March 22, 2007...11:11 am
Amish Friendship Bread
I was terribly tempted to title this post: Sharing a Delicious Recipe and Debunking a Few Myths. At the last minute I restrained myself. Amish Friendship bread is the kitchen’s version of a chain letter. There are no promises of great riches or good luck if you make the bread.Nobody will send you 500 embroidered handkerchiefs or 300 postcards or 250 teabags. If anything, you might gain a few pounds if you really like the results! If you break the chain, however, there are no threats of dire curses. Of course, the good news is that if you make the bread, you get a delicious treat.
First, I’ll share the recipe and then I’ll talk a little bit about the mythic mystique of this recipe.
[Added Nov. 18, 2007] But first: for those of you just joining us on this now enormous post with a zillion comments…if you have questions about your AFB starter, try reading down the comments first. A great many questions have already been answered, and we’re starting to see a lot of repeat questions from people who have not read the answers that are there. Thanks! [Back to the normally scheduled recipe. ;-)]
[Added January 11, 2008: Our comment thread is nearing 100. In comments we've covered everything that *I* can imagine needing to know about AFB and a few things I never thought to even wonder about. We have some GREAT comments. If you have a pressing question, please read the comments FIRST because very likely it's already been answered.]
[Added May 15, 2008: Our comment thread has reached 130 comments with lots of great ideas and tips for AFB. The length of this post has started to bog down my computer, so I'm closing comments here and starting a new post on AFB called Amish Friendship Bread, Part 2. The new post has some great new ideas from reader, Anne. The new post also has open comments! Please read through all the valuable comments from readers before posting new questions.]
At this point, this post is rather deep in our archives. We may or may not answer future comments, but please feel free to talk amongst yourselves. If you see a point that hasn’t been sufficiently addressed in the comments, please jump in and and help each other out. If something new or unusual gets asked, we’re happy to come back to the conversation. NOW….back to the previously schedule recipe!]
I’m going to copy straight off the recipe that I received with my ziploc bag of starter. I wish I could give better credit to the original recipe writer, but there is no indication on the paper where it came from. Wikipedia says that Amish Friendship bread started in the 1990’s, probably by a Girl Scout Troop.
Amish Cinnamon Friendship Bread
Important Tips:
- Do not use a metal bowl or spoon for mixing (see my note about this below)
- Do not refrigerate.
- It is normal for batter to thicken, bubble, or ferment
Day 1: You receive the fermented batter in a 1 gallon ziploc bag. Do Nothing. Just place the bag on the kitchen counter.
Day 2: Squeeze the bag several times.
Day 3: Squeeze the bag several times.
Day 4: Add 1 c. of flour, 1 c. of sugar, 1 c. of milk. Squeeze bag.
Day 5: Squeeze the bag several times.
Day 6: Add 1 c. each flour, sugar, and milk. Squeeze bag.
Day 7: Squeeze bag several times.
Day 8: Squeeze bag several times.
Day 9: Squeeze bag several times.
Day 10: In a large, non-metal bowl, combine batter with 1 c. each flour, sugar, and milk. Mix with a wooden spoon. Pour four 1-cup starters into individual gallon ziploc bags. Give away starters to friends with this set of directions. It is important to follow this sequence exactly.
To the remaining batter add:
- 1 c. canola oil
- 1 c. sugar
- 1 t. vanilla
- 3 eggs
- 1 1/2 t. baking powder
- 1 t. salt
- 2 c. flour
- 1/2 c. milk
- 1/2 t. baking soda
- 1 large box of instant vanilla pudding
- 2 t. cinnamon
In separate bowl, mix 1 t. cinnamon and 3 T. sugar. Sprinkle into well-greased loaf pans and coat the sides with sugar mixture. Do not use Pam or other non-stick spray. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until done.
Variations:
Banana Bread:
- 1 box instant banana pudding
- 1 mashed banana
- 2 handfuls of nuts
Chocolate Bread:
- 1 box of instant choc. pudding
- 1 T. cocoa
- 2 handfuls of chocolate chips
Now for Barb’s Unapologetically Non-conforming Notes:
First, the bit about not using a metal bowl or spoon? Horsefeathers. I think this falls into the “mystique” division. I always mix this up in my Kitchenaid METAL mixing bowl. The only metal things that I really avoid are old aluminum utensils. Aluminum is reactive metal. I haven’t personally seen this recipe react with aluminum, but I avoid it nonetheless. I suspect that the worst that might happen is the batter would take on a grayish cast.
Second, it is NOT necessary to follow these steps precisely. If you forget to do anything with your starter for a week, don’t toss it out. If you WANT to delay making the bread up, stick the starter in the fridge. It will last MONTHS in a good, cold fridge. If it turns pink, it’s spoiled and THEN you should throw it out.
Third, Pam spray works just fine for greasing the loaf pans. Maybe forbidding Pam spray is supposed to make this sound more Amish, but I MUCH prefer the texture that the Pam and the sugar makes on the crust.
Although my paper doesn’t say this explicitly, I have read many different places that only the Amish know how to make the starter and it’s a deep dark secret. But that is also myth. I have no idea if this recipe started in the Amish community, but there is nothing magical about the starter.
In fact, if you DO end up throwing out your pink spoiled starter, but have developed a taste for this friendship bread, you can start your own batch. Simply put 1 c. flour, 1 c. sugar, 1 c. milk, and 1 T. yeast in a ziploc bag and let it sit on the counter. Call that Day 1, and you’re good to go.
Interesting note: there is a similar recipe in Germany called Hermann cake. This cake uses a starter as well. I’ve had Hermann cake several times over the years in this country, so clearly that is also not a geographically proprietary recipe.
One thing that is NOT a myth is this. You MUST use boxes of Instant pudding. Cooked pudding mixes gives an entirely different and entirely unacceptable texture to this bread.
One last note: I’ve reduced the oil in the recipe to 2/3 c. with no bad effects.
It’s a funny thing. When I talk to people about Amish Friendship Bread, a LOT of folks feel quite a BURDEN when they receive a starter. It really helps a lot to know that if you keep all your starter for yourself, it’s okay. If you dump it the first day, you are only throwing out 1 cup of a sugar/flour/milk/yeast mixture. You’re not really letting anyone down or breaking a sacred trust. You’re not disrespecting any Amish people.You’re also not breaking some historic chain of breads.
It also helps to know that there are any number of rules that you can break with no real consequence. If I couldn’t make this bread in my mixer, I promise I’d never make it at all–so be free of rules against metal!
Barb
132 Comments
March 23, 2007 at 11:05 am
LOL ~ thanks for the information, Barb. I remember when I received my first bag of starter years ago when we were living in CA, and I carried on the whole things for MONTHS until I got tired of it. I still have the recipe, you listed above, but always wondered how to make the starter. Now I can ~ thanks!
~ Paulla
March 26, 2007 at 11:12 pm
I enjoyed reading this! I made my final loaves yesterday and then decided I had to call it quits with all of this - the gaining a pound or two part is correct! I would like to figure out how to be able to just make one batch of the bread, without having to deal with the four other starters. Have you figured that one out yet? I just feel like I am wasting so much flour, sugar, and milk when I follow the directions but then just scoop the four cupos down the drain instead of turning them into other starters.
