I had some starter left over from my last effort. Today was day 10. I had to make it. Had to. It's a rule...when you have starter at 10 days you have to make the bread. I love this stuff. So, I decided to take pictures while I did it. Why not. Even though a lot of people know how to make this (and it isn't that hard) there are those for whom even something this simple, just isn't.
So here's the thing - "Amish Friendship Bread" ISN'T. For more information, read here and don't blame me.
Once you get the stuff in and do the whole 10 day thing, it's nothing more than a matter of mixing it together and baking it.
Back to the 10 day thing. I don't know how others feel about this, but I am occasionally hesitant to give someone a bag of this stuff. It isn't because the starter is terribly expensive or that I have a great deal of emotional attachment to it. I worry that people will take it out of obligation and then just toss it. That's waste. I loathe waste. (I loathe my waist too!) So here's a rule for anyone actually reading this - if I offer you a bread and a bag and you don't want the bag, take the bread and tell me you don't want to make it yourself. No problem. I'll give it to someone else. If you do want to try but are really unsure - keep reading.
Ok, so at day five you added the flour, sugar and milk keeping those hungry little bacteria eating and belching until day ten when you fed them again and did the whole day ten thing of adding more flour, sugar and milk and making new starter bags, etc. You have a setup like this:
Please note the metal. Yes, I use non-reactive metal bowls and a number of non-reactive metal tools. There are some instructions out there that foist off the idea that you must use a wooden bowl and wooden spoon. I am sure that there are some purists who will absolutely refuse to believe that this isn't an Amish thing and will use a wood fired oven and mix by hand. Yeah. Not me. I have Georgette and I love her. So, into the bowl - add in the day ten flour, sugar and milk and mix.
I love a whisk for this since the resulting concoction is more a batter than a dough and the whisk helps break up the flour a bit. Don't whisk with power or so fast that you insert air.
This is meant to be a dense sweet bread not fluffy stuff. Also, over mixing will cause the gluten in the flour to really wake up and the resulting bread will be more tough than you would like for this.
Once I have my one cup of starter in Georgie's bowl, into the stand it goes and I add the wet team, of which sugar is a part. If you use a hand mixer, LOWEST speed in a deep bowl to prevent splatters and to help combine the liquids.
Now your batter/dough is quite mixed and time to add the dry team. This while thing CAN be done in one step, but I find getting the wet team together first helps the flour incorporate a lot easier with less mixing..remember we like lots of gluten in a baguette, not in Amish Friendship Bread.
I run the dry team (minus the pudding mix) through a wire sifter once just to break it up and to help combine the ingredients before they meet the wetness. Once combined, into the bowl and on low to get them together until mixed enough to kick up the speed to the next to lowest while adding the pudding mix.
I let this go for about a minute and a half on low speed to get everything nice and happy, scrape the bowl once and go again for about 15-20 seconds. Good enough and the resulting dough is now VERY sticky and needs some encouragement to come out of the bowl into the bread pans.
A note about bread pans. In the photos I am using the little ones with 4 small loaf sizes and those are fine, but you can also use two regular 9" pans. They should be sprayed with non-stick spray (over the sink please. That stuff is even more slippery on the floor...get it?) and then coated with the cinnamon sugar mix. I would do this over the sink as well. Sugar crystals make kitchen floors a lot more crunchy and sticky then they are meant to be.
Be careful adding this glue-like dough to the pans. It will kind of fall off of the spoon you use in sheets and once it hits, it's there. Once in the pans, sprinkle the top with more cinnamon sugar mix - it's sweet bread people!
Make it with love and don't hate the cinnamon sugar! Then, into the hot box for the prescribed time. My recipe calls for 60 minutes but I am down to about 40 for the smaller loafs. While the bread is fairly forgiving, I wouldn't go much longer than an hour under the heat, so set a timer and stay home.
You will love the way this stuff makes the house smell. I know that the walls in this apt are thin enough (trust me - I know) that the neighbors are likely to smell this too!
Once they are done, out to cool long enough for the loaf to pull away from the side of the pan
and then out onto a cooling rack. About getting them out - use the back of knife to run around the edges to help loosen before you turn these out. You are using the BACK of the knife so you don't dork up the sides of your pans. Turn them out onto a cooling rack and let them mellow out for a few hours. You know what to do from here. See the paper under my rack? Easy clean up baby! No crumbs all over.
