I don't actually have an actual tip today to share but a recipe that is enjoyed by all of my family. Last year, I was given a starter of Amish Friendship Bread by a fellow homeschooling mom and since then it has been a main stay in my baking cycles. My kids love to help knead the bag or add ingredients to the bag.
Here is the recipe for the starter....
1 pkg active dry yeast(2 1/4 tsp.)
1/4 cup water
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Let stand 10 minutes. In a 2 quart container 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. Once you have mixed up, you can pour the mixture into a gallon size ziploc bag so that you can use your bowl for other things.
Then once you get your starter going here is what you do with it....
Here is the recipe for the starter....
1 pkg active dry yeast(2 1/4 tsp.)
1/4 cup water
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Let stand 10 minutes. In a 2 quart container 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. Once you have mixed up, you can pour the mixture into a gallon size ziploc bag so that you can use your bowl for other things.
Then once you get your starter going here is what you do with it....
Important Notes:
DO NOT 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 rise, thicken, bubble and ferment.
Day 1
Do nothing (go by date on the bag)
Days 2 through 5
Squeeze the bag
Day 6
Add to the bag: 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup milk — and then squeeze the bag
Days 7 through 9
Squeeze the bag
Day 10
1. Pour the entire contents of the bag into a non-metal bowl
2. Add 1 1/2 cups flour, 1 1/2 cups sugar & 1 1/2 cups milk
3. Label 4 1-gallon Ziploc bags with today’s date and then measure out 4 separate batters of 1 cup each into the four 1-gallon Ziploc bags. Keep a starter for yourself and give the other three bags to friends along with a copy of the directions if it’s not passed to a friend the first day, keep up on the directions & tell them what day you are on.
4. Preheat oven to 325 degrees
5. To the remaining batter(which is about 2 cups) in the bowl add:
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup oil (or 1/2 cup oil & 1/2 cup applesauce)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 cups flour
• Plus remaining ingredients below depending on type of bread
Cinnamon bread:
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 large box instant vanilla pudding
• Sprinkle 2 greased loaf pans & top of loaf with cinnamon & sugar
Chocolate bread:
• 1 large box chocolate instant pudding
• 1 large box fudge instant pudding
• 2 Tbl. Instant coffee(optional)
• 1 cup chocolate chips(I usually use mini)
6. Grease 2 loafpans
7. Pour the batter evenly into the 2 pans and bake 1 hour. Cool until bread loosens from pan evenly (about 10 minutes). Turn out on to serving dish. Serve warm or cold.
**If you can't find friends to give the "extra" starter, you can take the "extra" and double freezer bag it and put it in your freezer for up to 3 months. When you go to use it from the freezer, just thaw it on the counter for 1-2 hours(or til it is to room temp.)
***To the cinnamon version above you can add 1-2 cups of apples, blueberries, raisins, grated zucchini, or any fruit of your choice. Have fun experimenting!
For other kitchen tips, head over to Tammy's recipes!
8 comments:
I got one of these loaves from a neighbor a few years ago and loved it. I didn't know how to make my own- thanks for sharing!
My daughter was given a few starters last Christmas and we had it forever...I finally had to put a stop to it. LOL. We were running out of people to give it to. I loved it though and the pudding made it soooo yummy! We also used chocolate pudding and my hubby liked that best.
I have never had the starter recipe though, so this is great.
Speaking of starters, I need to do a sourdough sometime.
I have made this many times and I too have had way too much. ....So when you put it in the freezer can you use it somehow without dividing it up and creating more starters?? Does that make sense? (-:
Thanks for the starter recipe. (-:
Tania,
Dividing it up makes it easier to use when pulling it out of the freezer. It probably wouldn't hurt not to divide it when you freeze it BUT then when you take it out you will have all that starter to use. Hence, I like dividing it up so that I can just pull out the amount I need for a recipe like pancakes, bread, muffins, or cinnamon rolls.
HTH!
Thank you so much for linking me to this recipe! I do have a question. Can you use the starter for regular sourdough bread and not the sweeter friendship bread? This is very close to the starter my husbands Grammy had. It may be the same, it's been so long I can't remember! LOL!! Thanks again!!
Trish,
I haven't used the starter for regular sourdough bread. I found a recipe herefor sourdough starter that has less sugar in it that might be better for regular sourdough bread. There is also several recipes for regular sourdough bread using the starter at the site as well. :)
Hi Everybody...
I love making this bread too, but when I ended up with way too much starter, this is what I did. I started making extra loaves of bread out of the batter that would have been given away as starters. I made some really cute little gift tags, and gave away the already made bread. (I wrote on the gift tag that I would give the person some starter and the recipe if they liked it and wanted it. That way only the folks who actually wanted it, got it.)
At first I thought it would be hard to find enough people to give it too, but then I started using it to say 'Thanks', 'Hi', 'nice to know you', 'here's a surprise for you today', 'hey, I like you', etc.....
I gave it to the trash men, the mail man, the traffic ladies at schools, care givers for old people, teachers, teachers' aides, senior centers, church new comers groups, in a welcome basket, and to anyone who might not get the thanks that they deserve or looked like they needed a hug. It became a personal mission for me. I made different sized loaves too, some quite small for single people, and others full sized for large families or groups of people.
A few years later, when I went back to work, my time started getting tighter, so I quit doing it. Seeing this recipe again, and remembering all the faces of the folks I made happy when I presented them with bread.....I think I need to do it again. It was such a neat thing to be able to do. You could see it in their eyes and on their face when you lifted someone up and made their day. It always made my day too. I always tried to 'stop and smell the roses' when I gave to someone....to really see that person, to hear their words, and be grateful for the opportunity to spend a little time with them.
Also, I liked to add mashed bananas, crushed pineapple & toasted pecans or walnuts to the vanilla recipe, with about 1/3 the cinnamon to make a kind of 'hummingbird' bread. It is so good. I have used pistachio pudding with chopped pistachio nuts and crushed pineapple, lemon pudding with dried apricots, & butterscotch pudding and butterscotch morsels. I have some white chocolate and french vanilla puddings in my pantry right now....I'll have to try something with that.
Anyway, hope that helps give you ideas of what you can do with the extra starter. Hope you get as much enjoyment from making it and giving it away as I did......
yours,
Debbie
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