Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Amish Friendship Bread !


Amish Friendship Bread is a type of bread designed to be baked and sent along in a manner similar to a chain letter. The idea is very simple: a friend gives you a cup of yeast culture (also known as "starter") and a copy of instructions. Following the instructions, you add sugar, flour and milk and it rises. Eventually, you end up with 4 cups of the starter. You use one cup to make bread (the instructions provide you with the recipe), keep one cup to start a new cycle and give two cups to your friends. Each of your friends also gets a copy of the instructions for what to do with the yeast starter. The latter part makes it somewhat like a chain letter.



The first time "Amish Friendship Bread" was discussed on Usenet was in a posting on February 5, 1990. The results yielding from a traditional Amish Friendship Bread recipe is a sweet quickbread with a taste and crumb very similar to a cake. The starter, however, may be used to make lots of different types of bread.



DAY 1 This is the day you receive the starter. It is never refrigerated, just left on the kitchen counter.

DAY 2, 3, 4, 5 Mash the bag to mix up the contents.

DAY 6 Feed the starter: Add 1 Cup all-purpose Flour, 1 Cup Sugar and 1 Cup Milk to the bag. Squeeze the bag a few times.

DAY 7-9 Mash the bag to mix up the contents.

DAY 10 Place starter in a bowl. Add 1 1/2 Cup flour, 1 1/2 Cup sugar and 1 1/2 Cup milk and mix well. Now place 1 cup starter into each plastic bags you want to send your friend, and use the remaining to make 1 loaf of bread.

The starter was sent to me by a dear friend and fellow blogger Swapna of Swad.
I made a simple coconut and walnut bread out of this starter. I don't like my bread to be too sweet, so reduced the amount of sugar.



Making of the Bread

Ingredients

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup oil
2-3 tbsp sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup sweetened coconut flakes
3 tbsp chopped walnuts



Preparation

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
To one cup starter add all the dry ingredients like flour, sugar, baking soda and baking powder and fold together.
To this add the wet ingredients and mix well. At last fold in the coconut flakes and walnuts.
Bake for 1 hour and insert a dry knife to see it come out clean.
Let it cool. The bread tastes great.



I passed 2 cups of starter to Susan and Sig in the blog sphere. The 3rd cup was passed to one of my friend Neitha.

55 comments:

bee said...

wonderful creation, sharmi. the amish starter does add a richness and complexity to breads and muffins.

Swapna said...

Looks extremely delicious:)

Tee said...

Bread looks so professional and spongy! Loved it ! :)

Kribha said...

That looks so moist and spongy. I'm seeing this "Amish friendship bread" everywhere in blogsphere. Wish someone would pass it to me too.

Roopa (KitchenAromas) said...

Lovely bread!

TheCooker said...

Looks wonderfully soft and spongy!

musical said...

Coconut-walnut bread sounds delcious and it looks so moist! Lovely preparation, dear!

Manasi said...

Walnut-coconut! super!!
It looks so very moist and perfect!!

Rajitha said...

sharmi....looks soo good

Nabeela said...

that sounds interesting!

Namratha said...

Looks great Sharmi dear..I've seen so many of you receive the Amish bread starter..I hope I get one too some day! :)

Roopa said...

looks excellent loved the photo too :)

Srivalli said...

That looks wonderful!..Sharmi..I did hope you would send me some..hhaha..kidding...this looks wonderful!

Laavanya said...

It looks so moist and great combination of flavours there Sharmi!

Sig said...

That looks sooo lovely Sharmi... Thank you soo much for mine, hopefuly this time I won't mess it up ;p

sra said...

Walnut coconut? That's a new combination. Your bread looks good.

Anh said...

Sharmi, your bread looks really nice!

Viji said...

It looks lovely Sharmi with unusual combos. Viji

Sia said...

i am thinking how coconut+walnut combo will taste :)

Suganya said...

Coconut is such a tasty addition, Sharmi. You have done a great job.

Raaga said...

Lovely... you always make me wish I lived next door to you!!

FH said...

Excellent combo, I love Walnuts or Almonds with coconut too!:))

Finla said...

They looks delicious

Richa said...

hey, that's a nice combo, looks moist n delicious :)

Padma said...

That looks lovely!

Latha Narasimhan said...

Bread looks so spongy sharmi! I wish I could know more about the contents of starter!:))

Jyothi said...

Looks awesome and lovely sharmi! very soon going to try this. Thanks dear.

Mishmash ! said...

A nice looking bread and the slices show its soft and moist texture and as u rightly said, resembles a cake texture....

Bong Mom said...

Love the way your bread looks, excellent

Sharmi said...

Kriba, Don't worry it will surely reach you. they are travelling everywhere:)

Namratha, surely someone will send it to you!

Sharmi said...

Sra & Sia, walnut has its own flavor and coconut has its own. they dont overlap each other. believe me it tastes great.

Sharmi said...

Latha, the starter recipe is in wiki. you can also find it in many sites if you type Amish friendship bread in google.

Seena said...

oooom, yummy lovely bread..

Apple said...

Yum yum...Looks so soft and delicious Sharmi...

Dhana said...

The coconut version sounds fantastic! Looks totally moist!!!

Swaruchy said...

Bread looks great Sharmi :-)
Nice one dear :-)

Mandira said...

looks delicious sharmi, I love making the amish friendship bread too!

TBC said...

Very nice... almost like your banana bread:-)

Bharathy said...

Thats the prettiest loaf I had ever come across!..

Thanx for sharing all the info abt this here...(You lucky girls..)

Do you still have the forth portion unsend?? :( :(....

Sona - quick picks/pick quicks said...

the bread looks soo moist and spongy!!

Susan said...

Sharmi, your instructions are so much more streamlined (and make more sense) than the default chain letter directions included with the starter.
Today is Day 6 - let the feeding begin! That's a nice moist bread you created; would be perfect for breakfast or afternoon tea.

SMN said...

Luks too tempting and delicious..

Kajal@aapplemint said...

hehe i kinda like this tradition...spreads the love and of course the yeast :p .

swapna susarla said...

Looks wonderful!!Lovely pictures!

Shivapriya said...

Amish Bread looks so soft n spongy. I have seen this recipe in other blogs.This reminds me of coconut bread I use get from chinese bakery in CA. Thanks a lot for the info n recipe.

Sharmi said...

bharathy, no yarr, I have given it off. I bet someone will surely send it to you.

RML said...

Hi sharmi,
Nice soft and spongy cake.
"Amish friendship bread" the name sounds good.
Thanks for sharing
Madhuri

Mansi said...

this amish bread tradition is really sweet!! what a beautiful way to celebrate freindship!! a very delicous-looking bread Sharmi!:)

Sia said...

thanks sharmi for letting me know. i have left a comment there. hope they delete the pic

Cynthia said...

Looks so moist, Sharmi. Wish I could have a slice :)

Pravs said...

looks so spongy and yummy, sharmi.

Padmaja said...

sharmi!!!
looks amazing and I bet it must have been delicious!!!

Lissie said...

lovely picture! it looks almost like a cake...i made this at my sister's place in Dubai six months ago.

Susan said...

Sharmi, I'll be baking in next few days. The starter is ready. I'll also be baking fr/ Suganya's starter, and writing up a post on both baking adventures as soon as I possibly can.
I've got some nice recipe ideas which I hope will do justice to your generosity.

Myvegfare said...

The bread looks so nice, where do you get this starter! Lovely bread looks so delicious