Make New Friends And Keep The Old

Love your friends? They will love you more when you gift them this super yummy treat! Don't have any? You will after you share your tasty baked goods. Thoughtful plus a good baker? Your a shoe in! Besides, it's in the name...Duh! So do yourself, your friends and your taste buds a favor and start this edible chain letter. No superstitions attached!

Amish Friendship Bread
Prep time: 30 minutes
Ready in:  10 days

Ingredients

• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1/4 cup hot water
• 3 cups all-purpose flour, divided
• 3 cups white sugar, divided
• 3 cups milk

Directions

1. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Let stand 10 minutes. In a 2 quart non-metal bowl, combine 1 cup flour and 1 cup sugar. Mix with a non-metal spoon thoroughly or flour will lump when milk is added. Slowly stir in 1 cup milk and dissolved yeast mixture. Cover loosely and let stand until bubbly. Consider this day 1 of the 10 day cycle. Leave loosely covered at room temperature. Do not refrigerate. If air gets into the bag, let it out. It is normal for the batter to rise, bubble, and ferment.
2. On days 2 thru 4; squish-squish and mush the bag. Day 5; stir in 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk. Days 6 thru 9; squish-squish and mush the bag.
3. Day 10; Baking day! Mix and divide the starter as follows:

Pour entire contents into a large stir in 1 1/2 cup flour, 1 1/2 cup sugar and 1 1/2 cup milk. Measure out 4 separate batches of the starter batter, 1 cup each, into 4 separate Zip lock bags (one gallon size). Keep one for yourself to bake and give the other 3 to friends. If you keep a second batch for yourself you will be baking every ten days. I recommend doing this!

     4.   Preheat the oven to 325 F. To the remaining batter in the bowl, add:

• 3 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking power
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 cups flour
• 1 large box instant vanilla pudding

Use butter to grease 2 large loaf pans and mix an additional 1/2 cup sugar and 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon. Dust the greased pans with half of the cinnamon/sugar mixture. Pour batter evenly into the pans and sprinkle the top with the remaining sugar mixture.

Bake for 1 hour. Cool until bread loosens from sides of pan (about 10 agonizingly long minutes) and turn out to serving dish.

Break bread literally! Hand out Zip lock bags, a sample of the bread (sharing is caring), and instructions to the lucky chosen ones. If you want to show off your soft spot even more you should include a note with  a friendship quote. Such as, "A friend knows the song to your heart and sings it back to you when you have forgotten the words." Awe, so sweet I think I have a cavity.

If bag isn't passed on to a friend on the 10th day, be certain to tell recipient which day the bag is at when given to them.

Enjoy! xo