Amish Friendship Bread

You have to receive a starter from a friend.

Amish Friendship Bread

DON'T use any type of metal spoon or bowl for mixing.

DON'T refrigerate

If air gets in the bag, let it out. It's normal for the batter to rise, bubble, and ferment.

First, you must receive a starter from a friend or go to the link I provided below to make your own starter. Someone gave me a starter last Sunday and I was so happy to receive it. I haven't made this bread in 20 years.

• Day 1: Do nothing. (This is the day you receive the batter. Go by the date on the bag.)
• Day 2: Smush the bag.
• Day 3: Smush the bag.
• Day 4: Smush the bag.
• Day 5: Smush the bag.
• Day 6:  Add to the bag: 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk, then smush the bag.
• Day 7: Smush the bag.
• Day 8: Smush the bag.
• Day 9: Smush the bag.
• Day 10: Follow the instructions below:

1. Pour the entire contents of the bag into a large, NON-METAL bowl.

2.  Add 1 1/2 cups flour, 1 1/2 cups sugar, and 1 1/2 cups milk.

3. Measure out 4 separate batters of 1 cup each and pour into four 1 gallon ziploc bags. Keep a starter for yourself and give the other 3 to friends along with a copy of this recipe.  Be sure to let the friend know which day it is that you are giving it to them. It's helpful to write the date for the friend to know which day it is that you are giving it to them. It's helpful to write the date for Day 1 on the bag.

4. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

5. To the remaining batter in the bowl, add:

• 3 eggs
• 1 cup oil (or 1/2 cup oil and 1/2 cup applesauce)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt (you can omit)
• 2 cup flour
• 1 large box of instant vanilla pudding

6.  Grease 2 large loaf pans. Mix together an additional 1/2 cup sugar and 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon in a bowl. Place half of the sugar mixture in the greased pans.

7. Pour the batter evenly into the 2 pans and sprinkle the remaining sugar mixture over the top.

8. Bake 1 hour. Cool until the bread loosens from the pan evenly (about 10 minutes). Turn out onto serving dish. Serve warm or cold

*If you keep a starter for yourself, you will be baking every 10 days. The bread is very good and makes a great gift. If you give all your starter away, you will have to wait until someone gives YOU one back! If you want to make your own starter, go to: Amish Friendship Bread Starter

NOTE: I used two small packages of Butterscotch pudding mix in place of the large box of vanilla and it turned out beautiful and Gene loves it. The friend who gave me the starter used Lemon pudding and I thought it was most excellent. Get creative!

Dark Rye Bread

This recipe is from Allrecipes.com   It is an awesome recipe.

DARK RYE BREAD

Ingredients:
1 1/8 cups water
2 tablespoons molasses
1 tablespoon canola or vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups rye flour
3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon caraway seed
2 teaspoons bread machine yeast

Directions:
1.  Place ingredients in the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer.  Note: I always place my flour in first, then yeast, then warm water, then everything else.

2.  Select Basic cycle and press start.


NOTES:  Gene loves this bread. Next time I'll try adding a few more caraway seeds and will also bake it in the oven rather than the bread machine. This is a heavy bread.

12/02/12 ~ Made a loaf of this today. I had no rye flour and about 3/4 cup of wheat so I threw that in instead and made up the difference with white. Added a few more caraway seeds than called for. It turned out beautiful! This is my favorite bread recipe, I've decided.

Zucchini Bread

Zucchini Bread (recipe handed down to me by Grandma Johanna Palmer)

Mix:

3 eggs

1 cup oil

2 1/4 cups sugar

2 cups shredded zucchini (do not peel)

3 tsp. vanilla

Add:

3 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. baking powder

3 tsp. cinnamon

2 tsp. cloves 

1 tsp. salt

Chopped Nuts - optional

Pour into 2 greased bread loaf pans or a 9x13 cake pan.

Bake:  45-60 minutes at 350 degrees (depending on size of pan)

Done when inserted knife comes out clean.

You can eat this right out of the oven or cool it and add some icing on top.  I personally like to freeze it and slice it after it's been frozen. There's something about the freezing process that makes this bread even yummier to me.  

TIPS:  If the bread looks like it didn't cook long enough, my trick is to place it in the freezer and serve it semi-frozen. If it looks like it may have over-cooked, try putting a layer of cream cheese frosting on top or you can drizzle a little homemade icing (powdered sugar mixed with milk) over the top to moisten it up. This works well for banana bread as well.

6/26/11 I baked a batch of this in the convection oven. It seems overcooked at 50 minutes. Next time, will watch it more closely and cook less time. The convection oven is great though! 

Jan's Dilly Bread

JAN'S DILLY BREAD

1 package (2 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1 cup cottage cheese, heat to lukewarm
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon minced dried onion (optional - I left it out, on purpose)
1 tablespoon softened butter
2 teaspoons dill seed
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg
2 1/4 cups flour (more if needed) 

•  Dissolve yeast in warm water. Combine warm cottage cheese, sugar, mince onion, butter, dill seed, salt, soda, and egg. Stir to combine.

