Amish Friendship Bread

One of my closest friends here in Japan gave me this friendship bread.  I've never had it before and never heard of it before but the idea of it is really a cute idea.  You make a starter and it has to sit for 10 days.  You add something to it on day 5 and day 10 then you split it into 4 batches.  You keep one batch and then you remove 1 cup and place it into three separate containers that you then give to your friends with the instructions for them to keep the starter and eventually end with bread while they then do the same thing and give three of their friends a starter.  It think it has been a while since making bread here in my house so everyone was very excited.  It certainly didn't disappoint either.  It was really tasty.  It has the texture and density much like a banana bread but with cinnamon instead. The original recipe claims that you cannot use anything metal and must use plastic or wooden utensils and a plastic or glass container/bowl when making this so not sure how true it is but passing that tid bit on as well. 

Amish Friendship Bread Starter:

1 pkg. active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (110 degrees F)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1 cup warm milk (110 degrees F)

In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in warm water for about 10 minutes. Stir well.  In a 2 quart glass or plastic container, combine 1 cup sifted flour and 1 cup sugar. Mix thoroughly or the flour will get lumpy when you add the milk.  Slowly stir in warm milk and dissolved yeast mixture. Loosely cover the mixture with a lid or plastic wrap. The mixture will get bubbly. Consider this Day 1 of the cycle, or the day you receive the starter.

For the next 10 days handle starter according to the instructions for Amish Friendship Bread below.

Amish Friendship Bread Recipe

Day 1 - receive the starter (the recipe for the starter is below)
Day 2 - stir
Day 3 - stir
Day 4 - stir
Day 5 - Add 1 cup each flour, sugar and milk.
Day 6 - stir
Day 7 - stir
Day 8 - stir
Day 9 - stir

Day 10 - Add 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk. Divide into 4 containers, with 1 cup each for three of your friends and 1 cup for your own loaves. Give friends the instructions for Day 1 through Day 10 and the following recipe for baking the bread. After removing the 3 cups of batter, combine the remaining cup of Amish Friendship Bread starter with the following ingredients in a large bowl:

2/3 cup oil
3 eggs
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 to 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
(**optional) 1 cup nuts/1 cup of raisins

Using a wooden spoon beat by hand until well blended. You can add 1 cup raisins and 1 cup nut. Grease a loaf pan with butter, sprinkle with sugar instead of flour.
Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour.  Check for doneness by inserting a toothpick and if it comes out clean it is done.  Otherwise bake an additional 10-15 minutes until done.  If it starts getting too brown while cooking cover with aluminum foil and finish baking. Cool 10 minutes, remove from pan. Makes 1 large loaf of Amish Friendship Bread.

Cinnamon Sugar Pull Apart Bread

I made a cinnamon bread recently that was really good and it made me want more.  I love cinnamon.  So of course, I upted the amount of cinnamon.  This bread was really really good.  It was like a giant cinnamon roll that you just unrolled and pulled apart.  Next time, oh yea there will be a next time, I'm going to make a cream cheese glaze to drizzle over the top.  We actually all went out to lunch while this bread was sitting at home rising and I made it as soon as we got back.  Being that we were all full I didn't expect much to get eaten but between the 4 of us we ate the entire loaf in one sitting!  Absolutely amazing bread!  Like many amazing recipes I've made before I found this one at Chef in Training. 


Cinnamon Sugar Pull Apart Bread

For the Dough:

2 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 1/4 teaspoons (1 envelope) active dry yeast

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 ounces unsalted butter

1/3 cup whole milk

1/4 cup warm water (110-115 degrees)

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the Filling:

1 cup granulated sugar

1 tbsp. ground cinnamon

2 ounces unsalted butter, melted

In the bowl of a your standing mixer add your water, yeast and 1 tsp. of your sugar a large mixing bowl.  In a separate bowl whisk together 2 cups flour, sugar and salt and then set aside.

In a small saucepan, melt together milk and butter until butter has just melted.  Remove from the heat and add in vanilla extract.  Let mixture stand for a minute or two, or until the mixture is warm, about 110 degrees. 

Pour the flour into the mixer, fitted with a paddle, and start to incorporate the flour into the yeast mixture.  Pour in milk and butter mixture, then add eggs one at a time until fully incorporated.  The mixture will be very sticky.

Place the dough is a large,  greased bowl.  Cover with plastic wrap and a clean kitchen towel.  Place in a warm space and allow to rest until doubled in size, about 1 hour. 

While the dough rises, whisk together the sugar and cinnamon for the filling.  Set aside.  Melt 2 ounces of butter.  Set aside.  Grease and flour a 9×5x3-inch  loaf pan with butter.  Set that aside too.

Punch down the risen dough and pour onto a floured work surface.  Knead about 2 tbsp. or so of flour into the dough.  Simply sprinkle on work surface and over the top.  Until you have a smooth ball of dough, like the picture above.  Allow to rest for 5 minutes.  On a lightly floured work surface, use a rolling pin to roll the dough out.  The dough should be roughly 12x20.  I don't really use a measuring stick or anything I just roll it out nice and big. So try to roll it as large as the dough will go.  Use a pastry brush to spread melted butter across all of the dough.  Sprinkle with ALL of the sugar and cinnamon mixture. 

Next, it is time to slice the dough vertically, into six equal-sized strips. See picture to the right. Stack the strips on top of one another and slice the stack into six equal slices once again, see other picture to the right.  You’ll have six stacks of six squares.

Layer the dough squares in the loaf pan like a flip-book, like picture below.  Place a kitchen towel over the loaf pan and allow in a warm place for 1 hour or until almost doubled in size.

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.  Place loaf in the oven and bake for 20 minutes.  Then cover with aluminum foil and bake another 8 minutes or until brown and cooked through. That way the top won't brown too much while finishing cooking.

Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 20 to 30 minutes.   Run a butter knife around the edges of the pan to loosen the bread and invert onto  a clean board.  Place a cake stand or cake plate on top of the  upside down loaf, and carefully invert so it’s right side up.

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