March 27, 2007 at 12:36 am
Hi, Noel, just off the top of my head, one solution is to stick the additional four cups of starter in the freezer to use later. That takes care of the waste issue. Of course, each time you use one of those frozen cups, you’ll end up with 4 more cups of starter in the freezer. This could get out of control real fast.
I need to do some measuring while I’m in the process. In the fermenting process, you add 3 c. each of flour, sugar, and milk over time to the original 1 c. of starter. I think that the trick might be to do a mini-starter. I’ll have to play with that one a bit to give you actual proportions. The other thing I would like to measure is how much starter actually goes into the recipe when you DO bake it off. I’ll get back to you on that one…
Barb
March 28, 2007 at 4:06 pm
Barb, I used to make this years ago, about the time I started gaining all that weight I’ve worked so hard to lose recently. My son wants me to start this back up. I’ve successfully used 2/3 c. unsweetened applesauce and 1/3 c. oil to reduce the fat content. I’m going to try using splenda in place of sugar when I bake the bread, but I’m not sure about using splenda in the starter. I may try that, just to see. And I plan on using sugar-free pudding too. I’ll let you know how this goes. In fact, I’m going to start the starter today! (with splenda). This has my scientific mind intrigued…..
March 28, 2007 at 4:10 pm
Beth, I definitely want to know how that goes. I think that you’d need at least SOME sugar in the starter for the yeast to feed on. You probably don’t need as MUCH as the recipe calls for. You might also want to watch the starter closely because the amount of time you let things ferment might be longer or shorter. Good luck!
Barb
May 19, 2007 at 9:02 pm
Barb,
Finally! someone who has answers to this recipe! The starters that I have put in the freezer, are they ONLY used as starters for another time, or can I use this to make more bread.? Also, I have noticed there are recipes that do not require yeast. What is the differance? Do you know?
Thanks!
Charlene
May 20, 2007 at 1:42 am
Hi, Charlene,
I’m flattered that you think I have the answers…I can give you some tips, but I really am not a total expert on this. A lot of my cooking is trial and error and it almost always turns out just fine.
You should be able to take the starters out of the freezer and use those for bread. The thing that I don’t know is how much starter you actually USE in a recipe. I know that it’s more than just one cup.
Here’s what I would do. I’d take one of those starters out of the freezer and go thru all the steps. When it comes time to make up the bread, measure how much starter is left in your bowl that you DON’T theoretically put in ziploc bags. That’s how much starter you need to be putting in the ziploc bags in the future if you want to just pull it out of the freezer and bake bread with it. Does that make sense?
About the yeast…if you notice, the only time you use yeast is if you’re starting the starter from scratch–NOT if you’ve received the starter from someone. From working with sourdough, I can tell you that you don’t NEED commercial yeast for the starter to grow. It might turn out a little more sour and have a different “personality” with wild yeasts. It also will take a few days longer without any commercial yeast, but it should work.
Amish Friendship Bread is considered a quick-bread even though the starter has yeast in it. This is because you don’t knead it or get the gluten formation that you’d get in a true yeast dough.
Good luck,
Barb
May 22, 2007 at 4:15 pm
Barb,
Thanks for the information. I have one more question. I kept 2 bags for myself and did not freeze them, but started them as day “2″ as another start. It is day 5 and they do not seem to be growing as well as the original start I made.
The one with NO yeast is bubbling but the one WITH yeast looks pretty flat! Am I doing this correctly? Thanks for your help!
Charlene
May 22, 2007 at 5:14 pm
Charlene, it could be a couple of things. The less bubbly starter could simply be out of food and need to be fed. That’s what I’d try first. Also, what temperature is your kitchen? If it’s quite warm, then the starter feeds more quickly…and is prone to run out of available food. But if it’s quite cool, that can really slow things down.
I’d give it another day, try feeding it, and then add 1/2 t. of yeast, just to try to jumpstart things. I’d try it in that order.
Barb
May 22, 2007 at 7:31 pm
Barb,
Could I add yeast to the one without yeast? If so, how much? Also, on the 1/2 t., how much warm water do I dissolve it in?
Thanks
May 22, 2007 at 7:40 pm
Charlene,
You could add 1/2 t. yeast to the starter without yeast. Don’t worry about dissolving it. The starter has enough liquid to dissolve. See what happens. The yeast should multiply rapidly because there is so much sugar to feed on. Add the yeast the day before you plan to feed the starter with flour, sugar, and milk. If it takes a few extra days to get bubbly, don’t worry. Eventually, it should happen. Let me know how this works out for you, okay?
Barb
May 22, 2007 at 8:36 pm
Thanks Barb!
Will do!
May 27, 2007 at 8:59 pm
Hi Barb, I just put some bread in the oven about 30 minuets ago BUT ( instead of using loaf pans I used a Bunt cake pan as I cannot find my loaf pans Hubby probably threw them out!) BUT on the recipe I have it does NOT have baking POWDER on it!!!! Only Baking soda! does this mean it will NOT rise? or taste funny??? Thanks Jamie
May 27, 2007 at 10:26 pm
Hi, Jamie,
I LOVE the idea of using a bundt pan instead of a loaf pan. I bet it will make a wonderful cake. I have no idea if your bread will turn out tasting okay. Would you please let us know how it works? If it’s not good, I suspect it will be definitely NOT good. If you taste it and think, well that SEEMS okay, but I’m not positive it’s as good as it’s supposed to be…then don’t worry. It’s probably just fine.
Let us know how it works out,
Barb
June 16, 2007 at 4:39 am
Hi Barb,
I got a starter 12 days ago and baked my first loaves, they were delicious. My recipe called for 1C flour, sugar, milk on day 5 and on day 10 1/2 cup flour, sugar, milk. It said I would have 4 bags of 1 cup each, one to keep and 3 to give away as well as some to bake with. As it turns out, all I ended up with was 3 bags, 1 to keep, 2 to give away and 1/2 cup to bake with (I measured it because it didn’t seem like enough) but the bread turned out great and it made two full size loaves. However I altered the recipe before passing it on to 1C flour, sugar, milk on day 10 because of the different versions I saw on-line and the small amount left to bake with on my original recipe.
Hope this helps with the amount to freeze to bake bread with for those wanting to save some for baking, not passing on.
Monique
June 19, 2007 at 1:02 am
Barb,
Its me again with some more questions! I have made this bread twice. The last time I made it I used small loaf pans.
The bread was good but a little dry, so I used the larger loaf pan. The bread did rise but sank in the middle. It never got a nice dome top. It was flat and dry, and wet in the middle. I’m not sure what I did wrong! I have searched the Internet for some trouble shooting help but cannot find one! I am so frustrated but determined to make the perfect batch! ha. Any suggestions???
Thanks, Charlene
June 19, 2007 at 2:43 pm
Hi Monique and Charlene,
Monique, thanks for sharing your baking notes with us. How has the recipe worked, now that you’ve altered it a little?
Charlene, there are a number of things I think you should consider. I’ve never had this recipe turn out too DRY…so that kind of surprises me. Since I really don’t have all the information, here are some questions to consider.