•  Stir in yeast mixture gently, then add flour gradually, stirring gently.
•  Cover dough with plastic wrap and allow to rise until double in bulk (about 1 hour). Punch down dough, then turn into a well-buttered round baking dish. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise 45 more minutes.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake bread in lower half of the oven for 40 to 50 minutes.  Brush top with melted butter after baking. Serve warm with butter.

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Notes:  I got this recipe off of The Pioneer Woman website. I didn't have a round glass dish to bake this in so I placed some corn meal on my pizza pan and flattened the dough out just a bit and it worked just fine.  I'm going to try this with caraway seeds next time. Don't worry about the cottage cheese. Once it is baked, no one will ever guess it has cottage cheese in it. I used the fat-free cottage cheese and this bread baked perfectly.  Gene loved this bread!

Bake on a pizza pan if you don't have a round glass pan.

You can see cottage cheese here but you'll never know it's in there once it's baked!!

Homemade English Muffins

Cher gave me this recipe last year. I heart it! There is no kneading involved. So easy to throw together the ingredients, put it in the fridge and have fresh made bread or muffins for up to 7 days. I made a batch yesterday. So yummy on a cold winter day. I hope you'll try it.

Homemade English Muffins

2 C lukewarm water

2 C buttermilk (Adjust this accordingly. Better to add in more flour later than have it too dry)

1 1/2 TBLS yeast (or 2 packets)

1 1/2 TBLS salt

1 1/2 TBLS sugar

6 1/2 cups flour (I use 4 c white, 2 1/2 c whole wheat)

Mix yeast, salt, sugar, water buttermilk. Stir in flour. No kneading required. Dough will be soft and wettish. Let sit loosely covered for about 2 hours. Then refrigerate covered but not airtight for 3-plus hours.  Use within the next 7 days.  Makes 3 1/2 pound loaves (or lots of English muffins).

For loaves, dust top of dough with flour and pull off a 1 1/2 lb. piece (cantaloupe size) ball and form into a ball that you stretch into an oval and drop into a greased loaf pan. Let dough rest for 1 hour 45 min.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Slash top of bread with a knife 3 or 4 times, then brush with a litte melted butter.  Bake for 45 minutes and cool completely (we can never wait this long) before slicing to get good slices.

For English Muffins, get out as much dough as you want to use and roll out on a cornmeal covered board to 1/2 " thickness. I use my hands but you can use a rolling pin if you feel like it. Cut out muffins with round cutter (I use a drinking glass).  Let rest 30 minutes.  Heat non-stick electric skillet to 350 degrees and cook on each side for 5 minutes.  You're gonna love these!  They are better than store-bought.

Cherry Nut Bread

This is the same recipe I use for making cranberry nut bread but I just bought some candied cherries and pineapple because they had a screaming deal on those items after Christmas.  I considered making a fruitcake until I read how much work it is to make one.  So I used the candied cherries in place of the cranberries and he loved it. It's an easy recipe and I'll be making it again!

Cherry Nut Bread

2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1 TBSL baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

1 cup milk

1/4 cup cooking oil

3/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans.

1 cup candied cherries

Grease the bottom and sides of  loaf pan. Mix dry ingredients. Add egg, milk, oil, nuts & cherries to mix. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 50 to 55 minutes until a wooden toothpick comes out clean.

Kawaii Banana Bread (Adelle handed this down to me)

2 cups sugar
1 cup shortening (or 1 cup vegetable oil)
6 ripe bananas
4 eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda

Mix.  Bake in greased pan for 45 to 50 minutes, depending on what kind of pan you use.  I like to make Bundt cakes or bake in a regular cake pan. You can make loaves with this or muffins. Adjust cooking time.

(Freeze your brown bananas)

 TIP:  When you have old bananas, simply throw them in the freezer right in their skins. They keep a really long time that way. When you have enough to make banana bread, set them out on the counter for an hour and then simply cut off the top of the banana and slide the fruit out. It looks very gross and slimy but TRUST ME the browner the banana, the more flavorful the bread.

NOTES: I have always made this with shortening but I recently tried it with vegetable oil and it turned out beautiful. I would replace the shortening with oil as it is much healthier. I also baked this in the convection oven and discovered I need to shorten up the baking time when using that the convection oven. Need to check the bread at about 37 minutes.

HISTORY OF THIS RECIPE: Adelle was my mother-in-law. She was one of the most wonderful women I've ever known. This recipe came from one of her relatives who live in the Hawaiin islands.  I don't know why it's called Kawaii bread. She passed on many recipes to me and we spent a lot of time in the kitchen together. She was a fabulous cook and often my son and I laugh when we think about how much she loved her butter. We miss her very much and wish we could see and hug her just one more time.