Are you Amish? Are you my friend??

Then you MAY be lucky enough to recieve a delicious bag of fermenting, something and such, called Amish Friendship Bread!!

No Really. I'm not joking.

Its kind of like a baking chain letter, {but trust me you will be glad you kept this chain going} in the fact that it all starts with a simple ziplock bag of "starter" that is handed to you to work for 10 days and then pass a bit on.

Now Im sure your little minds are asking...
"dearest tawny, what do the Amish put in a bread starter?"
And the answer to that question is... yeast, flour, milk and sugar... at least thats what I'm told. Not knowing any Amish folks to ask... I will have to take the word of the giver of my batch of starter and google.

The starter and instructions

Now, once handed the starter bag its kind of boring... the first 5 days you just "squish, squash, and mush" the bag. So I hung mine on the side of our fridge with super magnets and every so often gave it a little squeeze and tickle! ;)
{dont be nasty! thats what the instructions said to do!}

Then on the 6th day you add a little more flour, sugar, and milk... into the bag and continue to... you guessed it, "squish, squash, and mush the bag" for the next 4 days.

Let me add here that this being my first ever batch of friendship bread I had no clue what was going to happen in that bag!
First there is a yeasty beer smell to the bag, and the starter got bubbley and bigger due to the fermenting. And the chef was a tad freaked when I told him I would be baking him yummy bread make from milk that had been hanging on the side of our fridge for 10 days.
{And lets be honest, I was a bit skeptical myself!}

Day 10 is when the magic happens!

I could give you the step by step process and all of the ingredients you add to the starter... but what fun would that be! :: insert evil chuckle here ::

okay, okay... dont cry! I will tell you in a sec! promise.

What I will tell you is this a simple quick bread style recipe... and wow, its GOOD!

This recipe makes 2 loaves of bread and 4 extra bags of starter {for you to give to friends}

The 1st loaf I left as is and didnt stray from the original recipe at all...

soooo good!

The second loaf I added a few berries I had in the fridge and some orange zest...

seriously, you can add ANYTHING to this stuff! Walnuts, cranberries and white chocolate chips would be divine! Someone make that for me okay?!

And let me just tell you, When the kids arrived home after school both loaves where diminished to crumbs within minutes!

SO... make a list of 4 of your favorite friends... make your own starter batch & start a friendship chain!

Or have a bread party and see who can add the yummiest ingredients to their bread!

No matter what you do... have fun and party like the Amish!

And if Im NOT invited to your fermenting party... at least drop me a line and let me know all about it!

Be good to each other!
♥ tawny