Now it's a matter of trying not to shove an entire loaf down your face in one sitting.
Have fun. Tomorrow I am making another chicken dish and will post results here.
So here's the thing - "Amish Friendship Bread" ISN'T. For more information, read here and don't blame me.
Once you get the stuff in and do the whole 10 day thing, it's nothing more than a matter of mixing it together and baking it.
Back to the 10 day thing. I don't know how others feel about this, but I am occasionally hesitant to give someone a bag of this stuff. It isn't because the starter is terribly expensive or that I have a great deal of emotional attachment to it. I worry that people will take it out of obligation and then just toss it. That's waste. I loathe waste. (I loathe my waist too!) So here's a rule for anyone actually reading this - if I offer you a bread and a bag and you don't want the bag, take the bread and tell me you don't want to make it yourself. No problem. I'll give it to someone else. If you do want to try but are really unsure - keep reading.
Ok, so at day five you added the flour, sugar and milk keeping those hungry little bacteria eating and belching until day ten when you fed them again and did the whole day ten thing of adding more flour, sugar and milk and making new starter bags, etc. You have a setup like this:
Please note the metal. Yes, I use non-reactive metal bowls and a number of non-reactive metal tools. There are some instructions out there that foist off the idea that you must use a wooden bowl and wooden spoon. I am sure that there are some purists who will absolutely refuse to believe that this isn't an Amish thing and will use a wood fired oven and mix by hand. Yeah. Not me. I have Georgette and I love her. So, into the bowl - add in the day ten flour, sugar and milk and mix.
I love a whisk for this since the resulting concoction is more a batter than a dough and the whisk helps break up the flour a bit. Don't whisk with power or so fast that you insert air.
This is meant to be a dense sweet bread not fluffy stuff. Also, over mixing will cause the gluten in the flour to really wake up and the resulting bread will be more tough than you would like for this.Once I have my one cup of starter in Georgie's bowl, into the stand it goes and I add the wet team, of which sugar is a part. If you use a hand mixer, LOWEST speed in a deep bowl to prevent splatters and to help combine the liquids.
Now your batter/dough is quite mixed and time to add the dry team. This while thing CAN be done in one step, but I find getting the wet team together first helps the flour incorporate a lot easier with less mixing..remember we like lots of gluten in a baguette, not in Amish Friendship Bread.I run the dry team (minus the pudding mix) through a wire sifter once just to break it up and to help combine the ingredients before they meet the wetness. Once combined, into the bowl and on low to get them together until mixed enough to kick up the speed to the next to lowest while adding the pudding mix.
I let this go for about a minute and a half on low speed to get everything nice and happy, scrape the bowl once and go again for about 15-20 seconds. Good enough and the resulting dough is now VERY sticky and needs some encouragement to come out of the bowl into the bread pans.
A note about bread pans. In the photos I am using the little ones with 4 small loaf sizes and those are fine, but you can also use two regular 9" pans. They should be sprayed with non-stick spray (over the sink please. That stuff is even more slippery on the floor...get it?) and then coated with the cinnamon sugar mix. I would do this over the sink as well. Sugar crystals make kitchen floors a lot more crunchy and sticky then they are meant to be.
Be careful adding this glue-like dough to the pans. It will kind of fall off of the spoon you use in sheets and once it hits, it's there. Once in the pans, sprinkle the top with more cinnamon sugar mix - it's sweet bread people!
Make it with love and don't hate the cinnamon sugar! Then, into the hot box for the prescribed time. My recipe calls for 60 minutes but I am down to about 40 for the smaller loafs. While the bread is fairly forgiving, I wouldn't go much longer than an hour under the heat, so set a timer and stay home.You will love the way this stuff makes the house smell. I know that the walls in this apt are thin enough (trust me - I know) that the neighbors are likely to smell this too!
Once they are done, out to cool long enough for the loaf to pull away from the side of the pan
and then out onto a cooling rack. About getting them out - use the back of knife to run around the edges to help loosen before you turn these out. You are using the BACK of the knife so you don't dork up the sides of your pans. Turn them out onto a cooling rack and let them mellow out for a few hours. You know what to do from here. See the paper under my rack? Easy clean up baby! No crumbs all over.Now it's a matter of trying not to shove an entire loaf down your face in one sitting.
Have fun. Tomorrow I am making another chicken dish and will post results here.
you are so good at this blog thing Dave!!!!
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