Immortal bread. Awesome!

A little over ten days ago, my best friend shows up on my doorstep bearing delicious gifts.

A loaf of Amish Friendship Bread, and...

...a bag of bread starter that keeps on giving.

Cinnamon-sugar crusted, moist, scrumptious bread every ten days when one starter multiplies into four.

Yesterday, I baked two of the starters into two mouth-watering batches of bread:

Classic style with cinnamon sugar crust,

and chocolate chip with cocoa-cinnamon crust.

A little research turned up some inventive, non-loaf recipes using starters. Stay tuned for late next week, when it's Baking Day, take two! ♥

Starter how-tos, and recipes after the jump...

Amish Friendship Bread: The Essentials
♥ Do not use any kind of metal spoons or bowls for mixing or storing batter. This changes the pH of the batter and completely messes it all up. Use glass, plastic, or wood instead.
♥ Do not refrigerate batter. This stops the yeast's growth.
♥ The batter will smell funky. It's just the natural fermentation of the yeast.
♥ If you are keeping your starter in a bag and you notice that air has built up inside of it, let it out! Throughout the cycle, the batter will rise, bubble, and ferment - creating excess gas.

Amish Friendship Bread: The Starter
If you want to bake up some Amish friendship bread, you'll need some starter. You'll either receive a starter from a friend, or you can make one yourself with this recipe.

1 (o.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1 cup milk

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in water and let stand for 10 minutes. In a larger bowl, combine the flour and sugar, mixing thouroughly. Slowly stir in the milk and the yeast mixture. Cover loosely with a tea towel or cheesecloth and let stand until bubbly. Leave loosely covered in the bowl, or transfer to a gallon-sized ziploc bag and release air when needed. This is Day 1 of the cycle.

Amish Friendship Bread: The 10-Day Cycle
Day 1: Do nothing. This is the day you make or receive the batter (go by the date on the bag).
Day 2: Mush the bag.
Day 3: Mush the bag.
Day 4: Mush the bag.
Day 5: Mush the bag.
Day 6: Add 1 cup all purpose flour, 1 cup sugar, and 1 cup milk and mush bag to incorporate.
Day 7: Mush the bag.
Day 8: Mush the bag.
Day 9: Mush the bag.
Day 10: It's baking day! Follow the instructions below...

Amish Friendship Bread: Baking Day - Dividing the Batter
Pour the entire contents of the bag into a large non-metallic bowl. Add 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, 1 1/2 cups white sugar, and 1 1/2 cups milk and mix until incorporated.
Divide the starter into four, 1 cup batches and pour three of them into three one-gallon ziploc bags and write today's date on each bag. Keep the fourth batch for you to bake, and give the other three bags to friends or neighbors, along with a copy of this recipe!

Amish Friendship Bread: Baking Day - The No-frills Recipe - makes 2 large loaves

For Cinnamon Sugar Crust:
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

To the remaining batter in the bowl, add:

3 eggs
1 cup canola oil
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 cups all purpose flour
1 large box (5.1 ounce) vanilla instant pudding (sounds quirky, but it makes a thick and luscious batter)

Mix thouroughly, or until no lumps are visible. The batter will be very thick and sticky.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease 2 large loaf pans with butter or shortening. Generously coat each pan with a quarter of the cinnamon sugar mixture.
Pour the batter evenly into the two pans and sprinkle the leftover cinnamon sugar mixture on the top.
Bake for one hour or until a toothpick inserted into the bread comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes to allow bread to loosen from the pan. Invert onto a rack to cool completely or serve warm.


Amish Friendship Bread: Baking Day - Slightly-more-fancy-pants Bread - makes 5 small loaves

For Cocoa Infused Cinnamon-Sugar Crust:
1/2 cup white sugar
3/4 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp unsweetened cocoa

To the remaining batter in the bowl, add:
3 eggs
3/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup milk
1 cup white sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 kosher salt
2 cups all purpose flour (or 1 cup all purpose and 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour)
1 large box (5.1 ounce) vanilla instant pudding
1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips

Mix thouroughly, or until no lumps are visible. The batter will be very thick and sticky.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease 5 small loaf pans with butter or shortening. Generously coat each pan with a quarter of the cocoa sugar mixture.
Pour the batter evenly into the five pans and sprinkle the leftover cocoa sugar mixture on the top.
Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the bread comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes to allow bread to loosen from the pan. Invert onto a rack to cool completely or serve warm.


Play with your friendship bread by adding:
♥ Raisins, dried cranberries, or other dried fruits.
♥ Nuts! Pecans would be divine.
♥ Dark or white chocolate chips or toffee bits.
♥ Fresh or thawed wild blueberries (the itty-bitty ones).
♥ Coffee! Dissolve 1-2 tsp of espresso powder in the 1/2 cup of milk that goes into the batter for a punch of coffee flavor. Make it "mocha" by adding chocolate chips or unsweetened cocoa powder.
♥ A drizzle of plain or lemon-infused icing.