1. Do you live at altitude? When we lived close to 7000 feet, I had to adjust some of my recipes for altitude. If you live up high, you might need to make some of those altitude adjustments.
2. Are you using all-purpose flour? If you use bread flour, it will probably make a slightly dryer loaf. If you use self-rising flour, that will definitely affect the outcome. Sometimes, all-purpose flour you can buy in bulk (like 25# bags from Sams Club or Costco) are somehow different. I have no idea why, but I can’t use Sams Club all-purpose flour sold in 25# bags to bake.)
3. Is your oven the right temperature? An oven thermometer is an inexpensive tool that can make a big difference in your baking. Just this past week I started suspecting that my oven wasn’t heating properly. Sure enough…after 30 minutes, it was still only 250° when I had it set on 350°. Turns out that the bottom element had burned out and the top element was struggling to do the whole job.
4. If the batter is too wet, consistently, you might try adding a tablespoon or two of extra flour.
5. Are your leavening agents fresh? Is your baking soda and baking powder sealed up tight to maintain freshness? Are the eggs you use fresh? Are they extraordinarily large eggs or especially small eggs?
6. Are you using the right kind of pudding? Instant pudding gives this bread the right texture. Cooked pudding makes the bread turn out wrong. Are you using the right sized box of pudding? You want a large box, not the small boxes. Two small boxes do NOT equal one large box.
7. Did you open the oven while you were baking the loaf that fell in the middle? There is a small window of time after the bread rises and before the batter “sets” when even small bumps or jiggles will make the center fall in. Occasionally I will stick the test toothpick into the center of a loaf and will watch the whole thing cave in.
These are some initial thoughts. Anything ring a bell here?
Barb
July 1, 2007 at 1:23 pm
I have a question: Does anyone know if you can start baking the friendship bread a day early? My bake day is on a Monday and I would rather do it Sunday. Does anyone know if you can? Thanks
July 2, 2007 at 2:41 pm
Leslie, baking the friendship bread a day early shouldn’t be a problem. Go for it. bk
July 8, 2007 at 2:19 pm
I have also baked without pudding and it taste just fine.
I have also used a mixer as I was having large cluster of flour after baking in my bread even though I was mixing well. The bread had different texture but was very good.
July 9, 2007 at 10:03 pm
Hi there, just found your website after I made my first batch of this bread. Like Monique, I had a recipe that only added 1 cup of ea. flour, sugar, milk on 5th day and then on 10th day before splitting off the starters to give away. I think I had roughly a cup of starter left to work with. Adding all the other ingredients, I found it is certainly not enoug to fill two large bread pans. BUT I also kept the starter in the fridge the whole time (we live in CA and it’s hot right now)…sooo maybe that had something to do with it?
Anyway, just wanted to let you know that I did not have instant pudding at hand and used a cup of plain yogurt instead - it worked just fine.
Barb, I have a question: it seems to me that if you keep the starter in the fridge when you receive it and do NOT add the flour, sugar, and milk within those 10 days, you could just use the starter to bake the cake with, no? For those of you who don’t want the perpetual cake. Or just add it once and have only half the amount. The amount you need to bake is about 1 cup of starter, I believe.
Greetings from Babette
July 13, 2007 at 4:03 am
Barb,
I have a question: My mother is diabetic and I was wondering if I could use splenda and skim milk to the recipe, and do you know of any way to make it low fat and carbs?
July 13, 2007 at 12:51 pm
Kelley, a good friend of mine just went thru this whole process using splenda and skim milk. She emailed me the results to let me know how her “resesarch” came out. I’ve got a completely full schedule today and tomorrow, but tomorrow evening, I”ll look up that email and post her findings. I think I remember that she was happy with the results and that things DID turn out. Look for a better answer on this question by Saturday or Sunday evening!
Thanks for jogging my memory on this because I’ve been meaning to post the low carb variation.
bk
July 15, 2007 at 1:34 am
Hello I just baked my bread from a started given to me 10 days ago, it came out amazing. I have been told that this particular starter has been going for close to 20 years, if it’s true or not I don’t know but I loved the bread. Now, it makes 4 cups at the end (add 1 cup flour sugar and milk on days 5 and 10) 1 starter to keep, 2 to give away and I measured what was left in the bowl and it was a cup, then I added a bunch more stuff that the recipe calls for (not one of the pudding ones) and I got 2 big loaves, that me and my fiancee loved. Yay! I can’t wait to start playing with the recipe.
July 15, 2007 at 11:41 pm
Barb,
I made the bread with splenda, skim milk, fat free and sugar free pudding and my mother really enjoyed it. Know one could tell the differance. I’m looking mforward to the low carb one. Thanks
August 6, 2007 at 10:34 pm
Hi!
I haven’t made Amish Friendship Bread in awhile but I would like to make some and I was wondering if I made the starter can I use it to bake on the same day I made it or do I have to wait the 10 days? Thanks!
August 7, 2007 at 1:09 am
Hi, Julie,
Yes, unfortunately, you really need to let the starter grown and ferment. If you bake it off right away, you won’t get the “starter” effect.
Barb
August 7, 2007 at 2:29 am
i was just curious if you could send me the recipe for the sugar free recipe. I was gonna try to play around with it myself but I wasnt sure if u add the same amount of splenda as u do sugar seemings tho 1 c splenda = more than 1c sugar….if you could I’d appreciate it. thank you
Gretchen
August 8, 2007 at 3:40 am
Has anyone ever used flaxseed in their bread? I’m thinking of using some in my loaves and wanted to know if anyone has any thoughts?
August 8, 2007 at 12:43 pm
Kelley and Gretchen, I’m working on a post to follow up on this one to share my friend’s findings on making this a low carb/low calorie recipe.
Deedee, I’ve never used flaxseed in my friendship bread but I often use it in the regular whole wheat or white bread that I use. I often substitute a measure of ground flax seed for the same measure of flour.
Two things to remember about flax seed. First, it needs to be ground to get the benefit of that great flax seed oil. If you put it in bread whole, it will just go through your digestive tract unscathed. It’s great roughage, but you don’t get the health benefits of the oils. I grind my flax seed in a coffee grinder and that works perfectly.
Second, there IS a lot of oil in flax seed, so you may want to slightly reduce whatever oil you add.
Best,
Barb
August 12, 2007 at 2:02 am
I did measure all the batter on “baking day”, after adding the flour, sugar, and milk, and before taking out any starters. It made 6 cups, so if one takes out 4 one-cup starters, that leaves 2 cups to actually make the bread with. I am running out of other innocent bakers to pass the starters along to, so last time I just took out 2 starters and made 2 batches of bread on the same day. This time, I put my two starters in the freezer because we are going away for a few days and my little village has no battersitters I can afford. It’s a great recipe, very versatile, but I can see it becoming like the Ancient Mariner’s albatross.
August 21, 2007 at 2:36 am
Is there anyway to divide the ingredients down so you don’t have so many to give away? I would like to keep one bag and bake the bread with out having to give 3 away each time. Has anyone divided it down? What would the new measurements be for the flour, sugar and milk on day 5 and day 10? Thanks!
