Have you ever been given a recipe
and a bag of goo like this before?
If yes, then you've likely made Amish Friendship Bread,
or any other variety of names this stuff has been called.
It's like a bread chain letter -
you get a ziploc full of some yeasty smelling ingredients
from a friend, along with a recipe -
telling you what to do with the bag,
until it's ready to be passed on to more friends
and baked into 2 loaves of a delicious sweet bread.
For a number of the days,
you just mush the goo around in the bag.
But on baking day, you add a whole host of ingredients -
I received my starter bag and recipe from my sister.
She had taken care of the bag for me until baking day,
so Ruby and I had it easy
and went straight to the baking directions.
Before baking, you add some ingredients to the batter
and then place 1 cup of batter into 4 different ziploc bags,
so that you have starter bags to give to friends.
It's how this bread keeps going around forever.
Then you take the remainder of the batter
and add a bunch of things, like eggs -
and milk -
and then you stir it up good,
until it looks like this -
Next you spray your loaf pans
and sprinkle them with a Cinnamon-sugar mix.
Then pour half the batter into each pan
and you're all set to bake!
After an hour in the oven, the bread looks like this.
If you've never tried it -
it's worth the hassle.
The bread is absolutely delicious.
Here is the recipe for how to handle your starter bag. If you aren't lucky enough to receive one from a friend, you can find out how to make one online and start this crazy process yourself.
Amish Friendship Bread
- Day 1: This is the date on the bag. You don't need to do anything this day other than put the bag in a place of moderate (room) temperature and where you'll notice it tomorrow and succeeding days.
- Day 2: Mush the bag.
- Day 3: Mush the bag.
- Day 4: Mush the bag.
- Day 5: Mush the bag.
- Day 6: Add to the bag 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup milk, then mush the bag.
- Day 7: Mush the bag.
- Day 8: Mush the bag.
- Day 9: Mush the bag.
- Day 10: Baking day. Follow the instructions below:
- Pour the contents of the bag into a non-metal bowl.
- Add 1½ cups flour, 1½ cups sugar, and 1½ milk.
- Measure out 4 separate batters of 1 cup each into 4 1-gallon Ziploc™ bags. Keep a yeast starter for yourself (if you choose) and give the other 3 along with copies of this recipe to friends. Write today's date on each bag so your friends will know what to designate as Day 1.
- Preheat the oven to 325°.
- To the remaining yeast mixture in the bowl add the following:
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup oil
- ½ cup milk
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 tsp. cinnamon
- ½ tsp. vanilla
- 1½ tsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. baking soda
- ½ tsp. salt
- 2 cups flour (sifted if you wish)
- 1 large box of instant vanilla pudding
- Grease 2 large loaf pans.
- Mix an additional ½ cup sugar and 1½ tsp. cinnamon. Dust the greased pan with half of this mixture.
- Pour the batter evenly into 2 pans and sprinkle the remaining cinnamon-sugar mixture over the top.
- Bake one hour.
