As most of you know by now, I was recently given a starter for Amish Friendship Bread. Along with the starter, I received two loaves of the bread. One was the original cinnamon bread. The other was a banana variation. They were both delicious, but afte a week of eating them, I knew I wanted to try something different with my starter. I decided to make a chocolate pecan loaf and a lemon blueberry loaf. First, for both of the loaves I substituted apple sauce for half of the oil. I felt like the loaves were almost gummy in texture. It could be because of the applesauce, or it could be that I only baked them for 55 mins instead of 60. Either way, they were still yummy! For the chocolate one, I omitted the cinnamon, replaced the vanilla pudding with sugar-free chocolate fudge pudding, added 3 oz. of chopped bittersweet chocolate, and 1/2 cup chopped pecans. This one was my favorite!
For the lemon loaf (made especially with Josh in mind!), I omitted the cinnamon, used sugar-free lemon pudding, added 1 teaspoon of lemon extract, and 1 cup of frozen wild blueberries, thawed and drained. This was Josh's favorite, but I thought that it definitely needed the 5 extra minutes of bake time. The moral of my story is... DEFINITELY bake these puppies for 1 full hour. Then test them and make sure a toothpick comes out clean... NO crumbs! That was my mistake!
If you are interested in getting a starter, leave your e-mail address in a comment or e-mail me. I'll add your name to the list that I'm sending to the 3 girls who got my starters. They'll contact you about sending one of theirs! If you'd like to make your own starter, here's a recipe I found via Google. Below that is the recipe for the Amish Friendship Bread once you already have the starter. For more info about AFB and for variation recipes, click here.Amish Friendship Bread Starter
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1 cup milk
In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Let stand 10 minutes. In a 2-quart glass, plastic or ceramic container, combine 1 cup flour and 1 cup sugar. Mix thoroughly or flour will lump when milk is added. Slowly stir in 1 cup milk and dissolved yeast mixture. Cover loosely and let stand until bubbly. Consider this day 1 of the 10 day cycle. Leave loosely covered at room temperature.
Amish Friendship Bread
Please note the following:
* Do not use any metal spoons or bowls
* Do not refrigerate
* If air gets in the bag, let it out
* It is normal for the batter to rise and ferment
Day 1: Do nothing, this is the day you receive the batter, the bag is dated
Day 2: Mash the bag
Day 3: Mash the bag
Day 4: Mash the bag
Day 5: Mash the bag
Day 6: Add to the bag 1 cup of flour, 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of cold milk. Mash the bag
Day 7: Mash the bag
Day 8: Mash the bag
Day 9: Mash the bag
Day 10: Follow the directions below:
* Pour entire contents of the bag into a NON-metal bowl
* Add 1 ½ cups of flour, 1 ½ cups of sugar and 1 ½ cups of milk
* Write the date on 4 gallon size Ziploc bags
* Measure out 4 separate batters (1 cup each) and put into the 4 Ziploc bags
Keep a bag for yourself and give the other three bags to friends along with a copy of the recipe.
NOTE: If you keep a starter, you will be baking every 10 days. However you can freeze a starter. The cycle begins when the starter is thawed.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease 2 large loaf pans.
Mix in a separate bowl:
½ cup sugar
1 ½ tsp cinnamon
Use half of mixture to dust greased pans.
To the remaining starter in the bowl add:
3 eggs
1 cup of oil (or ½ cup oil & ½ cup applesauce)
½ cup of cold milk
1 cup of sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp vanilla
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
1 ½ tsp salt
2 cups flour
2 small boxes of instant vanilla pudding (can be any flavor you want)
Optional: 1 cup of raisins or chopped nuts
Pour batter into pans. Do not fill past ½ full. Sprinkle remaining sugar and cinnamon over the top. Bake 1 hour. Cool until bread loosens from sides, about 10 minutes. Enjoy!
32 comments:
oh em gee
gimme that 2nd one!
i have to say all the bread looks delicious but the most yummy one is the chocolate one. You played around quite a bit. Delicious tries :) can you tell me why not to use metal bowls ?
Wow.....That looks so Yummy!
Both sound good but I really like the orginal cinnamon one.
The few times I've made "bread" it's always come out undercooked and over browned.
~ingrid
These look so good! I've heard so much about amish friendship bread, but never had it before.
My bff and blogging buddy NAOmni (notanotheromnivore.blogspot.com) has kept her Amish friendship bread going for awhile now... It is delicious, almost like Amish friendship cake!
Both look incredible!!
