bread – The Ginger's Breadhouse

A friend of mine gave me a starter batch last week. So that means my new post will be about that. This bread is quite different than what I typically make because it comes out more like a pound cake than actual bread. It also takes a lot longer to prep than to actually make; 10 days prep versus 1 hour cook time. I think the next time i make this, i’ll experiment a little bit, perhaps adding in some walnuts or chunks of banana? Here’s the basic instructions I followed, once i got my starter batch.

Amish Friendship Bread

First some quick notes. I’m not really sure why they say not to use a metal spoon or mixing bowl, but I hypothesize it has something to do with metals contaminating something. Or it might just be tradition. If you know, please let me know!

Do not use any type of metal spoon or bowl for mixing
Do not refrigerate
If air gets in the bad, let it out (bag will expand after about 5 or 6 days)
It is normal for the batter to rise, bubble and ferment

Day 1 – Do nothing (This is the day you receive the batter. Mark the date if not already on the bag)
Day 2 – Mush the bag
Day 3 – Mush the bag
Day 4 – Mush the bag
Day 5 – Mush the bag
Day 6 – The Feeding! Add to the bag: 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk. Mush the bag
Day 7 – Mush the bag
Day 8 – Mush the bag
Day 9 – Mush the bag
Day 10 – Follow the instructions below:

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees
Pour entire contents of the bag ina NON-METAL bowl
Give it a snack! Add 1 ½ cups flour, 1 ½ cups sugar, 1 ½ cups milk and mix well.
Measure out 4 separate batters of 1 cup each into 4 1 gallon ziplock bags (these will be the new “starters”)
To the remaining batter in the bowl add the following and mix well:
1. 3 eggs
2. 2 cups of flour
3. 1 Large box of instant vanilla pudding
4. 1 cup of sugar
5. 1 cup of oil OR ½ cup oil and ½ cup of applesause
6. ½ cup of milk
7. 2 teaspoons cinnamon
8. 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
9. ½ teaspoon vanilla
10. ½ teaspoon baking soda
11. ½ teaspoon salt
12. Create an additional mixture of ½ cup sugar and 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
13. Grease 2 loaf pans and dust with half of the sugar cinnamon mixture
14. Pour the batter evenly in the 2 pans and sprinkle the rest of the sugar cinnamon mix over the top of both loaves
15. Bake for 1 hour. Allow the bread to cool until it is loose from the pan (about 10 minutes). Turn the bread out and serve warm or cooled.

If you keep one of the starters for yourself, you will be baking every 10 days.
Pass the other 3 starters to friends along with a copy of this recipe. Be sure to tell your friend which day the bag is on when presented to them (dating the bag helps).

Many people call beer, liquid bread. It makes sense since both bread and beer share some ingredients, namely yeast. So as my second adventure into bread making, I thought I’d follow a friend’s recommendation and make a Brown Ale Bread. The recipe itself is called Nut Brown Ale Bread, but I didn’t have any Nut Brown handy, and living in a dry county, i didn’t feel like running across the county line to get it. So instead i busted out some Turbodog — the page said this would work as well.

Learning from my past experience with making bread, I had recently gone out and gotten myself a better spatula, a bigger mixing bowl, some bread loaf pans, and a thermometer. I was ready to tackle this delicious challenge! This bread didn’t take nearly as long as the one before it. Within an hour I had made the dough, put it in the bread pans, tossed them in the oven, and had made some really good bread! The results were awesome!