Amish Friendship Sourdough Bread Starter
Have you ever heard of Amish Friendship Sourdough Starter? It’s really fun to make because you combine three ingredients and put it into a ziploc bag. It sits on the counter, bubbles and makes its own yeast. You feed it on the fifth day and it should be ready to make bread by the tenth day.
Amish Friendship Bread is a type of bread made from a sourdough starter that is often shared in a manner similar to a chain letter. The starter is a substitute for baking yeast and can be used to make many kinds of yeast based breads, shared with friends, or frozen for future use. The sweet, cake like Amish cinnamon bread is a common bread that is made from this starter; it is a simple, stirred quick bread that includes a mild cinnamon flavor. It has characteristics of both pound cake and coffee cake. The flavor of the finished product can be altered by cinnamon being omitted.
A common recipe using this starter suggests using one cup of it to make bread, keeping one cup to start a new cycle, and giving the remaining 2 or 3 cups to friends with the recipe for the cake. One cup of starter below will fill two large bread pans or one Bundt pan full.
FRIENDSHIP SOURDOUGH BREAD STARTER DIRECTIONS
- DAY ONE: In a large ziploc bag add 1 cup all purpose flour, 1 cup granulated sugar and one cup milk. Stir with a wooden spoon in the bag (never use a metal spoon or bowl). Squeeze the bag so it’s completely combined. Remove the air from the bag and seal it closed. DO NOT REFRIGERATE instead leave the bag on the counter. It should start to bubble in 12-24 hours. Make sure you burp the air if it gets too full.
- DAY TWO: Squeeze the bag.
- DAY THREE: Squeeze the bag.
- DAY FOUR: Squeeze the bag.
- DAY FIVE: To the bag add 1 cup all purpose flour, 1 cup granulated sugar and 1 cup milk. Squeeze the bag to combine.
- DAY SIX: Squeeze the bag.
- DAY SEVEN: Squeeze the bag.
- DAY EIGHT: Squeeze the bag.
- DAY NINE: Squeeze the bag.
- DAY TEN: In a large glass bowl using a wooden spoon combine the starter, 1 cup all purpose flour, 1 cup granulated sugar and 1 cup milk. Pour 1 cup of starter each, into four ziploc bags. Keep one bag and give three to your friends or family with the Friendship Cake recipe.
Today I will make my starter and I will post the Friendship Cake recipe in about 10 days. FYI you will need a small box of instant vanilla pudding to make the cake.
If after 12-24 hours your starter is barely bubbling or stopped bubbling, stir it again with a wooden spoon and let the bag sit for another day or two then see if it’s bubbling. The reason it may not bubble is it needs to be 70º or warmer. We keep our house at 68º so I will need to find the warmest spot in the kitchen.
The starter can be kept longer than the ten days if you store it in the refrigerator and feed it every 7-10 days. After every feeding put the bag on the counter for about 12 hours before placing it back in the refrigerator. The starter can also be frozen for several months, thaw it before you use it.
Signs your starter went bad are if it smells too sharp, the color changes or you see mold. I haven’t made this for a very long time, however, I never had the starter go bad on me. I hope I didn’t jinx myself!!!!
UPDATE:
Pour the 10 day old starter into a large glass bowl.
Add 1 cup sugar, one cup flour and 1 cup milk.
Stir with a wooden spoon until smooth. You can’t use your mixer because it has metal beaters.
Once smooth pour 1 cup each into 3 ziploc bags. Pour the 4th cup into a large glass bowl to make the bread. Keep 1 cup for your next starter, give the other two 1 cup bags to your family or friends with the directions.
For the recipe to make the bread click here.
http://www.InDianesKitchen.com
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Categories: Flour, Milk Products, Sugar
Is sugar a must? Can I make it sugar-free and get the same result?
I have never tried it without sugar. They say sugar isn’t necessary, however, the sugar is used to speed up fermentation and for specific bread, it provides a more tender crumb and a darker loaf. Using milk instead of water will make the bread softer. So if you have the time, play around with the ingredients and see how it turns out. I would love to hear what you do and how it turned out.
I would like the cinnamon
I love cinnamon too Derrick. I can’t wait to make the bread. We keep our house at 67º and the starter needs to be above 70º so I found it necessary to lay the bag on a heating pad at the lowest setting. It looks like it’s working, fingers crossed!
Thank you for reposting Ned.
A fellow volunteer gave us a freshly baked loaf of sourdough bread, and it was so good! I want to make my own, but I’m not sure I want to deal with all that starter.
It’s really not bad to make Betty. It’s fun seeing how the starter consistency changes throughout the days. My starter is ready to use for the bread tomorrow. Come get my leftovers! 🤣
I wish I could!