August 23, 2007 at 8:51 pm
If you don’t want to give the 3 away, just throw them out. You’re not losing much. Or put a couple in the freezer for the day when you’ve lost your starter.
August 28, 2007 at 11:57 am
Can you still make the recipe if you are 2 days late?
August 28, 2007 at 12:19 pm
Dusti, unless your starter is pink or orange and smells really rotten, there should be no problem with delaying 2 days.
Barb
September 4, 2007 at 9:00 pm
Hi - this site is great and it provided all the info I wanted on friendship bread, but I had a suggestion. couldn’t you just use the extra “share” portions to bake extra loaves if you didn’t want to mess with finding people to take the starters? I haven’t made the friendship bread for a while, but I remember getting to a point with it before where I didn’t want a starter and nobody I knew wanted one either. It’s hard to imagine getting tired of this wonderful bread, but it does happen after you have a bag of goo sitting on your counter for a few months straight! :o) It’s some GREAT bread though!
Bonnie
September 4, 2007 at 9:31 pm
Hi, Bonnie, thanks for stopping by. YOu’re absolutely right that you could just use all the starters to bake bread. Several folks have also suggested freezing the starters to use later. I know that I have grown weary….or rather, my bathroom scale has grown weary of constant friendship bread around the house. At that point, I throw a ziplock in the freezer for weeks or months later….and I use up whatever I have on hand.
Barb
September 8, 2007 at 8:14 pm
I had a friend of mine play with the numbers and she came up with a way to decrease amounts so that I only have to worry about adding enough ingredients to make my bread every 10 days and have enough for one starter, which I keep for the next cycle. My recipe is the same as the one on this site, but you add the milk, flour, sugar on days 6 and 10.
Here are the amounts: to 10 tablespoons of starter, add 10 tablespoons each of flour, sugar and milk (Day 6).
To 26 tablespoons of starter, add 14 tablespoons each of flour, sugar and milk (Day 10).
Remove 10 tablespoons of start to keep until next time. Go ahead and continue the recipe as listed for the remaining 1 cup of start (will make two loaves). I do use 1/2 cup applesauce for 1/2 cup of oil.
I have made this 3 times since my friend Nicole cut down the amounts and it always works. I add more of milk, flour, and sugar if I want to have an extra starter to give away.
September 16, 2007 at 1:29 am
Hello-I have a question about the type of flour I use. I grind all of my own wheat into flour to make my bread. Can you use freshly ground flour in this recipe? I know that freshly ground flour will go rancid if not refridgerated or used within a couple of days. But, I am not sure if it is okay since it is reacting in the recipe, or if it will spoil????? Thanks for any comments.
September 17, 2007 at 8:03 pm
Hi Caroline, thanks for the details of scaling down this recipe. That is very helpful to me and I’m sure that readers will appreciate the information you shared.
Angie, you should not have any problem with your freshly ground flour. Yes, freshly ground flour does go rancid as a result of oxidation with the air. If it’s stirred into the starter, it will be FERMENTING but not spoiling. It shouldn’t be a problem at all and it sounds like a really great way to make this bread.
Barb
October 2, 2007 at 2:03 am
This recipe sounds like the one I am looking for however I need a recipe for the starter to go with it.
October 2, 2007 at 12:15 pm
Tina, the instructions are in the body of the post for this. In short, here is the information: “Simply put 1 c. flour, 1 c. sugar, 1 c. milk, and 1 T. yeast in a ziploc bag and let it sit on the counter. Call that Day 1, and you’re good to go.”
Good Luck,
Barb
October 2, 2007 at 5:23 pm
I would like to make Amish Friendship Bread using Splenda instead of sugar, may I use it in the starter also. I would like to use freshly ground whole wheat instead of white flour, would this turn out well or would it be too heavy?
I made the bread once before using sugar and I used applesauce instead of oil and it worked real well.
October 2, 2007 at 7:43 pm
Vicki, using whole wheat flour shouldn’t be a problem. It will produce a different loaf, but it should turn out. I would probably try it first using half whole wheat and half white flour, just to see how that works. I don’t know about using the splenda in the starter. Give it a try and let me know how it works out for you.
Barbara
October 9, 2007 at 9:28 pm
Barb and all others,
I just wanted to thank you all for your helpful comments and answers. I’d been looking for a way to keep just one bag of starter and be able to bake 2 loaves for myself every ten days without having to hand out the 4 bags every time. I seem to have a different recipe than your’s and Caroline(who scaled hers down). I think I have the same as Marilyn Crisp, so I’ll be working with mine and I’ll try to come on here and let you know what I end up doing. Anyway, thank you all for your help!
October 13, 2007 at 3:44 pm
Hi, I would like to make some of the bread. I have a recipe for the starter, my question is this. What kind of flour do I use… AllPourpose or Self Rising?
Thank you for any help you can give me. Wanda
October 13, 2007 at 3:47 pm
Megan, thanks for your kind words! Let us know how the bread works for you.
Wanda, do NOT use Self-rising flour. Self-rising flour contains other ingredients besides flour….like baking powder and salt, I think. I don’t personally know what that would do the bread, but I would not use it.
Thanks for everyon’s comments….so much help!
Barbara
October 15, 2007 at 2:11 am
Hi. I just read these comments - some great ideas!! But that last one said do NOT use self-rising flour. This was what the recipe I had said - to add self rising during sitting time and all purpose for baking time.
The loaves have come out fantastic every time. Just wanted to add my 2 cents!!
October 16, 2007 at 3:41 pm
Hi, you guys really seem to know what you’re talking about! I’ve never made this bread before but I received a starter 10 days ago so today is my bake day. Over the weekend my starter bag got a little hole so I dumped the starter into another bag and lost a bit of it on the way, the general consensus seems to be that you should have 1 cup to bake with and 4 to give away so I’m wondering if I can short that by a cup (possibly add slightly less of todays flour/sugar/milk?) and still have this turn out ok? I’m not sure how dead-on you have to be to make this turn out great…
Also, about freezing the starters, this is the first I’ve heard of that but I like the idea! So you put it in the freezer on day 1, when you take it out do you start on day 2 and still follow all the steps like you would a normal starter? Is there any limit on how long you can freeze it for?
Thanks!!!
October 18, 2007 at 2:57 pm
I got this recipe a while back and was told I need to chant over the batter as I mixed it, does that fall in the “mystique” division too? My friend likes to play pranks on me, so I’m not sure if I should trust him.
Thanks for your help!
October 19, 2007 at 12:18 am
Patty, I’m glad that the self-rising flour has worked for you. I’ve never seen that in an Amish Friendship Bread recipe before. I probably won’t use that in the future, but if your recipe is working for you, keep doing it that way!
Shannon, you should be able to adjust the amounts of flour and water that you add if you do it proportionately. I don’t have any idea how long you can freeze the starter, but if you let it go too long and it ends up going bad, just start another one!
Bill, your comment made me laugh out loud. Can’t say I have ever heard about chanting over the batter and I have a hard time picturing that fitting into any kind of Amish culture. I would say that your friend is having some fun at your expense…or else you’re trying to have some fun at ours! Either, we’ll laugh with you.
