Amish Friendship Bread recipe is perfect to share with friends. Now you can make your own with this Friendship bread starter recipe & free printable for giving as a gift!
The other day I was looking through my past emails when I came across an email I had sent my stepmother with an Amish Friendship Bread recipe as well as a Friendship Bread starter recipe. I realized I hadn't made any in years and years!
What is Amish friendship bread?
If you aren't familiar, Amish Friendship Bread is a sweet bread that you make off a sourdough starter.
The starter is "fed" and kept for ten days, then divided into four portions, three of which you can gift to friends and one you use to bake the most heavenly cinnamon sugared bread! Then your friends can pass along the Amish Friendship Bread recipe to their friends and so on and so on indefinitely.
When I was newly married I would receive a starter a couple of times a year from friends and neighbors and always enjoyed it. Sometimes, though, you want to make this delicious bread and you need to create your own starter if no one you know has some on hand.
I decided to share the starter recipe with you all along with printable instructions and the Amish Friendship Bread recipe gifting sheet you can use to pass it along to friends and family.
Starter ingredients
- dry yeast
- warm water
- all-purpose flour
- sugar
- milk
Step by step starter
- Dissolve yeast int warm water and let it sit 10 minutes.
- Combine flour and sugar and mix well.
- Add milk, then yeast mixture and allow to sit until bubbly.
- Add starter to a plastic gallon bag.
- Follow the instructions on the printable. You can also use a permanent marker to write the instructions on the bag for easy reference. You will squeeze the bag daily days 2-4, feed it day 5, squeeze again days 6-9.
- On day 10 feed it, divide it, and make your delicious bread!
Tips for best results
- Always use nonmetal bowls and utensils for the sourdough starter, it is acidic and can breakdown the metal
- You can freeze Amish Friendship Bread by wrapping it tightly in plastic wrap or foil and placing in a heavy-duty freezer bag. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight at room temperature.
When I gifted this set of starter I rolled the plastic bags and put them in standard sized mason jars (with these cute red tops!) It's important your starter doesn't touch metal because of the chemical reaction it will cause so don't gift in the jar without using the plastic bag!
Printable card for gifting
I print mine on 80lb cardstock for durability but you can easily print on standard paper as well. You could also laminate it too!
Variations
- add chocolate chips, chopped nuts, dried cranberries, butterscotch chips, raisins, etc
- bake as muffins by reducing the baking time to 25-35 minutes
- omit pudding mix for a slightly different flavor
Have you tried an Amish Friendship Bread recipe, there are actually quite a few variations out there. If yours is different than mine I'd love for you to share it in the comments so we can all try it!
You might also like these delicious bread recipes:
Print
Amish Friendship Bread and Starter Recipe
- Prep Time: 10 min
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
- Category: dessert
- Method: baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Amish Friendship Bread is the perfect recipe to share with friends. Now you can make your own with this starter recipe along with a free printable for gifting starter to others!
Ingredients
Starter
- 1 packet active dry yeast
- ¼ cup warm water
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup milk
For Feeding the Starter (2 feedings total)
- 2.5 cups sugar, divided
- 2.5 cups all-purpose flour, divided
- 2.5 cups milk, divided
Friendship Bread
- 1 cup starter
- ½ cup sugar + 1.5teaspoons ground cinnamon for dusting the pan
- 3 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups flour
- ½ cup milk
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 large box instant vanilla pudding
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
For the Starter
- In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in water and allow to sit ten minutes (mixture will turn frothy.)
- In another nonmetal bowl combine flour and sugar and mix well. Slowly stir in milk, then yeast mixture.
- Allow to sit until bubbly then add to a gallon plastic bag and follow the instructions on the printable, squeezing the bag once a day to stir days 2-4, feeding one cup each of sugar, flour, and milk.
- Squeeze again once per day days 6-9.
- On day 10 add 1.5 cups each sugar, flour, and milk and stir.
- Reserve one cup for your baking and divide the remaining starter into 3 gallon plastic bags: one to continue feeding and 2 for gifting.
For the Bread
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit
- Grease two large bread pans.
- Mix ½ cup sugar and 1 ½ teaspoons of cinnamon and dust greased pans with the mixture, tapping out excess into a bowl for later.
- Mix remaining ingredients in a large nonmetal bowl until smooth.
- Pour evenly in the two pans and top with remaining cinnamon sugar.
- Bake 50-60 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Cool for 10 minutes before removing from the pan.
Notes
- starter can be frozen to save for later, once thawed that is the new day 1
- nutritional information is for final baked bread
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 408
- Sugar: 32.3 g
- Sodium: 511.6 mg
- Fat: 16.9 g
- Carbohydrates: 58.2 g
- Protein: 7.1 g
- Cholesterol: 87.9 mg
Keywords: Friendship, bread, amish
Want more great recipes?
Join our community of over 20,000 everyday cooks and I'll send you an eCookbook with 13 of my favorite desserts as a welcome gift!
Jan Joki says
Do I need to use pudding mix? The 50 yr old receipe I used years bc ago didn’t fall for it n
Melissa Riker says
you can omit it if you like, the bread will still be delicious
Jennifer says
I believe you feed it on the 5th day.
Courtnie says
Is there a recipe to just make the bread w/out having to wait? Did I miss read or miss the recipe? I thought that was also included.
Thanks!
Melissa Riker says
You cannot make the bread without letting the starter ferment first. I included a recipe to make the starter but you will still have to go through the process of allowing it to ferment.
Marianne Clark says
How can you use the starter to make cinnamon rolls?
Claire McKinney says
You can try a no starter amish bread recipe! Lil Luna has a great recipe for it. It's not exactly the same but it is comparable and delicious 🙂
Vicki says
If you do not need the starters can you omit the second feed on the bake day
Charlotte says
Do you have to use vanilla pudding mix?
Connie Jo says
I use different pudding mixes such as French Vanilla and Chocolate. I also use chocolate chips in them and I love making it into muffins.
★★★★★
Sandra Smith says
How long and what temperature would I bake if I was using ceramic mini loaf pans?
Yasmín Jenkins says
My bread did not rise very much and I followed recipe exactly. I’ve made it twice now and it’s still the same. What am I doing wrong?
Julie says
The recipe on the cute card does not match up to the recipe. The cute card says 1.5 cups flour, sugar, and 1.5 cups milk.
The the recipe is only stating one cup each...
Hope says
Exactly when does the starter need to be fed? It just says days 2-4 feed 1/2 cups of milk and sugar. Thanks
Susan says
Can I exchange the sugar with Splenda?
Melissa Riker says
I have not tried it myself Susan but I cannot think of a reason it would not work.
A Tucker says
I doubt if you could in the starter....the sugar feeds the yeast. You probably could in the recipe. Not a professional just a guess.
Lola Martin says
Can you use instant yeast in the starter fur the amish friendship bread?
Aly says
Can you use dairy free milk?
Melissa Riker says
I think so but I have not tried myself Aly
Connie Jo says
My twin sister has used Almond Milk.
★★★★★