Amish Friendship Bread (or the "Multi-Level-Marketing scheme of the baking world")

Having recently "gifted" some "Amish Friendship Bread" starter...I thought I would repent and post some variations of what to do with your starter, if you are wanting something different than the traditional vanilla pudding loaf of sugar and oil. (I know, it's good...but probably not so good for you!)

First off, if you've never had the pleasure of caring for the starter..here are the basics. If you don't have friends who have given you some, and you want to create your own:

Ingredients:

1 pkg. active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (110°F)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1 cup warm milk (110°F)

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in warm water for about 10 minutes. Stir well.

2. In a 2 quart glass or plastic container, combine 1 cup sifted flour and 1 cup sugar. Mix thoroughly or the flour will get lumpy when you add the milk.

3. Slowly stir in warm milk and dissolved yeast mixture. Loosely cover the mixture with a lid or plastic wrap. The mixture will get bubbly. Consider this Day 1 of the cycle, or the day you receive the starter.

It is important that you don't store the bag in a refridgerator (keep at room temperature)

Day 1 - do nothing

Day 2 - mush the bag

Day 3 - mush the bag

Day 4 - mush the bag

Day 5 - Add 1 cup each flour, sugar and milk.

Day 6 - mush the bag

Day 7 - mush the bag

Day 8 - mush the bag

Day 9 - mush the bag

Day 10 - Add 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk. Divide into 4 containers, with 1 cup each for three of your friends and 1 cup for your own loaves. Give friends the instructions for Day 1 through Day 10 and the following recipe for baking the bread.

After removing the 3 cups of batter, combine the remaining cup of Amish Friendship Bread starter with the following ingredients in a large bowl:

2/3 cup oil
3 eggs
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 to 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda

Mix until well blended.

Grease two loaf pans with butter, sprinkle with sugar instead of flour.

Bake at 325 degrees F for 45 minutes to 1 hour (individual oven temperatures vary). Cool 10 minutes, remove from pans. Makes two loaves of Amish Friendship Bread.

And now for some variations on a theme....

• Instead of bread loaves, bake muffins. (only takes about 25 minutes to cook)
• Mix it up - use different flavors of pudding (chocolate, banana, butterscotch...)
• Add chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, or cinnamon chips
• add nuts - walnuts, pecans, etc.
  
• Add fruits (blueberries, raisins, dried apricots, etc)
• Add lemon zest and use lemon pudding maybe add poppyseeds
  

and some unique recipes:

Pancakes

Combine in large bowl:
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

Combine in smaller bowl:
2 TBS oil
2 cups Amish starter
1/2 cup milk (plus/minus 1/4 cup)
1 egg

Add ingredients of smaller bowl to ingredients of large bowl and mix on medium speed.
Spoon batter onto greased griddle.

Waffles

Prepare batter for pancakes except increase oil to 1/4 cup.

Amish Cinnamon Rolls

2 cups flour
1 cup milk
1 cup Amish starter*

Combine and let set at room temperature overnight or 10-12 hours. Stir down.

Combine:
3 t. sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup shortening
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder

Add into small bowl all at once to stir down. Pour dough out on well-floured board. Knead until no longer sticky. Roll out to 1/2" thickness in a rectangle shape. Brush dough with soft butter.

Combine:
1/4 cup sugar
1 TBS cinnamon
1/2 cup crushed nuts

Sprinkle cinnamon-sugar mixture over dough. Beginning at wide side, roll up, and seal seam.
Cut 1" slices. Place on well-greased cookie sheet. Let rise 30 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees F 30-35 minutes.

Sourdough-Style Biscuits

Dry Ingredients:
3-3/4 cups flour
1-1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 stick (1/2 cup) plus 1 TBS margarine

Blend dry ingredients with oleo until the oleo is well cut in.

Add:
3/4 cup milk or buttermilk
1-1/2 cups of Amish starter *

Knead, roll, and cut. Place on greased baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees F for 20 to 30 minutes. Makes 1-1/2 dozen biscuits.

Amish Sourdough Bread

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
1 tsp salt
1 - 1/2 cups warm water
1 cup Amish starter
6 cups bread flour

Mix all ingredients thoroughly. Oil bottom & sides of large bowl & put bread dough in. Let stand overnight at room temperature. In morning, punch dough down 4-5 times and divide into 3 equal balls. Kneed each ball 8-10 times and put into 3 greased and floured loaf pans. Brush tops with oil and cover with oiled foil. Let stand 4-5 hours or all day. (If dough has not risen well, put small pan of water on bottom rack in oven, heat to 200 degrees, turn off oven. Put dough on top rack for 1-2 hours.) Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes. (Cover with foil after lightly browned.)

Amish Cornbread

1 cup Amish starter
2 eggs
1-1/2 c. milk
2 tsp sugar
1/2 cup flour
1-1/2 c. cornmeal

Combine in large bowl. Beat at medium speed for 2 minutes.

Add:
1/4 cup oil
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder

Mix well. Pour in well-greased 9" pan. Bake at 425 degreesF 25-30 minutes.

P.S. Don't hate me forever if you get some from me!