Barb
October 19, 2007 at 8:11 pm
Hi, My oven was broken, so as of yesterday I am on my THIRD rotation of keeping the starter on my counter (and trying to find people to take more starter)…UGHHH! Anyway, They came and fixed my oven today, and I am wondering… can I bake the bread from starter that is on day one? In other words, yesterday was my day 10 and I added the 1 1/2 Cups of flour, sugar and milk, so now I have 6 bags of starter that are on day one of the cycle. Can I take two cups of the starter and bake them today with the additional ingredients? Or can some be frozen?
Thanks!
October 19, 2007 at 8:13 pm
Laura, you can freeze some, you can bake some off today, you can give it away, you can throw it away. The key is to do what works for you. I don’t think it will hurt anything to bake the starter that is on Day 1 in bread. It should work for you.
Glad you got your oven fixed!
Barbara
October 19, 2007 at 11:07 pm
A co-worker gave the starter and absolutely loved making the bread. It’s the first time I can actually say I baked something. Personally I don’t like baking but this was a little more than that.
The first time I followed the recipe exactly like she gave it to me. Nothing more, nothing less. But the second time i experimented. Day 10 turned until Day 12 and it was no different. Everything turned out perfect until something went wrong with a switch and my stove stopped working. So my bread was actually baked on Day 13 and came out just fine. It is a little on the chewy side and I think that’s because it sat a little too much before baking but other than that the flavor is the same.
I starting the process over but this time I’m going to split the ingredients for Day 6 in half and the other half on Day 10 and then bake. I’m going to try it that way because I don’t want to end up with 4 starters. i already have 3 in the freezer for more experiments that Ihave in mind. I think doing it this will work out fine because I figured that way I’ll just end with the almost 2 cups of starter that I need to bake (I measured how much was left from last time). I’ll let you know how it turns out.
I have to admit this is a little addictive but fun.
October 19, 2007 at 11:19 pm
Hi, Barb!
I’m enjoying all your Amish bread comments. I was afraid to take a starter from a friend, but decided the worst I could do is throw out the extra. But I typed “Amish Friendship Bread” in my browser and got lots of other recipes to use. Now I can make pancakes, brownies, waffles, cornbread, biscuits … all sorts of goodies. So now I make 2 loaves of bread, something extra, and have 1 cup left for my starter. I find the starter very forgiving. I’ve forgot to feed it for 2 or 3 days extra and sometimes don’t use it until day 14 as I find more time for baking on weekends. It’s been fun and very tasty!
October 20, 2007 at 12:19 am
Glad to hear that no one has died from some kind of yeast/ bacterial inbalance, while baking on the wrong day! Thanks for all of the help. I am going to fire up the oven!
October 22, 2007 at 9:23 pm
Thanks! I adjusted my ingredients a bit and my bread turned out great! I’m still a little confused about freezing the starter, do you put it in the freezer on day 1 and then when you take it out, let it go through the 10-day process? Or do you freeze it on day 10 and then when you’re ready to bake just take it out of the freezer and bake it that day? I would love to make this for the holidays but don’t want to be baking every 10 days between now and then! Also, this is probably a more general baking question but I’m fairly new in the kitchen so thought I may be able to get an answer here, I plan on baking 2 batches of this stuff this week (so 4 loafs) if I put 4 loafs in the oven at the same time will my bake time need to be adjusted? Or will they still be done after an hour? Thanks for all the info, this is a really helpful site!
October 26, 2007 at 8:11 pm
Shannon, sorry I wasn’t clear enough about freezing the starter. The truth is that it probably doesn’t matter all THAT much when you freeze it. Personally, I would freeze it after the end of the process (when I’d hand out starters to my friends, I would stash an extra in the freezer.) Then I would take it out of the freezer and start it on Day 1 when I was ready to make more bread. Does that help?
Thanks everyone for the great comments!
Barb
October 27, 2007 at 8:46 am
My daughter brought home a starter from school. She added the day six 1 cup flour, sugar, milk.
I did not know and miscounted the days. The next day I added the 1 cup flour, sugar and milk.
Can we still use this starter?
October 28, 2007 at 3:37 pm
I didn’t read all the comments so I’m not sure if I’m repeating what someone else has said. If you only want enough starter for 1 batch each time, feed it 1/4 cup of sugar, flour and milk each time. It will give enough to make the recipe and some to start again. Also, I do use a metal whisk when feeding my starter and have noticed no change to the starter.
October 28, 2007 at 4:54 pm
Wanted to add another comment. ;o) I keep my starter in a large margarine container. The bag always leaked for me. I just “shake” the container instead of squeezing the bag. When I bake the bread, I wash the margarine container to re-do the starter.
October 28, 2007 at 7:52 pm
Hi Kim,
Yes, this starter is remarkably forgiving. I think the main thing is to get that fermentation/sourdough process going well, and it really won’t make a huge difference if you goof on the day count.
Laura
October 28, 2007 at 7:56 pm
Susan, Thank you for chiming in–I’m sure there are a LOT of people who will find it very helpful to know how to do just enough for your own batch, without “blessing” 10 of your friends each time you make it.
I haven’t used the container idea with the Amish friendship bread, but I use a big ice cream bucket for my sourdough starter, and find it to be much easier to keep it tidy that way.
Thanks,
Laura
October 31, 2007 at 3:36 am
Somewhere I have read a variation on the Friendship Bread that would make it Gingerbread. Does anyone have that recipe?
November 3, 2007 at 9:52 am
Bonnie, here’s a gingerbread one that I found, the only thing is I had to go look around at other gingerbread recipes to fiqure out the spices, so not sure how this works. The gingerbread recipe I found for the Amish Friendship Bread only said this: Substitute 2 TB of molasses for equal amount of sugar, add spices. So here’s the spices I came up with: 1 tsp ground ginger, 2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp ground cloves. Good luck!!
November 3, 2007 at 4:00 pm
Thanks so much, Brenda. I’m going to try it on my next baking day!
November 3, 2007 at 7:16 pm
Hi everyone,
I am having so much fun experimenting with this thing. So what I did was on the 6th Day I added 1/2 cup each of sugar, milk, and flour and let it sit there. I did squeeze the bag everyday but to be honest I sorta lost count of the umber of days. I think that it was like a 14 Day process this time. Anyways I added all the ingredients for Baking Day and separated the mixture in half. In one I mixed in Banana Cream Instant Pudding; the girls told me it tasted fantastic. They really liked it. I can’t say anything about it because I’m allergic to bananas. Now for the other half, I mixed in a Chocolate Instant Pudding. Oh man is it good. If you are a chocoholic like me or even simple just like chocolate, you must try this. It’s very, very good.
Since my favorite holiday is only a couple of weeks away and yes I’m talking about Thanksgiving. I am going to make a pumpkin version. All I have to do now is find Pumpkin Instant Pudding. I went on the Jell-O website and saw that they do make one that is only sold seasonally. So I hope they sell it where I live. I’ll let you all know how it turns out.
