Friendship bread

Amish Friendship Bread

This is more than a recipe - it's a way of thinking.
In our hi-tech world almost everything comes prepackaged and designed for instant gratification. So where does a recipe that takes ten days to make fit in? Maybe it's a touch stone to our past - to those days not so very long ago when everything we did took time and where a bread that took 10 days to make was not as extraordinary as it seems today.

When you've made your bread, you can give your friends a sample and the starter that made it! Then your friends can make their own and pass it along to their friends. This is why the bread is called "friendship bread"

The Recipe
Important Note: Don't use metal spoons or equipment. Do not refrigerate. Use only glazed ceramic or plastic bowls or containers. I use ziploc bags

Required Main Ingredient
day 1:
Do nothing with the starter. Mash the bag
days 2-5:
Stir with a wooden spoon. Mash the bag
day 6:
Add 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, and 1 cup milk. Stir with a wooden spoon. Mash the bag
days 7-9:
Stir with a wooden spoon. Mash the bag
Day 10:
Add 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk. Stir. Mash in the bag.

Take out 3 cups and place 1 cup each into three separate plastic containers. Or ziploc bags. Give one cup and a copy of this recipe to three friends.

To the balance (a little over one cup) of the batter, add the following ingredients and mix well.
1 cup oil
1/2 cup milk
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
In a separate bowl combine the following dry ingredients and mix well:
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 - (5.1 oz) box instant vanilla pudding or flan
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup nuts

Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Mix and pour into two well greased and sugared bread pans. Bake at 325ºF for 1 hour.

Instead of bowls I use the bags, less mess and easier to do by far.