The Amish friendship bread post

As much as I loved this concept in the beginning, I quickly realized that waiting 10 days to bake something just isn’t for me, especially if the end is two loaves of bread and not something more extravagant.  Sorry, Mom R!

So if you’ve never heard of friendship bread (I hadn’t), it is akin to a chain letter.  You get this gook in a bag that is basically a fermented combination of milk, sugar, and flour.  You mush it around once a day for 4 days, then on the 5th day you add more of the milk, sugar, and flour.  Then you mush it around for 4 more days.  On the 10th day (or 12th, as I did because I didn’t have time), you add more to it, then divvy the batter into 4 so you end up with 4 more “starters” (which is basically yeasty stuff that has been passed down for who knows how long, probably longer than Americans have been Americans, if it was truly passed down).  Then you add more stuff to what’s left in the bowl, and make two loaves of bread. 

The recipes my mother-in-law gave me all called for instant pudding – now I wonder where this came into play.  I hardly believe that the Amish would condone such unnatural ingredients in their bread.  I have used pudding mix before in recipes, it does help it get moist.

We made pistachio (pretty good but way rich) and white chocolate macadamia nut (didn’t really taste like anything, we did use cookies and creme pudding instead of cheesecake pudding, but I still think I wouldn’t enjoy it).  They came out moist, but kind of chewy – not the moist airy goodness from the ones my mother-in-law brought for our party.

I have 4 more bags in the freezer in case I ever feel compelled to “gift” this to a friend (somehow I don’t think anyone I know would be positively receptive to this idea), or if I have the energy to make it again.  I’d make other flavors next time.  Let me know if you want one!!!

Conclusion: very interesting concept, but I’d rather just make a phone call to demonstrate my friendship.  Or Facebook you.