Amish Friendship Bread

I was all set to do a post on my Amish Friendship bread.  But then I realized my camera is not with me.  So you get a blurry, cell phone picture. 

While Sara and I were in Oregon we were both given Amish Friendship bread starters.  Since we were given them at the same time, of course we are both ready to bake at the same time.  You can read her story and see her much better pictures on her blog.

Yesterday was the day – to make new starters and to bake two loaves of bread.  I actually was going to be stingy with my starters and make four loaves of bread but ran out of time.  I made the classic vanilla version (shown above) and some with dried cranberries.   I want to make a lemon version and one with dried apricots next. 

Amish bread is very simple.  First, you need a friend.  Someone that will give you the starter so you can get going.  It’s kind of the culinary equivalent of a chain letter, really.  You get the starter, nurture it for 10 days, then divide it up into four new starters (and the left overs go into your two loaves of baked bread) that you then pass onto three friends, reserving one starter for yourself, starting the whole process over again.  After a while, I imagine, you become like those people that grow zucchini that everyone else begins to avoid.  Oh no – here comes Andrea with that bread starter again.  Quick! Duck down and don’t answer the door….

Next time I will make more loaves.  I hear they freeze wonderfully.  I just need to figure out what the left over amount is that goes into the baked batch.   I’ll just keep one starter for myself and bake up the rest. 

Of course right now I have four starters going – so I may have about 80 loaves of bread in ten days. 

Anyone want an Amish Friendship bread starter?