It shows how easy it is to make your own starter, and share it! I have a batch I made in 2005 that is still going strong. I used my girlfriends grapes from her vineyard to begin the process.
WOW! That is so cool Dorothy, you must have some good eating at your house. Something tells me you are a lot like your mom was in the kitchen.
Thank you, I hope so!
Well, I might try your recipe. So far I have been a sourdough starter serial murderer.
Oh no! I hope mine works. It is below 70º in our house and that’s too cold for yeast so I folded my old heating pad around the bag of starter and turn it on and off throughout the day. Tomorrow it should be ready.
I just love the name. So inviting to be shared with good company.
Typical kindness from the Amish. My house was too cold so I took an old heating pad and used it on low throughout the day so the yeast doesn’t die. I’m hoping to make bread this weekend.
That looks fun – I have never heard of the Amish Friendship Bread and the starter process, but I remember a fellow blogger once got a Sourdough starter kit for Christmas from her son who was into cooking and she was excited about how the bread would turn out.
I hope it turns out because it needs to be over 70º and we keep it 67-68 in our house. So I got an old heating pad (that barely puts out heat on low) and I am using that to see if it works. 🤞🏻
I hope that works swaddling your bread. 🙂
Thank you, I gave it a feeding and it still smells good. I can’t wait to make the bread.
That is funny – well I hope it works and you will show us a picture of the finished product.
It still looks OK and I can make the bread on Friday. 🤞🏻
I hope it turned out okay!
Thanks if it does then I hope to post it on Wednesday.
I hope it turned out – I have not been to Reader since Friday night. I am very behind here.
Yes I devoured an entire loaf myself! Terry doesn’t like sweets unless they are chocolate. His loss my gain (on the scale).
Ha ha – no sweets except chocolate is good willpower. I bought some graham crackers for crunch mostly and had a bad day (the most recent bout with computer woes) and ate half the package and graham crackers without cinnamon are not the most exciting thing in the world. I think I mentioned to you that when Marge’s husband retired, their son who was the gourmet cook bought them a bread-making machine. They got into the habit of making a fresh loaf of bread every morning for breakfast and went to a new size and couldn’t button their pants, so they put it away. In fact I think she offered it to my mom who declined so we didn’t suffer the same fate.
Haha Funny but so true. I think that’s what I will like about my sourdough starter for bread and whatever else I make. I need to give the natural yeast time to bubble and even if I don’t want to make something I can put the starter in the refrigerator for 7-10 days.
Oh that’s good and it answers my question I left a few minutes ago about whether it expires. My mom never made anything with yeast, so I am not familiar with yeast baking (well, as opposed to any other baking which I only know how to eat it, not to bake it). 🙂
I have been given some of the starter but have never made my own. It sounds like an interesting “science project!”
It is fun and you can use the starter in so many ways. I find it fascinating it is made from wild yeast.
Thank you for sharing this! My daughter just mentioned the other day that she was interested in starting a sourdough starter. I don’t know how she got that idea, but I will share your post with her.
This is fun to do, especially the sharing part. Mine appears to be working. I will be making the bread this weekend and I will post the recipe for the bread on Wednesday if it turns out.
Nice! Wishing you the best with the bread this weekend!!
Thank you it was the best cinnamon bread I have ever had. My daughter texted me last night (I gave her a loaf) and went on and on about how good it was. I have three starters on the counter now as nobody wants the starter, they want the bread! Lol Do you by chance have a sourdough rye bread recipe? It is my husbands favorite bread and I want to make it (hopefully).
Oh, your cinnamon bread must taste so yummy! You must have felt so happy when your daughter texted you her praises.
Yep, the bread sounds much more tempting than the starter. It sounds difficult to keep alive.
No, I don’t have a sourdough rye bread recipe. Do you have a good one, that is pretty simple?
Thank you! I will have to work on it but if I get one figured out I will definitely post it.
Sounds great!
Great idea.
Thank you now let’s hope it works. 🤣
Love using up discard 🙂
Wish you were closer, I would give you some!
Thank you
You’re welcome!
Me too!
I have been ‘scared’ of a sourdough starter from as long as I can remember – it always seemed so difficult 🫨. With your recipe, I think it’s worth trying!
It is super fun to make. I have a bag of starter taken from the first batch on my counter. It’s amazing how you can seal ingredients in a bag and watch it come alive. The first batch didn’t bubble hardly at all. This 2nd starter is going crazy with bubbles, so much so that I have to burb the air out of the bag twice a day. Once you have your starter there is bread, pretzels, cinnamon rolls and more. I am excited to try more recipes.