Amish Friendship Bread

Starter, if needed:
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup milk

Daily Instructions:
1 - Do nothing (the day you receive the starter)
2 - Stir with wooden spoon
3 - Stir with wooden spoon
4 - Stir with wooden spoon
5 - Add 1 cup sugar, flour, and milk
6 - Stir with wooden spoon
7 - Stir with wooden spoon
8 - Stir with wooden spoon
9 - Stir with wooden spoon

***DO NOT REFRIGERATE. Keep the starter on the counter so that the yeast can grow. (Yeast inhibits other organisms from growing so that it does not spoil.) If it looks or smells moldy, though, discard. It should smell a little sour, or sort of like beer; the smell gets stronger as it ferments.

On tenth day:

1. Add 1 cup sugar, flour, and milk. Stir thoroughly.
2. Pour off 3 cups; put in plastic bowls or small zippered sandwich bags. Save 1 cup for yourself and give 1 cup each to two friends.
3. To the remaining batter, add:

• 1 cup oil (or 1/3 cup oil and 2/3 cup natural unsweetened applesauce)
• 1 cup milk
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla

4. Mix well and then add:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1-1/2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 large package of instant vanilla pudding

5. Mix well.
6. Spray two regular loaf pans, four mini loaf pans, or six small tin foil pans. Sprinkle pans generously with cinnamon and sugar.
7. Pour batter into pans, about 2/3 full, and sprinkle tops with more cinnamon and sugar.
8. Bake at 325 for one hour. (35-45 minutes if using the mini pans)

Variations:

• Substitute any flavored pudding for the vanilla (chocolate, strawberry, banana, butterscotch).
• Add a handful of chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, or peanut butter chips. Just sprinkle on top of batter in pans.
• Fold in a handful of chopped walnuts or pecans
  
• Add a little coconut or dried fruit
• See also banana bread version

Tip: Instead of storing the starter in a bowl and stirring with a spoon, you can keep it in a zippered plastic storage bag and just squeeze and knead the bag each day. I prefer the bowl because it's less messy. But I've found that the bag works better when you are making your first batch of starter. Making that first batch is tricky; you want to cultivate the good germs (yeast) and avoid the bad ones (mold). Once the yeast starts growing, it inhibits other organisms. Keeping the batter in the smallest possible container (the bag) helps prevent mold. In a bowl, mold can grow along the sides of the bowl where the batter has dried.

My mother used to bake this every week in many variations. Hers always tastes the best!

I love the anticipation of tending the batter for ten days before baking day. I love the sentiment of sharing the starter with friends, though I usually just bake all of it.

Every Christmas, I make scores of mini loaves and wrap them in decorated cellophane. Then I hand them out to coworkers, neighbors, and family members. By the second baking day or so, I don't care if I ever see another Amish friendship loaf again. But by the next Christmas season, my mouth is watering for these rich, sweet cakes.