship Bread

or, The Saga of The Never-Ending Amish Friendship Bread

Amish Friendship Bread.

We love it. It makes great yummy bread. It gives us an excuse to talk to people and share our wisdom. It's kinda fun to mush the bag.

We also hate it. After a while, people see you coming with a big Ziploc baggie and they turn away and run in the other direction...fearful to be given yet another starter. Then we feel guilty about throwing it away. So we keep making more.

And therein lies my dilemma.

I've had Amish Friendship Bread hundreds of times. I know the blessings...and the dangers. But still, even after ALL my Amish Friendship Bread experience...I got caught in a doozie of an Amish Friendship Bread predicament.

I received a starter from a friend. I happily nurtured it for 10 days and shared it with others, baking a batch and keeping a bit of starter for myself. When the time came to split the starter again, I did...but I put off passing it around to friends. I put it off so long that it was time to split it again. So - that's what I did...I split it again...and promptly forgot to share it again.

Now I have 10 bags of Amish Friendship Bread starter on my counter...all ready to be split again. And truthfully - I don't have that many friends (maybe I should get off the computer and get out more?). So, I resolutely decided to bake ALL THE AMISH FRIENDSHIP BREAD...and freeze it.

Just for reference...each bag makes 4 batches. Each batch makes 2 loaves. Two loaves x Four batches = Eight loaves per bag. Eight loaves x Ten bags = 80 loaves of bread.

Yikes.

So, in honor of my massive 4 day baking extravaganza, I am posting the recipes for Amish Friendship Bread Starter and Amish Friendship Bread, along with all it's variations.

Just beware...Amish Bread is for SHARING (hence the "friendship" in it's name). So you better pass it along. Or have a really big freezer.

Amish Friendship Bread Starter

1 package active dry yeast

1/4 cup lukewarm water

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup milk

Combine yeast and water in a ceramic or glass bowl (no metal), or in a gallon-size Ziploc baggie (my fave). Dissolve yeast by letting stand 10 minutes. Add milk, sugar, and flour to mix and stir with a wooden spoon (no metal), or in the case of a baggie, mush well. THIS IS DAY ONE.

Amish Friendship Bread

Day One - The day you receive the bowl/bag or make the starter. DO NOTHING.

Day Two - Mush the bag or stir with a WOODEN spoon

Day Three - Mush the bag or stir with a WOODEN spoon

Day Four - Mush the bag or stir with a WOODEN spoon

Day Five - Mush the bag or stir with a WOODEN spoon

Day Six - Add 1 cup each - sugar, milk, flour

Day Seven - Mush the bag or stir with a WOODEN spoon

Day Eight - Mush the bag or stir with a WOODEN spoon

Day Nine - Mush the bag or stir with a WOODEN spoon

Day Ten - Combine in a large bowl:

The batter

1 cup flour

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup milk

1. Mix with a WOODEN spoon. Pour four scant 1 cup starters into Ziploc baggies. Label and date the bags. Keep one for yourself. Give the other three away with a copy of these instructions to your friends and relatives.

2. To the small amount of remaining batter in the bowl, add:

1 cup oil

1 tsp vanilla

3 large eggs

1/2 cup of milk

Stir thoroughly. When well-mixed, add:

1 cup granulated sugar

3. In another bowl, mix:

2 cups flour

1-1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 large box vanilla pudding or 2 small boxes

2 tsp cinnamon

4. Pour dry ingredients into wet ingredients a little at a time, mixing well after each addition, until all ingredients are combined. Grease two large loaf pans, and coat with cinnamon-sugar mixture instead of flour. Pour in batter evenly. Sprinkle tops with additional cinnamon-sugar. Bake at 325 for 1 hour.

Variations

To make Chocolate Amish Friendship Bread:

Omit cinnamon and cinnamon-sugar dusting from recipe. Substitute chocolate pudding for vanilla pudding. Add a small bag of chocolate chips after batter is all blended.

To make Butterscotch Amish Friendship Bread:

Omit cinnamon and cinnamon-sugar dusting from recipe. Substitute butterscotch pudding for vanilla pudding. Add 1-1/4 cups butterscotch chips after batter is all blended.

To make Vanilla-Caramel Amish Friendship Bread:

Omit cinnamon and cinnamon-sugar dusting from recipe. Add 1-1/4 cups butterscotch chips after batter is all blended.

To make Banana Amish Friendship Bread:

Omit cinnamon and cinnamon-sugar dusting from recipe. Substitute Banana Creme pudding for vanilla pudding. Mush two small or (1 large) VERY ripe bananas and add after batter is all blended.

To make Lemon Amish Friendship Bread:

Omit cinnamon and cinnamon-sugar dusting from recipe. Substitute lemon pudding for vanilla pudding. Sprinkle tops with white granulated sugar OR, after removed from oven, while still warm, poke all over with holes and pour a mixture of 1/3 cup lemon juice and 2 cups powdered sugar over the top to create icing.

To make Coconut Amish Friendship Bread:

Omit cinnamon and cinnamon-sugar dusting from recipe. Substitute 1/2 coconut milk for regular milk. Add 1 cup finely shredded coconut to batter after it is all blended.

To make Cinnamon-Raisin Amish Friendship Bread:

Add 1 cup raisins to batter. To create a cinnamon-raisin ribbon, pour 1/4 of the batter in EACH loaf pan. Sprinkle heavily with cinnamon-sugar mixture and raisins. Add the remaining batter evenly on top of the cinnamon-raisin layer.

PS - I don't do nuts in my baked goods - but you can use them in any of these variations. Macadamia nuts would go well with the coconut, poppy seeds would mix well with the lemon, and walnuts and pecans will go in just about any of the variations, or the original.

PPS - After 4 days, I ended up with 40 loaves of bread. I had accidentally killed another batch because I was chatting on the phone and missed some key ingredients. After that, my starter died, and I had to throw the rest away.

And I wasn't sad.

Not one bit.