Mmm, I love the sound of your variations. Anytime you can have chocolate and blueberries at the same time, I'm in!! I've never tried any variations on my Amish friendship bread, and you've totally inspired me. YUMMMMMY!
The chocolate one is to die for. Love that chocolate!!!! My sis is coming to vist in a week and bringing me some. ummmmm.
Would love to try it!
You had fun with the bread. And to answer your question salt dough is like play dough but not. One part water, one part corn starch, heated over stove. Stir until thick. Then Put in bowl of electric mixer and and 2 parts popcorn salt and mix. Et voila! Salt dough. And then you can go crazy creative!
oh yummmm. both are amazing looking!
Been wondering what Amish Friendship bread was because I hear about it every now and then. Looks amazing but and worth all that extra effort.
Both loaves look delicious, but that chocolate one...yum! I've made this before and it is delicious! I love to eat the corners. :D
Oh my!! Such a sweet idea and an even sweeter end product!! The chocolate one would probably be the first one I'd go for, but you know, I wouldn't refuse any of them!
thanks for your reply re metal bowl. I read it through. It's interesting I didn't know it.
I got a starter sometime last month or so and am about to make my third batch. I LOVE cinnamon so it's great, especially sprinkled with turbinado sugar for a crunchy top. I'm going to try the banana one this time.
They also make great muffins! I baked 30 min to start then would test until the toothpick came out clean.
I'm interested in a starter! My email is enlin.xia@gmail.com. Thanks, this looks great!
I'm interested in a starter! My email is cliodnawrites at gmail.com.
Love this!! So random, I got a starter around the same time you did and then I saw your post- I was so excited. I made the lemon blueberry- HELLO!! yum...
I am doing a post today, and linking to you, since I made the lemon blueberry from your site.
My daughter requested chocolate chip, so today being Day 10/Day 1- we are making chocolate chip bread... icooktexas.blogspot.com
Awesome post! I linked you on my blog, hope you don't mind. Your website is AWESOME!!!
www.ttc-wildride.blogspot.cm
I am a beginner to AFB and just made my first two loaves tonight. I did one with the original recipe and the other I made a banana nut - YUM! I've heard that you can freeze your starter for later use, but does anyone know when you freeze it - on day 1 or day 10? When you thaw it out, do you pick up on the day you left off? Also, is there a way to cut down on the recipe so you don't always end up with 3 starters? Any advice anyone has would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks!
Kristie, I froze my extra starters on Day 1. The day you thaw them will be Day 2. If you only add 1 cup of each ingredient on Day 10, you will get 3 bags instead of 4.
Hope that helps!
I'm on my third batch of Friendship Bread and I've only tried the original cinnamon recipe. My family loves loves loves it! You've inspired me to be a little more creative though. Like Kristie, I'm wondering if there is a way to cut down the recipe so that I don't have 3 starts everytime I make bread. Any info anyone has would be great. Thanks a bunch!
I personally measured out how much batter to make the bread, then used that same amount out of my starter to make a second batch on day 10. I end up with two starters. You could freeze one of those and just have one starter
I have replaced the cow's milk with vanilla rice milk in one of my starters, and used coconut pudding, so that my daughter who is sensitive to cow's milk can still eat the bread with the rest of us. My husband liked the coconut version better than the basic one with cinnamon, although that hasn't stopped him eating the original recipe! :) I need to try the chocolate one for him. BTW, I also modified the recipe for high altitude, and it turned out wonderfully.
I don't even remember the last time I got an Amish Friendship Bread!!!!
your recipes sound soooo yummy!!!!
if there are any starters available, I'd LOVE one!!!
THANK YOU!!!
what about gingerbread amish bread?...just add ginger, molasses, and nutmeg?
I have made changes to this also I have made a rum raisin friendship bread. Banana and chocoate chip. I have just added butterscotch chips. i have played around with this recipe many time I have added rasberry applesauce and white chips. I love this bread. My husband loves to see what I will come up with next.
Delicious!
On freezing the starter:
Whatever day you freeze it on (mark on the bag which day it is) is the day you're on when you thaw it. If you ever have instant cravings for AFB, freeze it on day 10, ready to bake. Then when you get a craving, pull the starter out and thaw for 3 hours; and bake your bread!
On reducing the starter:
Every time I make this, I add only 1/4 c. each flour, sugar, and milk on day 5 (or 6); and on day 10, 3/8 c. (which is 1/4 of everything). That way I have only 1 starter each time. It's much easier than trying to find three different friends every ten days. =)
You shouldn't use a metal spoon/bowl because some types of metal, such as aluminum, can be reactive.
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