Amish Friendship Bread Recipe Collection, Starter, Variations and The Story (2024)

Amish friendship breadhas a great story behind it, one of love and the special bond betweenmothers and their daughters.

In the past, the Amishmothers used to pass onthe bread starter batter to their daughterson their weddings, so that theycould, in turn, pass the starter batter to their daughters. Thus thestarter would be passed from one generation to the next. Unfortunately,this tradition has almost died out except in some very remote Amishenclaves.

First, make a starter,follow our instructions and then make our delicious Amishbread recipe 10days later.

Making the AmishFriendship Bread Starter

The starter is from an era when people made timeto produce good food and maintained good friendships. It was during thetime when people spent time makingsoap, candles and performing other traditionalskills,but still had time to make this batter bread over 10 days. A time whenmoderntechnology didn't exist that was invented to save us time, but we spendso much time using it that we don't have any spare time!

So step back into time for simple living and make Amish bread andrekindle relationships. The bread recipe usuallyproduces five cups of bread starter, which must be either used to bakebread,given away, or used to start a new cycle. A common suggestion is tobake one loaf of bread, give away three cups of starter, and to savethe remaining cup for the next cycle.

The starter will last for years if fed every 10 days, and it will lastfor years this way, improving its flavor as it gets older. However,any starter that turns orange or pink in color and develop anunpleasant odor should be discarded.

For those of you how don't know howto make bread, this page is for you.

This is anAmish Bread Starterrecipe that has existed in an Amishfamily for generations. The starter is a substitute for bakingyeast and can be used to make many kinds of yeast-based breads andshared with friends.

Amish Friendship Bread Starter Recipe Collection

Here are 2Amish friendship bread starter recipes. The first and second recipesare very similar in that they are both made with the same ingredientsover 10 days, but with different quantities.

Bread Starter Recipe 1

This Amish Friendship Bread Starter ismade over 10 days. Share it with 3 of their friends, so that they canshare it in turn with others. Take the time to make good bread and goodfriends!

5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups white sugar

1 1/4 oz instant yeast

2 cups warm water

2 cups milk

Day1: Take 3 1/2 cups flour, 1 tablespoon of sugar and mixwith the yeast in a large bowl. Slowly add the water. Beat with awooden spoon until smooth. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and leave in awarm, draft-free place for 24 hours.

OnDays 2, 3, and 4: Gently stir the starter about 10 timeseach day.

Day5: Add 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk to thestarter. Sit through and wrap with plastic wrap again. Return to awarm, draft-free place.

Days6, 7, 8 & 9: Gently stir the starter about 10times each day.

Add the remaining 1 cup flour, 1 cupsugar and 1 cup milk to the starter.

The starter should be creamy inconsistency and pourable, like a rather thick batter.

AmishFriendship Bread Tip: Never mix the bread batter with ametal spoon and never put the batter in the fridge.

BreadStarter Recipe 2

Another AmishFriendship Bread Starter Recipe that doesn't use as much flour to beginwith.

1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup milk
pinch of dried yeast

Combine all ingredients in a glass bowl.

Let the mixture stand uncovered overnight. If your yeast isfresh you will see bubbles developing by the following morning.

If not, your yeast is stale and you will either have to wait a littlelonger, or if no bubbles appear by the second day, you will need tothrow the mixture out and start again with fresh yeast.

On day 3 stir the mixture with a wooden spoon. Leave the mixture torest for the next 2 days.

On day 6 add 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk.Stir. Leave alone on the following day.

On day 8 stir with a wooden spoon. Leave alone on the following day.

On day 10 add 1 cup flour, 1 sugar, 1 milk. Stir. Now dividethe mixture into 3. Use 1 cup of the Amish friendship bread starter foryour bread recipe, and then give the other 2 cups away to friends.

Recipe #1

1 cup starter

2/3 cup sunflower oil

3 eggs

2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

dash of nutmeg

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup raisins and nuts (optional)

Loaves of freshly bakedAmish Friendship Bread

Combine ingredients in a bowl. Pourbatter mixture into 2 greased, 8 inch loaf tins. Bake at 180°C for 1hour, or until dry.

Bread Recipe #2

1 cup oil

1/2 cup milk

3 eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup starter

2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

5 oz instant vanilla pudding

1 cup shelled walnuts, chopped

1/2 cup mixture of cinnamon and sugar

extra butter, for greasing

Heat oven to 325 degrees F. and grease 2 loaf tins.

Combine oil, milk, beaten eggs, vanillaextract and starter. Mix well.

Add the flour, sugar, baking powder,baking soda , cinnamon, salt, instant pudding and chopped walnuts.Stir well.

Takehalf the cinnamon and sugar mix and sprinkle it into the bottom of theloaf tins. Add the bread batter and sprinkle the balance of thecinnamon and sugar mix over the batter.

Bake the loaves in the oven for 1 hour, or until cooked.

Bread Recipe #3

This is a bundt Amish friendship bread recipe.

2/3 cup oil

2 1/4 cups flour

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 1/2 baking soda

1 1/2 baking powder

1 1/2 salt

Mixall the above ingredients to 1 cup Amish friendship bread starter. Pourinto greased and floured bundt cake tin and bake at 180 degrees C. (350degrees F.) for 40 - 45 minutes until cooked.

As a variation on this recipe you could also add one 1/2 cup of thefollowing ingredients:

raisins
cherries
nuts
apples
bananas

Amish Friendship Bread Variations of Recipe #1:

Amish Breadwith Mashed Bananas

Reduce the oil by 1/3 cup. Add 3 very ripe, mashed bananas (skins mustbe going black). Omit the cinnamon.

Amish Bread with Apple

Add 1 cup of shredded apple to the mixture. Granny Smith or any othertart apple will work.

Amish Bread withCherries

Add 1 cup of dried cherries to the batter mixture and omit thecinnamon.

If you liked theserecipes you can enjoy some more. For just $4.99 (AmericanDollars) you can accessmore than a 200 authenticAmish recipes. You will be able to download the Amishrecipes as an e-book in .pdfformat for a quick download from a 3rd party provider and securenetwork.

Buythe Book Here

We hope you will tryout Amish Bread starter recipe and use it to try some of the Amishfriendship bread recipes. Don't forget to share this with your friendsand family.

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