Amish Friendship Bread Starter & Bread Varieties

                                                                      Pistachio Bread

Recipe for Starter:
1 pkg. dry yeast
1/4 c. warm water
3 c. self rising flour, divided
3 c. sugar, or splenda, divided
3 c. milk, divided

Pumpkin Bread Christmas Tree

To Make the Starter: In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Let stand 10 minutes. In a gallon size plastic Ziploc bag, combine 1 c. flour and 1 c. sugar/splenda. Mix thoroughly or flour will clump up when milk is added. Slowly add 1 c. milk and yeast mixture. Zip bag closed. Let stand until bubbly. Consider this day 1 of the 10 day cycle. Leave at room temperature, do not refrigerate. Remove air if bag starts to puff out and zip closed again. Days 2-5: Mush bag 2 x a day. Day 6: Add 1 c. flour, 1 c. sugar/splenda, and 1 c. milk. Days 7-9: Mush bag 2 x a day. Day 10: Pour contents of bag in a big bowl. Add 1 c. flour, 1 c. sugar/splenda, & 1 c. milk. Mix well. Pour 1 c. starter in gallon size ziploc bag and seal. Repeat 3 more times, for a total of 4 bags. Give 3 bags and a copy of the bread recipe (follows next) to friends and keep a bag for yourself. (Starter may be frozen and thawed 3 hrs before making unto bread, if you'd rather keep all the starters yourself). To the remaining batter in the bowl, decide what kind of bread you want to make, (or you can place this starter in the freezer until you're ready to make bread).

Friendship Bread & Variations:
Bag of starter (make yourself or get from a friend/freezer) Leave starter on kitchen counter. Do not refrigerate starter. Day 1: Do Nothing! Days 2-5: Mush bag 2 x daily. Day 6: Add 1 c.self rising flour, 1 c. sugar/splenda, and 1 c. milk. Mush bag. Days 7-9: Mush bag 2 x daily. Day 10: Pour contents of bag into a big bowl. Add 1 c. self rising flour, 1 c. sugar/splenda, & 1 c. milk. Mix well. Pour 1 c. starter into a gallon size ziploc bag and seal. Repeat 3 more times for a total of 4 bags. Give 3 bags and a copy of this recipe to your friends, & keep 1 bag of starter for yourself. (Or put other starters in freezer for future use.)  To remaining batter in bowl: Add 1 c. oil, 1/2 c. milk, 3 eggs, and 1 t. vanilla (or flavors that go with other breads--see variety notes). Mix well. Combine 2 c. self rising flour and 1 1/2 c. sugar/splenda. Add to milk mixture. Choose what type of bread you're going to make:
Cinnamon Bread:
To batter, add 3 t. cinnamon, 1 c. cinnamon chips (roll in flour first to prevent them from sinking to bottom of pan), and 1 large vanilla instant pudding mix. Mix well. *Spray 2 loaf pans (or use 12 mini loaf pans) with cooking spray. Sprinkle bottom of pans with cinnamon and sugar/splenda. Add batter to pans. Sprinkle tops with cinnamon & sugar/splenda. Bake regular size loaves at 350 degrees for 1 hour. If making mini loaves, bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Cool 10 minutes and remove from pans. Wrap in foil or place in ziploc bag to prevent from drying out.
Banana Bread:
To batter, add 1-2 mashed ripe bananas and 1/3 c. chopped pecans and 1 large vanilla or banana instant pudding. Use banana flavoring instead of vanilla. Mix well. Follow same instructions as above, omitting cinnamon sugar for banana bread, if desired. I've left it in and it tastes nice.
Butterscotch Bread: 
To batter, add 1 butterscotch instant pudding mix and 1 c. butterscotch chips (roll in flour first, to prevent sinking to bottom of pan). May use rum extract instead of vanilla if desired. Mix well. Follow above baking instructions, omitting cinnamon & sugar/splenda.
Cherry Vanilla Bread:
Use vanilla instant pudding mix and dried cherries. Bake as above, omit cinnamon & sugar/splenda
Pumpkin Bread:
To batter, add 1/2 c. pumpkin, not filling, and 2 t. pumpkin pie spice, instant pumpkin pudding can be found in the fall, but if not, use vanilla pudding or butterscotch pudding with additional pumpkin pie spice added. I have recently seen pumpkin pie extract in the store, but haven't tried it yet. This could be substituted for the vanilla. May also add cinnamon or butterscotch chips. Bake as above, omit cinnamon and sugar/splenda.
Lemon Poppyseed:
To batter, add instant lemon pudding mix and 2 T. poppyseeds. Use lemon extract instead of vanilla. I have also added 1 c. vanilla or cream cheese chips to batter. (Roll in flour first to prevent chips from sinking to the bottom of the pan.) Mix well. Bake as above, omitting cinnamon and sugar/splenda. If instant lemon pudding can not be found, cook and serve pudding may be used instead. It turns out the same.
Blueberry Bread:
To batter, add 1 c. blueberries (rolled in flour first, to prevent sinking to bottom of pan) and 1 instant vanilla pudding. Mix well. Bake as directed. Omit cinnamon & sugar/splenda.
Pistachio Bread:
To batter, add 1 instant pistachio pudding mix. Use almond extract instead of vanilla. Place slivered almonds in bottom of sprayed pan before adding batter, if desired. Bake as directed above, omitting cinnamon & sugar/splenda.
Chocolate Bread:
To batter, add 1 c. chocolate chips (rolled in flour or cocoa first, to prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the pans) and 1 large chocolate instant pudding mix. Bake as directed above, omitting cinnamon & sugar/splenda.
Apple Cinnamon Bread:
Place thinly sliced apples on top of cinnamon/sugar mixture on bottom of pan before adding batter.*Bake as directed above.

Coconut Bread:  To batter, add 1 box coconut cream pudding, coconut flavoring, instead of vanilla, and 1 c, sweetened shredded coconut. Bake as directed above, omitting cinnamon and sugar/splenda.
Strawberry Bread: To batter, add 1 box strawberry pudding (the one I used was keto), strawberry flavoring, instead of vanilla, and 1-2 c. sliced/pureed ripe strawberries. Bake as directed above, omitting cinnamon and sugar/splenda.

*Batter may also be placed in small individual loaf pans/papers. I can usually get 12-14 small loaves out of this batter.
**Sugar free puddings may be used instead of the regular ones : )
***Basically any flavor pudding you find can be made into bread.

****Since covid, the stores are carrying less flavors of puddings now, so if the instant flavor you are looking for isn't found, cook and serve pudding mix may be used instead with the same results, or you can use vanilla/french vanilla puddings and just add flavorings to it.