Have you heard of this bread before? It’s like a baked goods chain letter. When a starter is given to you, you’re given a baggie of creamy liquid with directions on what to do for the next 10 days. It comes off as a bit bossy, I know. All of a sudden, you have a yeasty little pet on your hands that smells a bit like an old beer bottle. To be honest, I tried getting out of this baking obligation. We were on our way out of town and it seemed like the worst time to acquire something that needed care. When it was apparent that my excuses were not working, I accepted my fate and took the baggie with a smile. My new friend did not require much care, though and sat happily on a table that weekend. Instead of baking with it, though, I gave this first starter away and told my victim that if she needed someone to take a starter off of her hands, I would take one.  This is where the friendship part of the name comes in. After 10 days you bake 2 loaves of bread and give away 4 new starters, continuing the string of excuses from one friend to another.

A few days after I gave away my starter, it was back in my hands to do with what I’d like. Part of the Amish friendship bread guilt-trip is that you always tell the friend that they can just throw it away if they don’t want to make it. I could see myself throwing it in the trash and feeling guilty every time I passed the garbage. Thinking of my little pet bubbling away among discarded coffee grounds while I neglected it. Nope, couldn’t do it. However, out of rebellion I decided to test how flexible the recipe is. No, I wouldn’t intentionally throw it away, but if it got ruined while I played around, well, it seemed more palatable. The directions say to “get creative” by adding nuts or dried fruit. People have tried omitting an egg, decreasing the sugar, adding applesauce and the bread was still good. Those tidbits were scribbled in the margin of my directions.

It was my turn at this recipe and I had lots of ideas. First, I knew I wouldn’t have much time to make it on a Monday night, so guess what? I made it a day early. Scandalous! Then I took a look at the ingredients and first thing was first, I was in no way going to add jello vanilla instant pudding to the bread. I highly doubt the first maker of this Amish yeast bread had that ingredient to work with. Maybe I’m wrong, but it did not seem right to me. I halved the sugar, cut back on the oil, used half white and half whole wheat flour, increased the vanilla extract and added 2 cups of fresh blueberries. You know what happened to my yeasty friend? It became a delicious, nutty and moist bread. I was glad I decreased the sugar because with the addition of fresh blueberries it was in my sweetness comfort zone. I sent a loaf to work with Marc and he said there was 1 slice left when he grabbed his lunch from the refrigerator. I think it was a hit. I hope so, anyway, because tomorrow he’s bringing little starter friends.

Amish Friendship Bread

makes 2 loaves

Starter recipe

Starter Instructions

• do not refrigerate your starter
• the yeast will create air in the bag, let it out periodically

Day 1 – do nothing

Day 2, 3, 4, 5 – mash the bag

Day 6 – add to the bag 1 C. flour, 1 C. milk, 1 C. sugar, mash the bag

Day 7, 8, 9 – mash the bag

Day 10 – Pour the entire contents of the bag into a non-metal bowl. Add 1 1/2 C. sugar, 1 1/2 C. flour and 1 1/2 C. milk and whisk. Measure out 4 starters of 1 C. each and put into 4 gallon-size baggies. Keep one for yourself and give the remaining 3 to friends with these directions. If you keep one starter, you can bake this bread every 10 days. If you do not pass the starter on the first day, make sure to indicate which day of the process the starter is on.

Baking Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

To the remaining batter in the bowl, add (these are the ingredients I used):

3 eggs

3/4 C. oil

1 C. white flour

1 C. whole wheat flour

1/2 C. skim milk

1/2 C. sugar

1 t. vanilla

2 t. cinnamon

1 1/2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

2 C. fresh blueberries

1. Grease 2 loaf pans and pour half of batter into each loaf pan. Bake about 1 hour.

2. Cool until bread loosens from sides of the pan and remove. Cool completely and dig in.