When I was young my mom made Amish Friendship bread all the time. She was always trying out new variations of the recipe by switching out the pudding flavors and adding in nuts, coconut or chocolate chips. Now that I have a family of my own, I make it myself sometimes and it always disappears from the kitchen very quickly. Since tomorrow is Valentine's Day, I thought it would be a great time to share this recipe with you. It is such a great gift to give to friends....a loaf of this homemade sweet bread along with a starter so they can make their own. With this recipe you keep a starter going as long as you want and at the end of the cycle you have extra starters to give away. It truly is a gift that keeps on giving!
If you are starting the bread yourself combine 1 cup milk, 1 cup flour, and 1 cup sugar in a zip-top bag and squeeze it together until mixed in. This is day 1. Continue with the rest of normal instructions.
Note: Do not refrigerate the starter. Keep it at room temperature.
Amish Friendship Bread
Day 1: Receive starter from a friend.
Day 2-5: Mush closed bag twice a day.
Day 6: Add 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, and 1 cup milk. Mush bag.
Day 7-9: Mush bag and release air twice a day.
Day 10: Add 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, and 1 cup milk. This is the day you make your bread.
First measure three 1 cup starters and put them in three separate bags. Save one for yourself and give the other two to friends.
Pour remaining batter into a large bowl and add the following ingredients:
1 cup oil
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 large box instant vanilla pudding
Mix ingredients well. In a bowl, mix together 1 tsp. cinnamon and 1/2 cup sugar. Grease two loaf pans. Pour batter into loaf pans, and sprinkle top with cinnamon-sugar mixture. Bake at 35o degrees for 40-50 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans. This does really well in the freezer.
