Friendship bread

My mother-in-law recently gave me an Amish Cinnamon Bread starter that she received from her Aunt back in Illinois. I did a little research on this bread and you can actually use the starter and make many flavors of breads from it, like pumpkin or chocolate. The cool thing about this whole friendship bread thingy is that after 10 days of mushing the bag, adding ingredients to it, you will have enough of the mix to make your own starter bags to pass on to friends along with the recipe. Thus the friendship part and the story-recipe continues. It's just one more thoughtful way to pass on a sweet and thoughtful treat to a friend.

As I was looking at the recipe I was given I noticed that on day 6 you add milk. Well I know for sure that my mother-in-law used soy milk but I'm sure her aunt didn't. I really wanted to make this bread and pass it along to my girlfriends so on the internet I went and I found a recipe for the starter. YAY!

The recipe says you can fill two loaf pans but I only have one and it's on the bigger side so I used to small bundt pans I had and it turned out great

When you give your friends a bag of starter include the Amish Cinnamon Bread recipe along with it. This would make a wonderful holiday food gift too!

Below are the recipes for the starter I found on-line and a the bread recipe that I adjusted.

Amish Bread Starter:

Ingredients
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
3 cups all-purpose flour, divided
3 cups white sugar, divided
3 cups milk(any non-dairy will do)

Directions
In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Let stand 10 minutes. In a 2 quart container glass, plastic or ceramic container, combine 1 cup flour and 1 cup sugar. Mix thoroughly or flour will lump when milk is added. Slowly stir in 1 cup milk and dissolved yeast mixture. Cover loosely and let stand until bubbly. Consider this day 1 of the 10 day cycle. Leave loosely covered at room temperature.
On days 2 thru 4; stir starter with a spoon. Day 5; stir in 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk. Days 6 thru 9; stir only.
Day 10; stir in 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk. Remove 1 cup to make your first bread, give 2 cups to friends along with this recipe, and your favorite Amish Bread recipe. Store the remaining 1 cup starter in a container in the refrigerator or begin the 10 day process with the recipe.

AMISH CINNAMON BREAD
You will receive your starter in a zip-lock bag.
Store it on your kitchen counter.

DAY 1
Do nothing

DAY 2-5
Mush the bag two times during the day.

DAY 6
Add to the bag;
1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup milk(any kind non-dairy or cow)
Seal the bag, letting out as much air as possible.

DAY 7-9

Mush the bag two times during the day, letting out as much air as possible.

DAY 10
Squeeze contents out of the bag into a large mixing ceramic or glass bowl.
Add to the bowl: 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup milk. Stir thoroughly, then measure out 1 cup starters in large zip-lock bags. Tomorrow starts Day 1 for the new bags. **Be sure to date the bags**

To the small amount left in the bowl, add 1 cup oil(1/2 cup oil &1/2 cup applesauce), ½ cup milk, 3 eggs(or Ener-G foods egg replacer equal to 3 eggs), 1 teaspoon vanilla and mix well. In a separate bowl, combine 2 cups flour*, 1 cup sugar, 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, ½ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon baking soda. 1 cup raisins or nuts (optional).

Add the dry ingredients to the first mixture and mix well. Spray two loaf pans with non-stick cooking spray or any oil/shortening. Sprinkle generously with cinnamon and sugar. Pour batter into pans and sprinkle batter with cinnamon and sugar. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour or until knife comes out clean.

*Flour - you can use any kind. I used 3/4 cup white, 1/2 cup whole wheat and 3/4 cup sorghum

Note*Don’t worry if you don’t mush your bag twice a day, it will be okay