Amish Cinnamon Bread Friendship Bread Recipes

Steps:

• Hopefully I will be able to give you each your first lot of sweet sourdough starter for AMISH BREAD as well as sourdough dough starter for SOURDOUGH BREAD, but just in case something happens where I can't for whatever reason, AMISH BREAD starter is made with 1 1/2 cup each all purpose flour, sugar and milk plus 1 package of dry yeast. Lumps aren't really an issue because they break down as the starter ferments. Stir daily and feed every 3-4 days. You will probably want to let it have a couple of feedings before you make your first batch of AMISH BREAD so you have enough starter. You can feed it as much as you like as long as it's all equal ammounts of milk, flour and sugar. The more often you bake, the more you feed it because you need 3 cups of starter per recipe with enough left over to feed and get going again. I normally feed anywhere between 1/2 cup to 1 1/2 cup each depending on how much I am baking. I keep my starter on the counter in a plastic half gallon screw top jar I got from the dollar store that I drilled a little hole in the top of. You must have some way to let out the gasses that build up durring fermentation or it will quite literally explode and that makes one horrible mess. Trust me you don't want to be cleaning that up.
• Preheat oven to 325oF.
• Grease 2 large loaf pans and mix cinnamon and sugar for dusting in a dish till evenly distributed. Dust the greased pans with half of this mixture (¼ cup).
• All AMISH BREAD BATTER ingredients get mixed together. You can use a wooden spoon to do it by hand if you really want to however I don't recomend it as it is a huge pain in the part you sit down on when you can grab a hand mixer and have it done in something like 3 minutes. Just mix till it's a nice smooth batter.
• Pour the batter evenly into the two pans and sprinkle the remaining sugar mixture over the top.
• Bake 1 hour. Cool until bread loosens from the pan evenly (about 10 minutes.). Turn out onto a serving dish. Serve warm or cold.
• If it ever got to cold it was a surprise and ment that I was standing guard over it and threating pain of death if anyone touched it till I was ready. You can eat it just as it is, smeared with best butter like Nanny does or use it as the base for mock triffle.
• GENERAL WARNINGS:.
• Do not use any type of metal spoon or bowl for daily mixing.
• Do not refrigerate.
• As fermentation gasses build up in the container , let it out or the bag will go BOOM!
• It is normal for the batter to rise, bubble, ferment and smell like good beer or alcohol. Smelling like nasty feet is bad and means that your starter died and you need to toss it an start again.

Steps:

• Day One: For those making the starter from scratch: combine 1 cup milk, 1 cup sugar, and 1 cup flour in a large zip lock bag and mush to mix ingredients. For those receiving the fermented batter in a gallon zip lock bag: Do nothing. Leave it to sit on the counter.
• On days 2-4: Squeeze the bag several times during the day. (If air builds up in the bag, open the zip lock slightly and remove the air). I took mine to work, laid it on my desk, and to relieve stress squeezed the bag several times during the day. Ha ha ha!
• On day 5: add 1 cup milk, 1 cup sugar, and 1 cup self-rising flour to the bag. Squeeze the bag several times during the day.
• On days 6-8: Squeeze the bag several times during the day.(remove air).
• On day 9: Add 1 cup milk, 1 cup sugar, and 1 cup self-rising flour into the bag. Close zip lock. Squeeze the bag several times during the day.
• Day 10: Pour 1/2 cup "starter" in four (4) separate gallon zip lock bags. These starters replace the milk, flour, and sugar used to start the very first batch from scratch. Give the four bags to friends along with the steps on how to finish making their own starters and bread, or freeze the starters for future use if desired, just be sure that once you take a starter out of the freezer, you let it sit out one day before starting your steps.
• In a large glass bowl add 2 cups self-rising flour, 1 cup of sugar, 3 eggs, 1 cup oil, 2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 cup milk, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 large box (or 2 small boxes) of instant vanilla pudding, 1/2 cup of either raisins, nuts, chocolate chips or fruit (optional) or 1/4 cup of any two of these ingredients; mix well.
• Spray well 2 large loaf pans with cooking spray.
• In a small bowl or cup, mix 1 tsp cinnamon and 2 tbsp sugar. Sprinkle about 1/2 to 2/3 in loaf pans, reserving about 1/3 to 1/2 of the mix.
• Pour batter into pans.
• Sprinkle remaining cinnamon and sugar mix across the tops of the batter.(You may choose to sprinkle the remaining mix after baking the bread).
• Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour.
• IMPORTANT NOTES:.
• You may also make small loaves. If you do, bake at the same temperature, but for 25-30 minutes.
• Do not use metal spoon or metal bowl for mixing.
• Do not refrigerate at any time during the process. Keep on the counter.
• If air builds up in the zip lock. Open the zipper slightly and squeeze the air out, being careful not to let any of the batter out. Quickly reseal.
• It is normal for the batter to thicken and bubble during the time it sits on the counter. This is called the fermentation process.
• You may replace the nuts or the raisins with chocolate chips or dried fruit (or fresh, not canned or frozen). Or you can eliminate them and just leave it plain. It's great any way you slice it. ;0).
• Also, the bread will yield more than four serving. If you do the two large loafs, it will yield how ever large a slice you want it to be. So if sliced about the size of a normal slice of bread, one loaf could yield about 16-18 slices. The serving size listed came off the paper I got with the recipe. I'm not sure why they say four servings. Each of four servings would be 1/2 a loaf.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease 2 (9x5 inch) loaf pans.
• In a large bowl, combine the Amish bread starter with oil, eggs, 2 cups flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Mix well. Pour into prepared loaf pans.
• Bake in preheated oven for 50 to 60 minutes.