Amish Friendship Bread

[iryzel]

I just got this from one of my co-workers. It had direction to leave it out of the refrigerator and its a 10 day process. Once you have done the 10 days you can store the remaining starter in a container in the refrigerator and begin the 10 day process over again when ready. I'm not too familiar with starters, so does that mean once you have ready to start the process over that you take it out of the refrigerator and leave it out for another 10 days?

[goldilocks]

I have been doing this for a couple of months now, but my directions are a bit different. My directions say to bake on the 11th day, but before doing so, put one cup of the mixture into 4 bags which are the starter doughs for your friends. To the remaining dough, you add more ingredients and then you bake. I was told to never put my dough in the fridge.

[iryzel]

Sorry, I didn't put the part about putting some of the starter in the separate bags. So do you just leave your starter out on the counter and keep repeating the process?

[goldilocks]

I did exactly as you mentioned, it just sat on the counter until I baked. My friend at work actually freezes her 'starter bags' if she can't give them away. Then when she takes them out, she treats it as day 1 of the process. It makes absolutely delicious bread. I added fresh cranberries to my last batch. Enjoy!

[Laura B]

Can someone describe Amish Friendship bread? I think someone may have given me a loaf of this a couple of years ago, but I'm not sure.

[MKSquared]

Originally posted by Laura B
Can someone describe Amish Friendship bread? I think someone may have given me a loaf of this a couple of years ago, but I'm not sure.

It's the bread that becomes a pet! You feed it, you pet it, it has offspring, and then you pawn the offspring off on friends. :) The dough I had made a bread that was a bit like a quick bread in that it didn't involve any kneading or rising times.

[Chiffonade]

Is that starter still going around? Geez, it must be like the lone fruitcake that wanders the planet... :D

[JHolcomb]

Does anyone have a recipe or info on how to get/make starter for this? DH's grandma's friend's daughter :p made some of this for her and it was amazingly good. Very addictive. I would love to have a recipe!

[kgraham]

I haven't tried it, but this recipe was published in the SJ Mercury News a few weeks ago:

Friendship Cake

Starter:
3 cups sugar
3 cups flour
3 cups milk

Cake:
2/3 cup oil
2 cups flour
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

To make starter: Mix 1 cup sugar, 1 cup flour and 1 cup milk in a large mixing bowl. Cover loosely and do not refrigerate. On days 2, 3 and 4, stir the mixture. On Day 5, add 1 cup sugar, 1 cup flour and 1 cup milk. On days 6, 7, 8 and 9, stir the mixture. On Day 10, add 1 cup sugar, 1 cup flour and 1 cup milk.
Take out 3 cups of the mixture. Give a cup, along with the recipe, to two friends. Use the remaining cup to begin again.

To make the cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. To the remaining starter, add the cake ingredients and beat until smooth. You may also add ingredients such as chopped apples, cherries, nuts and the like, to taste. Grease a 13-by-9-inch pan or a Bundt pan and pour in batter. Bake 30 to 45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean.

[JHolcomb]

Originally posted by kgraham
I haven't tried it, but this recipe was published in the SJ Mercury News a few weeks ago:

Friendship Cake

Starter:
3 cups sugar
3 cups flour
3 cups milk

Cake:
2/3 cup oil
2 cups flour
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

To make starter: Mix 1 cup sugar, 1 cup flour and 1 cup milk in a large mixing bowl. Cover loosely and do not refrigerate. On days 2, 3 and 4, stir the mixture. On Day 5, add 1 cup sugar, 1 cup flour and 1 cup milk. On days 6, 7, 8 and 9, stir the mixture. On Day 10, add 1 cup sugar, 1 cup flour and 1 cup milk.
Take out 3 cups of the mixture. Give a cup, along with the recipe, to two friends. Use the remaining cup to begin again.

To make the cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. To the remaining starter, add the cake ingredients and beat until smooth. You may also add ingredients such as chopped apples, cherries, nuts and the like, to taste. Grease a 13-by-9-inch pan or a Bundt pan and pour in batter. Bake 30 to 45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean.

Thanks! This looks close...does anyone have a recipe that lists cardamom, though? I think it was in the loaf I ate the other day, but I'm not 100% sure. It had that subtly addictive quality that I find in baked goods w/cardamom.

[phantomcg]

You can do other things besides the bread with the starter too. I remember making pancakes - if anyone's interested, I'll see if I can dig up the recipes that I have for using the starter.

Cheryl

[cayman]

I would love additional "starter kit" recipes from anyone.

[Beth]

I've also seen a variation on this that has a lot of added fruit. Anyone else seen that one? My sister sent it to me years ago when a co-worker was looking for a recipe. I've never tried either one, but I think I'd probably like the simpler one -- maybe adding dried cranberries and or nuts.

[JJeannette]

bump for anyone with some different recipes that use this starter.

[gabbyh]

Thanks for bumping this...this is the one I have:rolleyes:

~Gail