Hi Ruffles/Truffles readers! I’m Katie’s favorite (read: only) blog buddy in Guam and I just wanted to pop in and share something fun with you while she’s off relaxing. I blog about life on the island over at Being Breezy and I’m looking forward to kicking it Ruffles-style in Florida in the fall. Seriously though, wouldn’t it be awesome to meet all your blog friends IRL? I’m a big fan of Katie’s blog and feel like we would be insta-friends! In addition to Katie’s daily outfits and super cute fur-babies, I love her posts about food. Girlfriend sure does know how to turn it out in the kitchen. While I’m nowhere close to her culinary talent, I’d like to share this fun recipe with you.
I decided to make a Friendship Bread and send Katie a starter dough in Florida. Never heard of Friendship Bread? It is a sweet bread that is passed around to friends once someone has made the starter. An Amish tradition, I thought it would be perfect to share with She Likes Ruffles readers from a Pennsylvania gal!
The starter takes 10 days to make, then you divide the dough 4 ways and send 2 off to friends. I’m only on day 4 right now, so when I’m done I’ll send it out to Katie! Hopefully it makes the trip well and she can bake the bread and let you know how it turns out!
Recipe for Friendship Bread starter:
*This is a 10 day process. Also very important to use non-metallic utensils and containers. Do not refrigerate. *
Ingredients:
– 1package of active dry yeast
– 1/4 cup warm water
– 3 cups flour (separated through different days)
– 3 cups warm milk (separated through different days)
– 3 cups sugar (separated through different days)
Instructions:
Day 1
* In a small bowl, dissolve 1 pkg of active dry yeast in 1/4 cup warm water. Set it aside for 10 minutes
* In a 2-qt glass, plastic or ceramic container, combine 1 cup flour and 1 cup sugar. Mix the flower and sugar well (so as to avoid lumps later.. I used a plastic fork to kind of whisk it and blend it all together).
* Slowly stir in 1 cup of warm milk (I put mine in the microwave for half a minute) and the yeast mixture into the flour/sugar mix. (I used a trusty plastic spoon to stir as I poured slowly)
* Cover mixture loosely and set aside. Day 1 completed.
Day 2 – 4
* Stir starter mixture with a spoon. Cover loosely and set aside again.
Day 5
* Add and stir in 1 cup of flour, 1 cup of sugar, and 1 cup of milk to the starter. Stir, and again, cover loosely and set aside.
Day 6 – 9
* Stir starter mixture with a spoon. Cover loosely and set aside for the next day.
Day 10
* Add and stir in 1 cup of flour, 1 cup of sugar, and 1 cup of milk to the starter. Stir well.
* Divide your starter into 1-cup portions.
* Remove 1 cup to make your first bread, give 2- 1-cup starters to your friends, and store the last cup in the freezer or use the remaining cup and repeat the steps again (beginning with day 2 of this recipe.)*Once you have the starter, consider it Day 1, so you will ignore Day 1 of this recipe and proceed to Day 2.
Recipe for Friendship Bread:
Ingredients:
– 1 cup Amish Friendship Bread Starter
– 2/3 cup vegetable oil
– 3 eggs
– 2 cups all purpose flour
– 1 cup white sugar
– 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
– 1/2 tsp. salt
– 1/2 tsp. baking soda
– 1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
– 1 tsp. vanilla extract
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 2 9×5 inch loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl, combine the Amish bread starter with all ingredients. Mix well. Pour into loaf pans.
3. Bake in preheated over for 50-60 minutes.
4. Cool, eat and enjoy!
(recipes from allrecipes.com)
I look forward to seeing how it turns out for Katie! Hopefully she’ll be able to use my starter and pass it on!
And guess what? We’re not done yet! Since the Friendship bread starter allows you to give out TWO to friends, Brianne was kind enough to offer to send the other starter bread to one of my readers! Just leave a comment telling us what ingredients you would mix with your bread dough to customize it: would you turn it into a sweet bread? Savory? Let us know!
Love this!! My mom received a Friendship Bread starter when I was younger and I was enthralled by it! If I got this (or if I make it) I think I’ll throw in some nuts. We have a plethora of pecans and I love it when breads have an extra little crunch! Great guest post 🙂
Would definitely make it sweet. Adding in some fruit like bananas or even some nuts. I love toasting sweet bread in the morning and spreading it with some PB. Yum!
I would love pecans and chocolate chips in mine!
I would make it sweet by adding some brown sugar and raisins. Yum!
oh that’s so fun! i was hearing about this but hadn’t looked up a recipe yet. i would love to do this! i don’t think you could send it up to canada but i would add honey, cinnamon and raisin!! i love toast for breaky so that would be my choice!
Nooooooooooooo! NOT FRIENDSHIP BREAD!!! Hahaha… Friendship bread actually haunted me for about a year a couple years ago. I got sucked in once and it somehow kept coming back, and I kept having to give it to people. It was hilarious and yummy! Seriously though, Friendship bread is so delicious! I love adding pecans, chocolate chips, and I even did bananas once.
Oh, what a great idea! I can’t believe I have never heard of this. It sounds like a sweeter bread, so I would probably add nuts. Maybe melt some chocolate and spread it on top. Mmmm.
I love this stuff. I has been years since I had a starter. I am not sure I would add anything but think chocolate and peanut butter chips would be yummy in it or even melted and poured over it.