I had "Amish Friendship Cake" (not bread) starter once. Basically it was a sourdough culture. And the whole idea was that you would, indeed, end up with "spoiled milk" -- that's the sour.

It was called "friendship" because the idea was not so much to bake a cake (or bread); the idea was to bake a cake or bread and to pass along some starter to another friend.

Joe

One of my new neighbors brought a bag of it to me shortly after we moved several years ago. I went through the whole process and baked it off. I remember not liking it much.

The one I had was overly sweet and the texture was not good. I think it's something that younger kids might like (hers did) and the sentiment behind it is nice. But I didn't feel comfortable passing it along to anyone I knew was a good baker.

One of my secretaries had a "starter" that was going around the building. We baked the stuff with apples and peaches and blueberries and bananas and no fruit at all.

Within a couple of months people would turn around and go the other way when they saw that container of starter, LOL. Eventually I just threw mine out, I could only just bake so much sweet bread.

I did keep it going for a couple of months and it didn't spoil, so it'll be OK.

Oh, and it's also known in places as "Harvey", but I don't know why.

Annie

Ok thanks...I'll give it a try. I'll let you know how it goes. The recipe has chocolate pudding mix in it so I think this will be a cake instead of a bread.

Stay tuned.....

Shaun:
Can I have some too ???
Lou

Shaun : If you see eyes and teeth starting to form, with a Dracula Smile.
Have a weapon ready !!!

LOU send me your address and I'll mail you a cup of it when it's time to "share" it. It'll travel ok, won't it?

Shaun, I've had an Amish Friendship Bread starer going for almost a year now! I've named it "Herman" and have even left it with friends to "feed" when I was out of town cause I didn't want it to die. LOL!

I sent some to a person on the CF here, and she's had good luck with it. People at my job were "over it" about six months ago and let their starters die, but I'm sure they'll want more when the holidays come along. It's so versatile and easy.

Remember Shaun, do NOT use any metal utensils or bowls when mixing this starter or making the bread. I use a glass bowl and a wooden spoon. Something about the metal kills the yeast or something.

Here are two of my favorite recipes:

Amish Cinnamon Bread

2 cups Amish Bread starter
3 eggs
1 Cup of oil (or cup oil and ½ cup applesauce)
½ Cup milk
1 Cup Sugar
2 tsp. Cinnamon
½ tsp. Vanilla
1 ½ tsp. Baking Powder
½ tsp. Baking Soda
½ tsp. Salt
2 Cups Flour
1 Large box instant vanilla pudding (small works fineÂitÂs harder to find the large boxes)
Cinnamon sugar mixture

Grease 2 loaf pans. Mix an additional ½ cup sugar and 1 ½ tsp. Cinnamon. Dust pans with this cinnamon sugar mixture. Mix all ingredients and pour batter evenly into the pans and sprinkle with remaining sugar/cinnamon over top. Bake for 1 hour (check in 45 mins) Cool until bread loosens from the pans evenly (abt 10 mins.) Turn bread onto serving dish. Serve warm or cold.

If you keep a starter for yourself you will bake every 10 days. The bread is very good and makes a great gift. Only the Amish know how to create a starter, so if you give them all away you will have to wait until someone gives you one back.

****Note: I have found that if you want to make a double batch of bread at the same time (make 4 loaves), each batch requires 2 cups of starter. So if you feed your starter like you normally do before you divide it up into 4 cups (3 to give away and 1 for yourself), take 1 cup and set aside for yourself and measure 2 cups in a separate bowl. You should have 2 cups leftover in your original bowl. I know this doesnÂt add up on paper, but somehow it does when you do it. This way, you donÂt have to give starter away or waste it, but youÂll end up with 4 yummy loaves of bread! Sometimes I make 2 loaves of cinnamon and 2 loaves of chocolate at one time.

Amish Chocolate Bread

(This one is a cross between a brownie and chocolate cake...it's AWESOME!)

2 cups of Amish Bread starter
3 eggs
1 Cup of oil (or ½ cup oil and ½ cup applesauce)
½ Cup milk
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup light brown sugar
2 tablespoons of instant expresso powder (I use International Delights Swiss Mocha)
½ tsp. Vanilla
1 ½ tsp. Baking Powder
½ tsp. Baking Soda
½ tsp. Salt
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 Cups Flour
1 Large box instant chocolate pudding (small works fineÂitÂs harder to find the large boxes)
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
Chocolate sugar mixture

Follow the same procedures as for the cinnamon bread. Make chocolate sugar mixture with 1/2 cup sugar and 1 tablespoon of cocoa powder.

Hey thanks gardengrl.

Is there a way to make a regular bread with this stuff? Without it being sweet?

Oh sure you can make your own starter. There are recipes all over the internet, some with and some without yeast. This is the one my co-worker used, it's the one with yeast and the turnover is every 5 days, so you're always stirring, feeding or baking.

The traditional starter is a 20 day starter, so you don't have to bake as often, that would be less troublesome, I think.

Annie

I've made my own starter with excellent results.... in fact... I may just have to make some now! This is absolutely delicious and everyone loves it!

Okay listen up experts - I don't have regular milk and today is the day I feed my Amish friend. Can I use skim milk? I already did so I hope it's ok and I haven't kill him.

Yeah, sure, use the skim, it'll be fine.

don't buy into that "low fat will kill you" state of mind. LOL.

Annie

Ok! hahahha!! Thanks Annie.

Shaun,

Yeah, I used skim milk for the longest time; no problems at all. I know there is a regular bread recipe out there...one of my coworkers made some a while ago. She said she just searched "Amish Friendship bread recipes" and she got lots of hits. I don't know how much of an unsweet bread it will make, but maybe not as "desert-ish"?

Ok, I'll poke around the internet and see what I can find for next time.

Don't forget that you can freeze the starter after the initial 10 day cycle. I pulled a bag of starter out of the freezer yesterday,let up come up to room temperature and three hours later was making the cinnamon bread.

Linda

Been there done that! LOL

It's OK, I've got better sweet bread recipes, so not a big draw for me. Love the concept and sentimentality behind it, but that's about it.

But......it does bring back memories.
One of my best friends from grade school had moved away and we kept in touch through high school and beyond.
One day I opened my mailbox to find a soggy, drippy, smelly box in there.
Yup. Friendship Bread Starter. This one was fruit based and evidently had fermented a bit in the plastic container and it popped open, drenching her letter, the box and probably the mailman! I was surprised it was even delivered....of course, this was in the 80s before many of our current fears, concerns and regulations!

So, Shaun, IF you send some to Lou.....be careful how you package it! :-)

Deanna

*Update*

Today is day 10 of my starter for the Amish Bread so I added what I needed to and divided it all up into 1 cup bags and made 2 loaves of chocolate cinnamon bread.

Wow Wee! It's delicious! Even my son and hubs loves it.

Wasnt sure at first but I'm so glad I tried it. I'm not sure about mailing it - the bags get so big here at home I have to let air out every 2 days. It might explode in the mail and what a mess that would be!

Thanks for all the input on this.

Shaun,

Awesome! Yeah, the cinnamon is one of my favs too. I just made some last Thurs.

If you want to send some via mail (I know you're in Florida), send it when the weather is cooler, between Nov-April. I found the bag didn't expand anywhere near as big when it's warmer, and it could go a good 4-5 days before I had to "burp" it. Plus, if you send it north, the even colder weather will make it go a little dormant.

So, I sent mine out I think in February and it was fine, but I double bagged it and made sure it had lots of padding so it wouldn't get punctured or anything.