NOTE: You will need the “Amish Freindship Bread Starter” to prepare this bread recipe!
Amish Friendship Bread
A delicious sweet bread that bonds friends by sharing countless loaves of bread that all began from the same bowl of simple ingredients. Choose a few friends to start this wonderful tradition, they'll thank you for it!
Ingredients
- 3 eggs
- 1 c. vegetable oil or (1/2 c. applesauce and 1/2 c. oil)
- 1/2 c. milk
- 2 c. all-purpose flour
- 1 c. granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 (5 oz.) box vanilla instant pudding
- 1 c. chopped pecans or walnuts, optional
Instructions
- You will need the "Amish Friendship Bread Starter" to make Amish Friendship Bread. Do NOT use any type of metal utensils or bowls for mixing, it will interfere with the fermentation process.
- Day 1 – Do Nothing (This is the day you receive the starter bag)
- Day 2 – Knead the bag
- Day 3 – Knead the bag
- Day 4 – Knead the bag
- Day 5 – Knead the bag
- Day 6 – Add 1 c. flour, 1 c. sugar and 1 c. of milk; Knead the bag.
- Day 7 – Knead the bag
- Day 8 – Knead the bag
- Day 9 – Knead the bag
- Day 10 – Baking day!! Follow the instructions below:
- Pour the entire contents of the bag into a Non-Metal bowl. Add 1 ½ cups flour, 1 ½ cups sugar and 1 ½ cups milk. Beat with electric mixer on medium-high speed until smooth.
- Measure 1 cup of the mixture into each of 3 (1-gallon) re-sealable plastic bags. (There will be around 2 ½ cups of the starter left in the bowl.) Seal and mark each bag with the date. This is Day 1 of the Amish Friendship Bread instructions.
- Keep one starter for yourself and give the other two to friends along with a copy of the recipe to make their own friendship bread. (If you can’t pass it on to a friend on the first day, be sure to tell your friend which day the bag is at when you give it to them.)
- Directions for baking the bread:
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease the bottoms (not sides) of two 9x5-inch loaf pans. Optional: In small bowl, combine an additional ½ cup sugar and 1½ teaspoons cinnamon; dust the greased pans with ½ of mixture. The second half of this mixture is sprinkled on top of the batter.
- To the remaining batter in the bowl add: eggs, oil, milk, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, vanilla extract and vanilla pudding and nuts if using.
- Beat with electric mixer on medium speed for about 2 minutes or until batter is smooth. Stir in nuts if using.
- Pour batter evenly into pans; sprinkle remaining sugar mixture over the top, if desired.
- Bake 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of loaf comes out clean. Cool about 10 minutes; run spatula around edges of pan to loosen loaf. Remove bread from pan; place on cooling rack. Serve warm or cold.
- Cook's Note: If you keep a starter for yourself, you will be baking every 10 days. The bread is very good and makes great gifts.
- VARIATIONS:
- Banana Nut Amish Friendship Bread: Omit cinnamon and vanilla instant pudding from the basic recipe. Add 1 (5.1 oz.) box banana cream instant pudding, two mashed bananas and 1 cup chopped nuts.
- Chocolate Amish Friendship Bread: Omit cinnamon and vanilla instant pudding from the basic recipe. Add 1 (5.1 oz) box of chocolate instant pudding, 3 teaspoons cocoa and 1 cup chocolate chips. Bake for 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 hours.
- Apple Cinnamon Amish Friendship Bread: Add 1 cup of raisins and 1 small diced apple to the basic recipe.
- Butterscotch Amish Friendship Bread: Omit the vanilla instant pudding from the basic recipe. Add 1 (5.1 oz) box of butterscotch instant pudding and 1 cup of butterscotch chips. Bake the cake in a greased 13" x 9" pan.
- Lemon Poppy Seed Amish Friendship Bread: Omit vanilla extract, cinnamon, vanilla instant pudding and nuts from the basic recipe. Add 2 teaspoons lemon extract, 1 (5.1 oz.) box lemon instant pudding and 2-3 tablespoons poppy seeds. Bake in a 2-loaf pans or 1-Bundt pan.
What temperature do you bake it at?
Hi Crystal, Bake @ 325 degrees for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes.
Do I have to separate the batter on baking day? I know I dont have 3 friends that would want to do this lol
Hi Sara, yes you do, you could keep it for yourself or throw it out. On a positive note, the bread freezes well.
Freeze the batter or bake all the bread and freeze.
Can I use Oatmilk instead of regular milk?
Hi Pam, To be completely honest, I don’t know. I’m thinking no, it might interfere with the fermentation of the starter. I do think, however, that you could use it in the bread recipe in place of milk.
Can I use my stand mixer with metal beaters to mix my bread .I know I don’t with my starter.and can I freeze my extra starter .
Hi Linda, Yes, you can use a stand mixer to make your bread. And yes, you can freeze the starter, simply put 1 cup of starter in a gallon-sized freezer bag, label and date it, and stick it in the freezer until ready to use. Unthaw at room temperature and treat it like it’s Day 1: Run through the 10 days as if you had received your starter from another person. OR treat it like it’s Day 10: Once the starter is thawed, about three to six hours, you can bake with that one cup of starter (immediate gratification, but no starter left).
Can I put the cake in metal loaf pans to bake?
Yes, you can. You don’t want to use metal utensils during the fermentation process though.
I baked for 1h15m and its still raw in middle. What happened ={ I will be trying again as I plan to perfect it and have 3 more starter loaves to work from.
Hi Sherry, Did you cook both at the same time? If so, try baking one at a time. Hope this helps.
If I want to bake the Friendship Bread in smaller/mini loaf pans, do I still bake them for an hour? I got smaller pans to give to friends the baked bread.
I have never made smaller loaves, so you’ll want to watch them carefully. When a wooden toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean, they’re done! It won’t take an hour to bake them. I would check around 30 minutes after baking, just to see how they are doing. If they have risen, spring back when gently touched with your finger, and are golden brown on top, that’s when I would do a toothpick test to see if they’re done in the middle (you don’t want to overcook them). Let me know how they turn out.
Can I bake the whole batter in a metal tube pan?
Hi Lita, I use two 9×5-inch loaf pans.