Breaking the Chain of Amish Bread

     I love the taste of Amish Friendship Bread and all the ways you can alter it to suit your tastes.  Debbi Does Dinner has all kinds of ideas, including turning the bread into pancakes!

     That being said, I would much rather someone give me a loaf of baked bread than a bag of bubbling, yeasty goop that I have to mush every day and "feed" on days five and ten. The directions then tell you on the tenth day to split your starter into four other bags and give them away to your unsuspecting friends. You also keep a bag for yourself, so you can do it all over again in ten days. It's a culinary chain...a vicious cycle.
     Now, you could freeze your extra starters instead of giving them to friends. Each bag takes about three hours to thaw, and the day of the thaw is considered to be day 1 of the recipe. But, even if you freeze them, you still have four extra bags each time you go through the cycle. I don't know about you, but I don't have that much room in my freezer....or in the waist of my pants!

UNLESS...

     You can stop the cycle. Now, when someone gives me a bag of starter, I follow the directions for the first nine days, then on the tenth day I tweak it so that I only end up with what I will be baking that day and nothing to pass on to friends.

Here is a link to the paper that I received with my starter bag: Amish Friendship Bread
Follow all directions for days 1-9.
Now for my changes to stop the cycle
On day 10, which is baking day: Mix and divide the starter as follows:
     Pour entire contents of bag into large non-metal bowl and add
          1/4 c flour
          2 Tbl sugar
          2 Tbl milk
     Preheat oven to 325*. Then add these ingredients to the bowl:
3 eggs
1 c canola oil
1 c milk
1 c sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 c flour
1 large box instant vanilla pudding (or other flavor)

• Grease two 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 50-60 minutes. Cool until bread loosens form sides of pan (about 10 minutes).

Amish Bread