Don’t be confused. I’m posting this recipe for some friends so they can easily read and print off more recipes. Read the previous post if you’re wondering, What is this friendship bread?

Also, I’m so disappointed with myself that this post is not funny.

Amish Friendship Bread
(printable version here)
www.ourblessedarrows.com
directions to make your own starter can be found here

The rules:
Do not use any metal spoons or bowls while making this bread.
Do not refrigerate
Do not forget to let the air out of the bag every day or two
Do not flip out if you forget about it for a couple of days.

The process:
Day 1: Do nothing except for mush the bag
Day 2: Mush the bag
Day 3: Mush the bag
Day 4: Mush the bag
Day 5: Again with the mushing of the bag
Day 6: Add 1 cup each of flour, sugar, and milk to the bag. Mush it all together well.
Day 7: Mush the bag
Day 8: Mush the bag
Day 9: Mush the bag
Day 10: Bread baking day! Read the rest of this page thoroughly and get to cooking.

Pour your mix into a non-metal bowl and add 1 ½ cup each of flour, sugar, and milk. Mix it well and then measure out 4 separate batches of the starter batter, 1 cup each, into 4 one gallon sized Ziplock bags. You’ll be keeping 1 aside for yourself, and giving 3 to friends along with a copy of these instructions.

To make your bread:
Pre-heat your oven to 325 and add the following to the remaining batter in your bowl.
3 eggs
1 cup oil
1 cup milk
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups flour
1 large box of instant vanilla pudding

Grease 2 large loaf pans and then mix ½ cup sugar and 2 teaspoons cinnamon in a bowl. Dust your greased pans with half the cinnamon/sugar mix. Split batter evenly between the two pans and sprinkle the tops with the remaining cinnamon/sugar mix. Bake for 1 hour and cool for 20 minutes before turning out the loaves.

Print copies of this recipe here. You can also get directions to make your own starter here. I also talk about what I do with my friendship bread and starters.

If you’re looking for directions to use a friendship bread starter you already have you can print them here. If the PDF won’t open for you then click here.

Amish Friendship Bread Starter Recipe

This is a recipe for a fresh friendship bread starter. A brand new starter is also called the mother bread.
It is an untrue rumor that you cannot make your own starter. I find it so humorous when somebody tells me that only the Amish know how to make a friendship bread starter because I’m not Amish yet I know how to create a friendship bread starter. Not only that, but I am creating a shippable powdered version, too, because I’m rad like that.

Friendship bread is actually less of a bread and more of a cake and is a true starter bread. It is passed around like a chain letter, only you get to eat it. And there are no threats. And you don’t have to send anybody any money (unless you want to).

So I guess it isn’t very much like a chain letter at all.

Here is the low-low in case you’re a bit confused.

First, somebody gives you a starter recipe, or you create one yourself (see the recipe below). After you have completed the ten day recipe you’ll end up with two loaves of bread and 4 more starters and you’ll wonder what on earth you’re supposed to do with all this yeasty goodness so you keep one starter for yourself and give 3 away to friends (including the directions found here) or you can freeze your starters until you find more people to give them to, and you may want to do this because the whole thing can get out of control so easily and you might find yourself with 735 loaves of bread to bake and only one oven.  Also, throwing out a starter feels very wrong for some reason. I don’t know why.

What I like to do on day ten is cook 4 loaves of bread and give three loaves away to my neighbors, along with a starter. Then I will make a new starter and begin the process all over again. Every ten to 14 days I am able to surprise another neighbor with a loaf of yummy cake-y bread and directions to make their own. It’s a win-win.

My sister actually gave me a starter this time around and that got me to jump into my friendship bread baking again. If you haven’t been given a starter don’t fret because it’s easy to make yourself and I’ve got the recipe here just for you.

Ingredients:

Directions:

1. In a small bowl dissolve your yeast in warm water and let that sit for about 10 minutes.
2. Combine the flour and sugar, mixing well.
3. Slowly stir in 1 cup milk and dissolved yeast mixture. Cover and leave it alone.

This is day one of the ten day friendship bread cycle. You can find the rest of the recipe here so you know how to proceed. It involved mushing and sugar and all kinds of yummy deliciousness.

Here are some tips:

1. Putting the starter in a Ziploc bag makes the whole process easier in my opinion. It also makes giving away baby starters so much easier.
2. Do not use metal spoons or bowls when making Friendship Bread.
3. Do not refrigerate
4. If you’re using a Ziploc bag it is going to fill with air so just open it and let the air out whenever you go to mush it each day.
5. Don’t flip out if you forget about it for a few days. Your starter is probably still good as long as it hasn’t turned pink. A pink starter should be tossed out.

Ask me if you have any questions. Just leave a comment or email me.

So Kait’s friend unintentionally broke my pinkie toe. By unintentionally I mean he was trying to lift his foot out of the way as I walked by while I was lifting my foot to step over his. It was a collision of feet like you never knew and I actually heard the soft pop of my sweet baby toe snapping out of it’s proper place.

A cringe is warranted here.

And now it’s been two weeks and I can finally walk normally again but at the end of the day the whole left half of the front part of my left foot aches like nobody’s business.

And, yes, I am being a complete baby about this because number one, it freaking hurts, and number two, the whole toe breaking event happened the exact day I had decided I would start back running again after the alleged panda attack of 2011. And now I have to not run for a full 6 weeks. I hate it when I have something to do and then I break my toe.

This isn’t the first time this has happened.

The last time I broke a toe I ignored it by squeezing my swollen, broken toe into my motorcycle boots because Rabbit was taking me out. Surprisingly it didn’t hurt after about 10 minutes and all was fine until we got home and I took my boots off and holy cheese doodles did my entire foot come alive with pain and I ended up at the e-clinic because I thought I was surely dying of a broken toe.

So I’m nursing it well this time. I don’t like pain. Which isn’t working for me right now because my feet get stepped on numerous times a day by my boys and I have had to be very proactive about making sure they stay at least three feet away from my left foot at all times. And even still, Joe, my teenage son, managed to heartily smash my poor, purple, broken toe.  Poor kid. Joe is my most arduous protector and it broke his heart that he had re-broken my toe.

Annndddd…

That’s all for this post.

My friend, Lauren, after being quite dismayed that I almost never had bows in Lucy’s hair, made her a bunch of hair bows a few weeks ago and they are so adorable and Lucy wears them all the time. I taught her not to pull them out of her hair pretty quickly because she just had to wear them.

Isn’t she charming?

And my friend, Dottie, of almost 20 years (!?!  HOLY HOUNDOGS, BATMAN!) gave Lucy a cute black knit hat a few months ago when we met up for Christmas and it is so incredibly perfect because I can put one of Lucy’s new bows on it or flowers or something, depending on what Lucy is wearing.

Also, I have this silver arrow for each of my 8 children, but I hadn’t really figured out what to do with them all until I went to make Lucy her first necklace.

Isn’t it cute?

And don’t go getting your panties all in a wad.  I used 50 lb tested beading wire and a magnetic clasp. It’s safe.

When I have her all dooded up she acts as though she’s the prettiest thing ever  – only because she is.  It’s as if she understands that she is decorated. 

She’s a genius, yall. I’m telling ya.

Thanks for the sweet bows, Lauren, and how do you make them because I need more colors.

You should probably come visit.