Amish Friendship Bread Starter from Bobbie

We received a request from Nicole who remembered her mom talking about a ‘starter’ for bread.  She was wondering exactly what it is and was looking for a recipe for Friendship Bread Starter recipe.

Other readers have commented with explanations and recipes, so I thought I’d move some of the recipes over here to the recipe section so they would be easier to find and keep track of.

This recipe for Friendship Bread Starter comes from Bobbie Steve. Thank you!

Amish Friendship Bread Starter

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon of sugar
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 1/4 ounce package of yeast
• 3 cups milk
• 3 cups all-purpose flour

Instructions

Day 1:

• Sprinkle one tablespoon of the sugar over the warm water. Sprinkle yeast over this and let stand in warm place to double in size (approx. 10 minutes).
• Mix 1 cup milk, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 cup flour and yeast mixture in a large plastic or glass container. Stir, using only a wooden spoon as metal objects retard the yeast’s natural growth. Cover loosely and let stand until bubbly in room temperature overnight.
• This mixture doubles, even triples at times of vigorous rising.

Days 2 through 4:

• Loosely cover and try to stir starter each day with wooden spoon. Warning: yeast-type mould may begin to form on the surface after 48 hours if you don’t stir daily.

Day 5:

• On 5th stir in 1 cup plain flour, 1 cup milk, 1/2 cup sugar and stir well, cover up loosely.

Days 6 through 9:

• Stir well. Cover back up, loosely.

Day 10:

• Stir in 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup sugar and 1 cup milk.
• Remove 1 cup to make your first bread, give 2 cups to friends along with this recipe, and your favorite Amish Bread recipe.
• Store the remaining 1 cup starter in a container in the refrigerator (or freeze it) or begin the 10 day process over again (beginning with step 2).

Bobbie also shares a recipe for cornbread using this starter. Once you get your starter going, click on and print out this recipe: Amish Cornbread Friendship Bread