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Amish Friendship Bread


When I got back from NJ there were a few surprises waiting for me back at my townhouse... the first was that the entire house was decked out in full blown Christmas glory (Roomie Steph loves her some christmas). I have to say it looks beautiful, but still made me laugh when I walked into it all :) (also funny I'm not used to expecting it since we've been living together for 6 years now!) The second surprise was a weird bag of white goo on the kitchen table... there was a sheet of paper under it with these instructions:

(click to see a larger image - yes I'm lazy and don't feel like retyping it)

Steph was given said goo (a bag of starter) from her John's sister. Lucky for me, Steph was planning on making said goo into a cake that night! We were both a bit sceptical of the whole thing... but away she went stiring and mixing. I accidentally left our loaf pan at my John's... so she made this in a 9x9 pan and a small loaf pan. It was supposed to make 2 normal sized loaves. And can I tell you... The crumb... so tender... the crust... a sweet crisp!! AMAZING!!!


Now don't go thinking it's super healthy or anything... Steph did health it up a little though. Instead of a cup of oil she used 1/2 oil 1/2 apple sauce. She also used skim instead of whole milk YUM! Oh and she upped the vanilla to 1 tsp instead of a 1/2. Good job Steph GOOD JOB!!!! I'm totally going to try to health it up more with another bag of starter she has! Can't wait to see how it comes out!

As you see the note says you can't know how to make the starter... Amish secret recipe... well good thing the Amish don't use the internet, otherwise they would not be happy to see someone leaked said secret recipe on All Recipes!!! You can find it here. :D

20 chews:

Anonymous said...

I would love to try this bread, sounds fantastic! LOL about "not healthy" tag :)

Anne said...

Oh I remember my mom's done the amish friendship bread thing before! I was totally skeptical of that goo bag too, haha. Your bread looks delicious!

Lindsay C said...

My Aunt tried to make the Amish Bread for my Diabetic Uncle, but the bread turned out horribly!! I would recommend that you only replace the milk and a as Few other things as possible!!

Natalie said...

ahhh i've made this several times and i LOVE it!! :)

I love Amish friendship bread! But it seems that once it comes into your friendship circle everybody and their brother is giving you a baggie of the starter!

stephchows said...

5 star foodie- I say try making the starter :) I'm going to give it a go too! Although it kinda defeats the purpose huh?

Anne- so cool!!

Learning to cope w/ eating and college, thanks for the disclaimer!! We'll see how it all goes :)

Natalie- awesome! I'd never heard of it before!

Mags- LOL I can see that happening very easily for sure!!

Pam said...

Yum, yum, yum! This is my kind of bread...healthy or not.

tam said...

That looks gooooooooood! x x

ha! Good thing those Amish are far from the world wide web. Their secret has been released!

I love sourdough bread - every kind of sourdough, but especially these sweet breads. I'm such a timid baker, but this winter I'm definitely going to attempt to make some starter and get baking!

spngebobmyhero said...

I have 3 bags of starter right now! I made 2 variations last night, lemon poppy seed and coconut pineapple. I'm making a sourdough from the starter too. If you search the web, there are some great variations on the traditional recipe!!

now what to do with 3 bags of starter....

Anonymous said...

The starter freezes great too!

Anonymous said...

The Omish and their secret ways - too funny! Bread looks great and I'm glad you experimented with some ways to healthify it.

Anonymous said...

I LOVE Amish bread! It's so moist and yummy :)

Ann said...

Oh how funny! I can't tell you how many times I've had the starter and uh...it ended up in the trash- kudos to you for keeping it up!!! I'd still like to try it though...someone elses:)

stephchows said...

pam and tam- it's so tasty!

dup dishes- hahaha at least someone got that joke :D

the cottage cheese and spngebobmyhero- ooo I'll have to try some variations for sure!!

anonymous- no way!! you can freeze it?? it doesn't kill it?? awesome!

outoftherabbithole- heheh glad you got the joke too!

redhead75- it really was super moist with such a tender crumb!

ann- whoops! hahaha I'd give you a slice :D

Judy said...

I've made the friendship cake, but not the bread. I think it may be similar. Anyway, it was delicious, must try the cake.

Alison said...

I love this bread! I haven't received a starter for this in about a year! I may need to make my own!

Mia King said...

Hi Steph!

I am the author of three women's fiction titles--Good Things, Sweet Life, and Table Manners. My fourth book is with my agent at William Morris Endeavor and focuses on friendship bread as a central theme.

I would love to be able to use your friendship bread post/images on our Facebook page, Friendship Bread Kitchen (http://www.facebook.com/fbkitchen). You would receive credit for your image plus a link to your website/blog.

I've worked with food bloggers in the past including David Lebovitz and Clotilde Dusoulier, as well as Shannalee at Food Loves Writing and Peabody of Culinary Concoctions by Peabody, and Stephane at Chefs Gone Wild (Zen Can Cook). If you have any questions, please let me know!

best,
Mia

mia@miaking.com | www.miaking.com | www.facebook.com/fbkitchen

Kristena Mayes said...

I absolutely love Amish Friendship Bread! I have actually used multiple different flavors of pudding...I have to tell you though that butterscotch and banana cream pie are my favorites! I always use the applesauce and never use oil and it turns out perfect every time!

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