Sandra
November 5, 2007 at 5:29 am
I wonder if you could use canned pumpkin in place of at least part if not all of the applesauce and/or maybe part of the milk? That is, if you can’t find the pumpkin pudding. Also, I’ve made the chocolate before, but added mini chocolate chips in the batter and then sprinkled more chips on top the last couple minutes of baking - YUM! Lemon is quite good too!
November 11, 2007 at 5:44 am
I just made one batch using 2 bananas (1/2 cup), 1/4 cup canola oil, 3 eggs, 2 C flour, 1 C sugar, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, & the starter (I had 1 cup left after dividing it). Baked this at 350 for 40 minutes. One in a glass loaf pan, the other in a stoneware pan. the stoneware pan took an additional few minutes (5). I then took another cup of the starter and followed the same recipe except I substituted 1 cup canned pumpkin. Texture seems a little coarser, but all in all very good. I am taking a loaf of each to Sunday School in the morning. (Oh and for the pumpkin, both loaves came out at the same time, but I had switched sides when I put the pans in this time) I really need to get a second stoneware pan. Much prefer it. I think I would like to try lemon poppyseed. I didn’t use any pudding in either recipe, but did add tsp vanilla extract to banana. I’m nut really sure what the pudding does except add flavor. Maybe try box lemon pudding, and poppy seeds, and tsp lemon extract.
November 11, 2007 at 5:55 am
To the question on the applesauce - pumpkin substitution, some of the WW recipes I have for WW friendly cakemixes call for using either pumpkin OR applesauce. The can be substituted equally. And both are great for replacing oils and even eggs.
November 12, 2007 at 1:58 pm
I was sick and missed day 6 to feed it-my question is will it still work to feed it on day 8? My 8 year old kept mushing the bag since it was her job but I did not look at the recipe for a few days. Did I ruin it or will it still work? thanks
November 12, 2007 at 2:19 pm
Sandra, another suggestion, if you can’t find pumpkin pudding mix is to try butterscotch pudding mix. With the pumpkin pie spices, it will still taste like pumpkin bread.
Julie, I love the idea of eliminating the pudding mix altogether from this recipe. Suddenly, it’s a very inexpensive treat to make. As we head into the holiday season, I’m always trying to stash extra loaves of homemade sweetbread in the freezer to hand out as gifts. Thanks for experimenting with this!
Cindy, not to worry….your starter will be just fine. Carry on. It’s very forgiving.
Thank you so much, Bonnie and Brenda for helping each other out!
Barb
November 18, 2007 at 10:47 pm
Hi Barb,
I haven’t read through every single question/comment, but I did read what you wrote at the top. I’ve never heard of Amish Friendship Bread until one of my student’s parents gave it to me last week. I had it on my counter for four days and my husband accidentally put it in the fridge on day 5. I was furious with him. I took it out and wanted to throw it away. But from what you said, I can just continue with the process of mushing the bag? I was really looking forward to making this bread.
Thanks!
November 19, 2007 at 3:37 am
DW,
yes! Mush away! Unless the starter is some icky color, carry on. Actually, putting this in the fridge for a few days is one way of just delaying the action. (For example, if you are going out of town for Thanksgiving, you can stick the starter in the fridge and pick up where you left off when you get home.) This is a VERY forgiving recipe, so don’t feel that you ruin the whole thing if you don’t get all the days exact.
Laura and Barb
November 20, 2007 at 2:16 am
Hello, I’ve been making friendship on and off for 12 years. Here are a few things I have learned:
1. I substitute Applesauce all the time at a 2/3 to 1/3 oil all the time. No worries.
2. As a math teacher I did the Math for reducing, as I never pass out starters. instead of 1 cup of Milk, sugar and Flour use 1/3, and them on day 10 feed again and pull out 1 cup for your next go around. Perfect.
3. I am having some trouble with the newest batch out of Mississippi. It’s not cooking at the required 325 for 60 min, I bumped it to 350 for 60 min and the ends are getting dry. Any suggestions?? Thanks for the website.
November 20, 2007 at 3:07 am
Hi Carla,
Where did you live before Mississippi? When we lived at 6800 ft elev. in CO I needed to cut back on the baking powder and soda and sugar to account for the altitude. If you’re coming from high altitude, you might want to stir in an extra T. of flour and 1/4 t. more baking powder as an experiment. Also, have you tried baking it at 350° for 50 minutes instead of the full 60?
I think this is just going to take some trial and error to find the right solution….Let us know how it goes.
Barb
November 28, 2007 at 1:48 am
I would like to freeze some starters from my batch. I read that it is okay to freeze. How do I prepare to start the 10 days cycle once I remove the starter from the freezer? I also have a problem with my bread sinking in the middle every time I cook the bread. The only difference I noticed on the recipe is that I have been using vegetable oil in place of canola oil. Would this cause the bread to sink?
Thanks for the advise and love your website.
Crystal
November 29, 2007 at 12:05 pm
I have baked the bread and have had the 3 starters out on my counter for a week without doing anything. Are they still ok to give away or are they bad? How long wil they last.
November 29, 2007 at 5:48 pm
I began making this bread about 7 years ago and carried on for sometime. At that time I found a site on the internet with the starter recipe and several variations from someone named Pam. I printed these and tried them all. They were wonderful! She had even made a chart for the ingredients needed to make up to ten loaves at one time and basically she used one cup of starter for every two loaves. So if on bake day, you do not want to find someone to give the starter to, you can use all but your “keeper” starter and make many loaves. You can freeze the loaves, give them away, or eat them all, but that carries a great warning!
Now years later my sister “gifted” me with a bag of starter and what do I do… start baking. But please understand, I have lost about 35- 40 lbs. and do not want to gain it back. My husband is now pre-diabetic so… I just made my first loaves using Splenda Brown sugar which is half the sugar of regular brown sugar. You can also use white sugar, but I like the flavor of brown sugar. Next I’ll try it using Splenda baking sugar and just regular Splenda. I also use sugar free pudding. My loaves taste fine. They are a bit dry, but that could be because I left them in a little long and I only had a small package of pudding mix. But still good!
I’ll have to take a starter and see what happens with Baking Splenda in the starter. The baking splenda still has some sugar.
As others have said this is a fairly forgiving bread and starter.
December 2, 2007 at 11:37 am
Well, here it comes again the baking frenzy before Christmas. Your blog is fun, I forgot that I had 6 starters in the freezer and I loved all the comments on how to change this to a healthier recipie as both myself and my husband love carbs and well this bread is just to good to give away! Since they have been in the freezer for a year LOL I’ll let you know if they rise or not, I bet they will.
December 3, 2007 at 6:39 pm
I love all the ideas for variations on this recipe! I think I might try the banana version this time around, one question though, do you still add the cinnamon to these variations? Or does it go from being a cinnamon-sugar bread to being a banana bread instead?
Thanks!
December 4, 2007 at 2:54 am
Crystal, using either vegetable or canola oil is fine. It should make a difference in how it bakes. YOu might try adding a tablespoon or two of flour to your batter and see if that helps with that Central Cave-in problem.
John, if the starters have been on the counter for a week without feeding, you should try feeding them just to make sure they haven’t died. They’re probably fine, but it would be kinder to the people you will be gifting with those starters.
