Same Day Amish Friendship Bread

Years ago, I received a starter baggie for Amish Friendship Bread. I had never heard of this bread and was a little intrigued (and can't deny it...grossed out) by it. The thing is that you receive this batter in a ziplock bag and you keep it in your kitchen counter for 10 days. Most of the days you just mush the bag and a couple others you add a few other things to it. Along with the starter and instructions, our neighbor also gave us a small loaf of the bread and oh my goodness that bread was delicious! That's really why I was intrigued, because it tasted so good and at the same time, all I keep thinking was that the contents of that baggie would spoil (if they hadn't already). I guess the purpose of it was for the contents to ferment. Anyway, I did try to follow the instructions but by the 6th day, my husband accidentally added the wrong type of flour into the mix so we had to throw it away. I really liked this bread and I wanted to try it again, but definitely didn't want to do that whole 10 day thing. After a lot of searching and not finding a recipe for same day, I combined several kinds for starters and ended up with a pretty good one. Try it, I think you'll like it.

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STARTER:
1 pkg Active Dry Yeast
1 c milk
1 c sugar
1 c flour

You can warm-up the milk a little if you like. Mix all ingredients and set aside. If you actually wanted to do the whole 10 day deal, I'm sure you can use this starter and find the directions online.

MIX the following ingredients and add to your starter:

3 eggs
1 c vegetable oil
1/2 c milk
1 c white sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 c flour
1 large instant vanilla or chocolate pudding mix
1 c chopped nuts or raisins (optional)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease 2 large loaf pans. Mix 1/4 cup sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon. Dust the greased pans with half the mixture. Pour the batter evenly into the pans and sprinkle the remaining sugar mixture over the batter. Bake for 45-60 minutes. Cool until bread loosens from the pan and turn onto serving dish. For muffins, bake at the same temperature for 30 minutes.