Amish Friendship Bread is a delicious tradition much like a chain letter (although infinitely more enjoyable) in which a bag of bread starter is passed on, regrown, divided and passed on again...in a never ending cycle (unless of course you are a sourpuss who takes the bag and throws it away!). It does require a commitment- the directions usually take 10 days to complete (although most of those days all you have to do is "mush the bag", as my directions said!). However, the end result is a fun gift to give away to a friend, and a couple of delicious loaves of moist sweet quick bread to enjoy!
I was given a bag of starter by a dear friend of mine, and I gave away my resulting three bags of starter to my dear sister, special sister-in-law and my best friend. The loaves I baked from the remaining starter were enjoyed immensely by friends, neighbors, and of course, my husband and myself! The recipe I received was sort of like a coffee cake/banana bread type of bread, deliciously coated in crunchy cinnamon-sugar.
The instructions I received did not come with a recipe for starter, just the finished product (part of the mystery?). However, I found a recipe online that looks similar if you think you'd like to be the first link in a new chain representing the sweetness of friendship!
Find a recipe for starter plus instructions to give to your friends here. To make bread with the cinnamon-sugar coating, mix together 1/2 cup of sugar and 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Using half the mixture, coat 2 greased loaf pans. Sprinkle the remaining half evenly over the top of both pans of batter. Bake as directed.
This was so good! I handed some of my batches out to some of Josh's co-workers :) Thank you again for including me :)
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