Teresa, I’m so pleased to hear that your adjustments to splenda have turned out well!
Mary, I’m betting that if you feed those year-old starters, they’ll start to grow!
Shannon, whether or not you add cinnamon to the other flavors of bread is totally up to you. I would probably not add cinnamon to banana flavored bread. I have experimented, in the distant past, with pistachio pudding and almond extract and THAT turned out really yummy….although a trifle odd looking because it was quite green. But if you LOVE cinnamon, then add it to every flavor!
Barb
December 17, 2007 at 1:17 am
Hi Barb,
I just found out about Amish Friendship Bread last week when a co-worker brought in a pile of starter bags. I’m on day 10 (getting ready to bake for the first time) and was already feeling overwhelmed by the whole thing until I did a bit of research online. I’m wondering what role does the instant vanilla pudding play in the recipe? Is it flavor or is it important to the chemistry of the bread? I’d rather not use it if possible.
I saw this recipe on cooks.com and it has vanilla extract, no pudding.
1 cup Amish Friendship Bread Starter
2/3 cup oil
3 eggs
2 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup sugar
Thanks, Lynn
December 17, 2007 at 1:19 am
almost forgot to thank you for starting this great “conversation” !
December 17, 2007 at 2:11 am
Lynn, I know that the pudding affects the texture. I think it’s certainly worth trying WITHOUT the pudding simply because the pudding adds extra cost. It would be interesting to try it both ways and then decide which one you prefer. Thanks for stopping by!
Barb
December 20, 2007 at 6:29 pm
Lynn, I was talking to a friend just this past weekend and she had never seen the recipe with pudding. She said she has never used pudding and she still loves it. I use pudding, jello, applesauce… whatever comes to the imagination.
I also recently made several loaves with pistachio pudding, coconut, small can of drained crushed pineapples and marchino cherries on top. Looks very festive! when my youngest daughter saw me making it she said “Yuck! Mom, Green?? nobody will like that. I cut a loaf fresh from the oven and it is her favorite. She asked me to bake it for all seven of her teachers! Only I added coconut flavoring rather than vanilla, kept the cinnamon. Now it is my favorite variation! Her science teacher is asking for starter.
My husband even asked me to try Peach. I used a small box of peach jello (should have used 2) and drained sliced cling peaches. It was ok. When I make it again I’ll use 2 small boxes of peach jello and fresh peaches.
When feeding my starter I use white sugar, but when making my bread I use Splenda and sugar free puddings.
December 20, 2007 at 6:54 pm
I have had starters given to me several times in the past, and have made starters once or twice myself. Like many others, I don’t always have enough willing recipients of starters, though I have many willing recipients of bread. I have usually just fed the starter as directed, then taken out 1 cup to keep and doubled the bread recipe with the rest of the starter. It has always worked fine. I do reduce the amount of baking powder to 1 1/4 t. (mine called for 2 t.), and the soda to 3/4 t. (it called for 1 t.) because I had the center-cave-in problem. I live at a high altitude, and reducing the leavening helped solve that. I quickly got tired of having a bag on my counter, so I have kept it in a cute Rubbermaid-type bowl ever since. I just stir it everyday instead of squeezing the bag.
I had not made the bread for years, then a neighbor gave me a start 20 days ago - that’s when I discovered your fun blog! I was looking for a recipe for gingerbread. Bonnie asked about it awhile back, and today I got it just right. It made my house smell like Christmas, and it tastes great! So here’s my recipe for Pumpkin Gingerbread:
4 eggs 2 t. ginger
1 c. oil 1 t. cloves
1 c. pumpkin 2 1/2 t. baking powder
1 1/3 c. molasses 1 1/2 t. baking soda
2/3 c. sugar 2 t. salt
2 t. cinnamon 4 c. flour
I measured out 2 c. of starter to keep, then used the rest with this recipe. If you wanted less, you could take out the regular amount, then 1/2 the recipe. I greased my pans, but didn’t sugar them. (I meant to flour them, but forgot - they came out OK, though.) I made 8 mini loaf pans (5 1/2″x3″x2″)and baked them at 325 for 37 minutes, then baked an 8″ square pan for 30 minutes. I am going to give away the little ones for Christmas, and let my kids have the other one for snack when they come home from school. I hope you like it, Bonnie!
December 20, 2007 at 6:56 pm
Oh! I forgot to say that I, being the cheap-skate that I am, haven’t made it with pudding very many times. I found a recipe early on that left out the pudding and 1/2 c. milk, and I have made it that way ever since.
December 22, 2007 at 10:01 am
What a fabulous site! I’ve been searching the web for hours now for “the best” recipe and hints on making this Amish Friendship Bread. I want to start it off among my group of friends. I’ve found loads of recipes and tips, but this is by far the most sensible, logical and well informed page I’ve found so far. So many thanks!
I wonder though, now that all the myths have been debunked and wonderfully useful tips added, if anyone has suggestions on the ideal “instructions” to give out with bags of starter? I’m trying to put together my own, to give to friends, and want to make sure that I fully inform them, without making them feel overwhelmed or burdened.
Any suggestions? Barb, what would you give out to Amish Friendship Bread virgins to get them started?
December 24, 2007 at 11:52 pm
I have just put my first loaves of AFB in the oven. Really looking foward to it. My question tho, is this…if I put my starter in the fridge and want to wait a few weeks before baking with it, providing it doesn’t go bad…Is the day you pull it out of the fridge Day 2? Thanks.
December 25, 2007 at 2:51 am
Hi Theresa,
Yes, I’d treat the first day you pull it out of the fridge as day 2. You do want some days of unrefrigerated fermenting/aging. I have found this recipe to be VERY forgiving, so take it out of the fridge and see what happens. I think you’ll be pleased with the results. Merry Christmas!
Laura and Barb
December 27, 2007 at 7:12 am
Has anyone frozen the completed bread?
December 27, 2007 at 1:18 pm
Hi Frank, oh yes, I’ve frozen the bread often. I wrap it tightly in foil and then put it in a ziplock bag. The reason for the foil is so that I can pop it in the oven and heat it up to serve. It’s very important for ME not to wrap it in plastic first and then in foil. The reason I can’t do that is that I have been known to put the foil-wrapped loaf directly in the oven without checking for plastic wrap first. That doesn’t turn out so well…..
Barb
December 28, 2007 at 7:34 pm
I have been baking the amish friendship bread for about a year now. My mom accidentally baked off our batch so I had to start our batter over, but since then I haven’t been getting good collor to my bread. It tastes good, but the popyseed bread will be more of a brown tan a yellow like before. I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong. Also the recipe I’m using I add the flour, sugar, and milk only on day 6, but it’s 1 1/2 cups of each. Please help!
Vicki
January 8, 2008 at 12:23 am
hello i been getting your Amish friendship bread mixes and my sister is dibet. if you have one could you please send it to me…thanks Louella
January 8, 2008 at 3:55 am
Louella, I’m afraid that perhaps you’re mistaking us for someone else. There is a business by the same name that our blog has. If you look them up in your yellowpages, online or on hard copy, you should find a listing for them. I”m sorry we can’t help by sending you bread mixes!
