Amish Friendship Bread – a baking tradition

Earlier this week, I arrived home to find a plastic bag filled with wet, doughy goo sitting on my kitchen counter. My roommate later explained she had been given Amish Friendship Bread from a coworker and told me a bit about the chain-baking tradition.

The bread starts with a single batch of dough, divided into enough portions to bake a few loaves and pass some leftover dough along to friends. Each “starter kit” comes with a bag of raw dough and instructions on how to make the next batch. The process is a bit time consuming, taking around 10 days from start to finish. But the finished product is worth the wait!

Though I passed on making my own starter kit, I did have a few slices of my roommate’s bread and was instantly in love. The bread is rich and sweet, with a crunchy crust dusted with cinnamon and sugar – the perfect compliment to a tall cup of tea on a rainy fall day.

Interested in sharing this fun baking chain with your friends? Here’s a recipe I found on MomsWhoThink.com.

Amish Friendship Bread – starter recipe

This is the Amish Friendship Bread Starter Recipe that you’ll 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!

Ingredients:

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

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in warm water for about 10 minutes. Stir well.
2. 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.
3. 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, or the day you receive the starter.

For the next 10 days handle starter according to the instructions above for Amish Friendship Bread.

Amish Friendship Bread – starter kit instructions

• Day 1 – receive the starter (the recipe for the starter is above)
• Day 2 – stir
• Day 3 – stir
• Day 4 – stir
• Day 5 – Add 1 cup each flour, sugar and milk.
• Day 6 – stir
• Day 7 – stir
• Day 8 – stir
• Day 9 – stir
• Day 10 – Add 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk. Divide into 4 containers, with 1 cup each for three of your friends and 1 cup for your own loaves. Give friends the instructions for Day 1 through Day 10 and the following recipe for baking the bread.

Making and baking the loaves

Makes two loaves of Amish Friendship Bread

After removing the 3 cups of batter, combine the remaining cup of Amish Friendship Bread starter with the following ingredients in a large bowl:

• 2/3 cup oil
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 cups flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Directions:

1. Using a fork beat by hand until well blended. You can add 1 cup raisins and 1 cup nuts (optional).
2. Grease two loaf pans with butter, sprinkle with sugar instead of flour.
3. Bake at 325 degrees F for 45 minutes to 1 hour (individual oven temperatures vary). Cool 10 minutes, remove from pans.

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