Amish Friendship Bread

Have you ever heard of Amish Friendship Bread? It is my favorite bread, although Amish Friendship Cake would be a better name for it! A few times I have received a starter for this bread. My dear friend was grossed out by the thought of a bag of dough sitting on her counter for a week. After she tried the bread she was hooked. The only problem is you have to wait for a starter to be given to you. If you want to be the good friend that passes along a starter here are the instructions below. I know the instructions look long, but it is easy and way worth it! Yum-o!

Amish friendship bread is a bread dough that is passed around from friend to friend, with the recipe attached to it. The dough has live yeast in it, which grows as the dough ferments. Amish friendship bread is one of those things that can be a blessing and a curse. It is extremely delicious, but it does tend to take over your life. If you commit to growing the dough and making the bread, you will be baking about every ten days.


1 pkg. active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (110°F)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1 cup warm milk (110°F)

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in warm water for about 10 minutes. Stir well.

2. In a 2 quart glass or plastic container, combine 1 cup sifted flour and 1 cup sugar. Mix thoroughly or the flour will get lumpy when you add the milk.

3. Slowly stir in warm milk and dissolved yeast mixture. Place mixture in a gallon size Ziploc. The mixture will get bubbly. Consider this Day 1 of the cycle, or the day you receive or make the starter. The starter only needs to be made once.



Day 1 - The day you make/recieve the dough

Day 2 - Mush bag

Day 3 - Mush bag

Day 4 - Mush bag

Day 5 - Add 1 cup each flour, sugar and milk.

Day 6 - Mush bag

Day 7 - Mush bag

Day 8 - Mush bag

Day 9 - Mush bag

Day 10 - Add 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk in to a NON-METAL bowl . Combine with NON-METAL spoon. Divide into 4 1 gallon ziploc bags( 1 cup per bag ). Give 3 bags to your friends and keep 1 bag for your self. Don't forget to provide your friends these instructions along with the dough.

To the rest of the dough add:

1 cup oil (I use 1/2 C oil and 1/2 C applesauce so I feel better eating it!)
3 eggs

1/2 C milk
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 large box instant "vanilla" pudding

Combine.

Grease two loaf pans with butter or baking spray. Mix an additional 1/2 cup sugar and 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Dust the greased pans with half of this mixture. Pour the mixture evenly into the 2 pans and sprinkle with the remaining sugar mixture over the top.

Bake at 325 degrees F for 45 minutes to 1 hour (individual oven temperatures vary). Cool 10 minutes, remove from pans. Makes two loaves of Amish Friendship Bread.

Happy Birthday Mark

I just wanted to say Happy Birthday to Mark! He turned 30 today! Whoa! Mark is not a fan of his birthday but Luke and I wanted to let him know how much we love him! Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Luke!

I cannot believe that my sweet little boy is one. Where has this year gone? It is amazing the changes that happen in just one year. This weekend Luke got to really celebrate. He had a friends and a family birthday party. It seemed like he was in shock during the entire event. There are a few party ideas that Luke still doesn't fully understand...unwrapping presents, blowing out candles, etc. I am sure he will have it down by his next birthday. Mark and I are amazed at how loved this little guy is. He received so many presents and had tons of friends and family that helped us celebrate! He is very blessed. Thank you to all of our wonderful friends and family. We love you! When Luke was done opening his presents on Sunday he did the sign for more. Too funny! We love our Luke and cannot imagine our lives without him!!!

Tree House Museum

Since it is a cold Spring Break we decided to get out and visit the Tree House Museum. I love this place. When I taught first grade we would go there every year for a field trip! Luke had a blast. I think he was just happy walking around and looking at the kids. His favorite things were the fire truck, Peter Rabbit's tea party and the horses!

Cake Stand

I heard of this idea for a cake stand and just had to try it. It will be great for Luke's party. I just used glass plates from Tai Pan Trading (about $2 each) and glass sundae dishes from Dollar Tree. I put four dots of hot glue on each piece which will hold it for the party and then come apart when it's over! Super cheap and cute!

Flower Bib Necklace

I have been loving these flower bib necklaces lately! On Friday one of my cute students had a flower in her hair. I asked her how she made it and I decided if my sweet student could do it so could I! Here's how it went...

Cut old t-shirts into 1" x 18" strips. You will need three strips for each flower. Tie the three strips together.

Start wrapping and twisting the three strips around the knot. Put a dab of hot glue each quarter turn. Glue the ends behind when you are done!

Lay your flower out how you would like and then trace onto a piece of felt. Cut out the felt and hot glue the flowers to the felt. Glue the flower as close to each other as you can. *The hot glue will smoke on the felt, allow it to stop smoking before you put the flower on to prevent the felt from melting.

Sew an old or cheap necklace onto each side of the bib.

You're done!!!

Easter

Last Easter we were in the hospital with Luke, I can't believe it has almost been a year. This Easter was pretty fun with him. He loved dying the eggs. We dyed a dozen eggs and not one wasn't cracked by the time we were done. He was so happy Easter morning when he would find one of his hidden eggs. It was a long hunt because all he wanted to do was play with the egg he had just found. The eggs were demolished by the time he was done. He banged them together, crawled with them, etc. The eggs were of more interest than the basket of toys!

When he was done we ate Eggs Ala Golden Rod. It's one of my family traditions. My grandparents made it at the cabin for us when we were little. It works great for Easter morning because it uses hard boiled eggs!

Eggs Ala Golden Rod

2 T Butter

2 T Flour

1 1/4 C Milk

3 Hard Boiled Eggs

Salt and Pepper

Melt butter and flour over low heat to create roux. Heat milk in microwave for one minute then whisk into the roux. Simmer over low heat until thickened to gravy consistency. Dice hard boiled eggs and add to sauce. Generously salt and pepper to taste. Serve over toast! About 2 servings. Happy Easter!

WALKING!!!

Luke is walking! He has been holding onto objects and walking for about two weeks now. On Monday he started to let go and take a few steps on his own. I know I will regret this statement, but I have been wanting him to walk. He has been a grump the past two weeks and I think he just wanted to walk and was pretty frustrated. He is so happy now and he thinks he's pretty cool when he's walking. I love how he has both arms in the air and the one finger is always pointing in the direction he is going. He is already turning corners and can go from one end of the house to the other. Way to go Lukers!!!