Amish Friendship Bread Recipe

Amish Friendship Bread or Amish Cinnamon Bread is a fun bread that is meant to be shared.

A friend of my mom’s gave her this recipe and a ziplock bag of friendship starter years ago.

My mom gave each of her daughters a copy along with a bag of starter and we all had a lot of fun making and enjoying the bread until we got tired of keeping the starter going.

I hadn’t made this recipe in years until last summer when I started a starter from scratch. I forgot how good it tastes and how fun it is to make. It’s a wonderful dessert bread.

Amish Friendship Bread Recipe

This Amish Friendship Bread tastes great made exactly by the recipe. Or, you can try variations such as adding raisins, nuts, or chocolate chips if you like, but it doesn’t need it.

Lighten It Up!
The traditional version of Amish Friendship Bread tastes wonderful, but you might prefer to lighten it up a bit by using applesauce in place of some or all of the oil or a sugar substitute for the cup of sugar. My family has enjoyed many variations of this recipe. We’ve tried it with chocolate chips and/or chocolate pudding instead of vanilla pudding and it always tastes great. It’s hard to mess this recipe up!

Rules for making great Amish friendship bread:

1. Do not use a metal spoon or beater for mixing.
2. Do not refrigerate
3. If air gets in the bag, let it out.
4. It is normal for the batter to bubble and ferment.

Day 1 – You will receive your fermented batter in a gallon zip lock bag. Do nothing. Just place the bag flat on your kitchen counter.

Day 2 – Squeeze the bag several times throughout the day.

Day 3 – Squeeze the bag several times throughout the day.

Day 4 – Squeeze the bag several times throughout the day.

Day 5 – Squeeze the bag several times throughout the day.

Day 6 – Add 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup milk to contents of bag. Squeeze bag to mix.

Day 7 – Squeeze bag several times throughout the day.

Day 8 – Squeeze bag several times throughout the day.

Day 9 – Squeeze bag several times throughout the day.

Day 10 – In a large non-metal bowl, combine the batter with:

1 cup flour, 1 cup milk, 1 cup sugar.
Mix with a wooden spoon.
Pour 1 cup starter into three 1 gallon zip lock bags.

Give to a friend along with a recipe.

To the remaining batter in your bowl add:

1 cup oil
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups flour
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 large box instant vanilla pudding
2 teaspoons cinnamon

Mix well (will be pretty thick). In a separate small bowl, mix 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 3 tablespoons sugar. Sprinkle on the bottom of two well-greased loaf pans. Pour batter into the pans. Bake at 325 degrees for just under an hour, or until toothpick comes out almost clean.

Do not overcook!

Storing/freezing Tips: This batter can be frozen for several months if you don’t have time to keep the starter going or you don’t want to bake it right away. I’ve had several batches in my freezer at a time. When I’m in the mood to bake some of this bread, I take a batch out and let it sit on the counter for a day or two until it get’s bubbly again. Then I just bake the bread and it still tastes wonderful! You can also restart the starter from the frozen batter if you like. Just take it out and when it gets to room temperature, start the 10-day process.

 

Happy baking!

Cathy