Barbara
January 10, 2008 at 3:08 am
Am I reading it correctly that the starter requires 1 TABLEspoon of yeast & not one package? I saw on another site that they said to put the whole package in the starter.
I’m getting ready to have my Girl Scout troop of 11 girls make the starter & then pass on to their friends/family. So I definitely need to make sure I have the recipe correct!
January 11, 2008 at 2:50 pm
Stephanie, a packet of yeast IS pretty much a tablespoon. I believe that the precise measurement is a little more or a little less, but for general purposes, you can do a packet or a T. of yeast.
One thing about yeast is that it GROWS. So if you only put a teaspoon of yeast in, after a little while, you’ll have a fermenting brew. You can jumpstart something with more yeast, but you might end up with a yeasty flavor. The other thing about yeast is that most kitchens are filled with WILD yeast. For this reason, if you can take an extra week to grow that initial starter, you can do it without adding commercial yeast at all!
Good luck to all your Girl Scouts on this recipe,
Barbara
January 12, 2008 at 9:53 pm
I’ve made the bread with pudding for several years and there is nothing better on the planet! My grandkids love it as an afternoon snack and beg me to make it so for the past year I have kept it up. I became ill a few months ago and was in the hospital and not able to keep everything going and lost my last batch of starter. Just today began a fresh starter so in ten days will bake again. My entire family loves this stuff! Thanks for the hints and tips and information about this wonderful bread.
January 23, 2008 at 8:59 pm
I read all the comments and didn’t find anything about my question. I would like to try making the bread with bran or oats, how much oats or bran can I substitute for the flour? We are dieting, but love the bread for breakfast, I would just like to make it healthier.
January 24, 2008 at 3:40 am
Hi, I found your site today and I had a few questions/comments on the bread. A nagging question I have is …if the starter batter has yeast, why the need for the baking powder and soda? Makes me question the need for the starter altogether. The bread recipe is really no different than the average “from scratch” quick bread such as banana. Any thoughts? I also plan to use the some of the starter frozen on day 10 by thawing and baking bread with it, not starting the process over but baking the day I thaw the starter. Does that work? Thanks for the great website! Juliet Locke
January 24, 2008 at 3:54 am
Hi Sarah,
I checked on the Quaker Oatmeal website, and they say you can substitute oats for up to 1/3 of the flour in a recipe. So why don’t you try that and let us know how it works–that would be a great tip to add to our communal knowledge. Start with substituting on a 1:1 basis: if the recipe calls for 3 cups of flour, make it 1 c. oats and 2 c. flour. I would bet that the same general principle might hold for substituting bran, as well.
What about you other Amish Friendship Bread people? Has anyone already tried this? Do you have any hot tips for Sarah?
Laura
January 24, 2008 at 4:05 am
Juliet,
Actually, the bread is more like a sourdough recipe. There is a unique tang to the batter of AFB that comes from the starter, and you can’t get it without allowing the starter to age. The yeast in the starter provides SOME leavening, but its purpose is more to keep the batter “alive”–the yeast continues to consume the flour and ferment. Thus, you really do need the other leavening agents.
As for baking the bread from starter that just came from the freezer, that’ll work just fine.
Yours,
Laura
January 24, 2008 at 3:17 pm
Sarah,
Adding to what Laura told you….
I’m always pushing bran and whole grains into muffins and sweet breads. I have to admit that I haven’t done this with AFB, but there’s no reason you can’t. What I have found through experience is that it takes about 1 1/3 to 1 1/2 c. wheat bran to replace a cup of flour. This is due to the fact that wheat bran doesn’t really absorb moisture like flour does. The texture also makes it NOT a 1:1 substitution. Oatmeal may be different. I haven’t tried it with oatmeal. Sometimes I add 1/2 c. wheat bran without reducing the flour at all. Oat bran behaves a little differently and you will use less oat bran than wheat bran.
I often substitute ground flax seed. I grind it in an old coffee grinder. It ends up the texture of flour. THIS I do substitute one to one. If I do more than a cup of flax, I will reduce the oil in the recipe a tablespoon or two because flax has a LOT of oil in it.
One last suggestion for incorporating more fiber…..if you doing any juicing at all, you often end up with a lot of dry pulp after you’ve extracted the juice. If you clean the fruit/veggies carefully before you juice, the pulp is perfectly acceptable for human consumption. I frequently stir in the pulp from carrots or apples when I’m making bran muffins. I can’t begin to describe what great muffins this makes!
Let us know what works for you.
Barb
January 24, 2008 at 10:07 pm
Thanks everyone for the great ideas on adding fiber to AFB. I will try the oats first, I think, as I have those on hand, and let everyone know how that works out. Next I will try the wheat bran, and give feedback on this as well. Yeah, how cool!
February 1, 2008 at 6:28 pm
I just wanted to thank everyone for the awesome suggestions you have all made. I ran out of starter a little less then a year ago and have been waiting very impaitently for someone to have a starter they needed to give out but finally decided to make my own. This site is wonderful. I have a starter on my counter right now and hopefully it will turn out fine when I bake it in about 6 days. Also I wanted to mention that I am using unbleached wheat flour instead of the white flour. I am also hoping to use the splenda and sugar free pudding next time. I have read all the comments. Does anyone know the correct substitution for using Splenda instead of sugar? Do you have to use a special kind of Splenda? Also for making the bread without having 3 or 4 starters someone said use 1/4 sugar, flour, milk instead of 1 cup. Does that apply to day 6 and day 10 before you would take out the extra 3 cups for friends and then you just take out 1 cup for yourself and then follow your recipie? Thank you so much everyone for your help and sorry my comment/questions are so long.
February 1, 2008 at 6:35 pm
I wanted to thank everyone who has left feedback about the Friendship Bread. I had let my run out about a year ago and could not wait any longer to hope someone would have an extra starter so I started my own. I have seen a lot of comments about making the bread less fattening. The starter I just started I am using unbleached flour instead of white. It should still turn out ok though right? Also I love the idea of using skim milk, sugarfree pudding, and Splenda instead of regular sugar but does anyone know the amounts of Splenda? I am also going to try and do the 1/3 flour milk sugar combination so I don’t have to give the starters away because people just don’t want the “work”. I will let everyone know how it turns out.
February 1, 2008 at 6:36 pm
I wanted to thank everyone who has left feedback about the Friendship Bread. I had let my run out about a year ago and could not wait any longer to hope someone would have an extra starter so I started my own. I have seen a lot of comments about making the bread less fattening. The starter I just started I am using unbleached flour instead of white. It should still turn out ok though right? Also I love the idea of using skim milk, sugarfree pudding, and Splenda instead of regular sugar but does anyone know the amounts of Splenda? I am also going to try and do the 1/3 flour milk sugar combination so I don’t have to give the starters away because people just don’t want the “work”. I will let everyone know how it turns out.
February 1, 2008 at 6:36 pm
oops sorry for the double comments. My internet browser said it didn’t send the first one.
February 3, 2008 at 7:00 pm
Thank you all for all the information. I received a starter about 11 days ago and baked 2 loaves yesterday. The original recipe states that the starter can be started just with 1/3 c of milk,flour