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    Home » Recipes » Breads » Amish Friendship Bread Recipe, Starter Recipe & Gifting Printable

    Last updated: Mar 8, 2021 by Melissa Riker · 42 Comments

    Amish Friendship Bread Recipe, Starter Recipe & Gifting Printable

    Jump to Recipe
    sliced Amish friendship bread
    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!

    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!

    A loaf of sliced friendship bread sitting on a table with the printed instructions next to it

    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.

    Amish Friendship Bread sliced on baking dish

    Starter ingredients

    • dry yeast
    • warm water
    • all-purpose flour
    • sugar
    • milk

    Step by step starter

    1. Dissolve yeast int warm water and let it sit 10 minutes.
    2. Combine flour and sugar and mix well.
    3. Add milk, then yeast mixture and allow to sit until bubbly.
    4. Add starter to a plastic gallon bag.
    5. 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.
    6. 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!

    Amish Friendship Bread Recipe Printable

    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:

    • Apple Cinnamon Bread
    • Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
    • Cream Cheese Pumpkin Bread
    Print
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    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!

    Amish Friendship Bread and Starter Recipe

    ★★★★★ 5 from 5 reviews
    • Author: Melissa
    • Prep Time: 10 min
    • Total Time: 10 minutes
    • Yield: 6
    • Category: dessert
    • Method: baking
    • Cuisine: American
    Print Recipe
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    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

    Units Scale

    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 cups sugar, divided
    • 2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
    • 2 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

    1. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in water and allow to sit ten minutes (mixture will turn frothy.)
    2. In another nonmetal bowl combine flour and sugar and mix well. Slowly stir in milk, then yeast mixture.
    3. 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.
    4. Squeeze again once per day days 6-9. 
    5. On day 10 add 1 cup each sugar, flour, and milk and stir.
    6. Divide the starter into four cups, reserve one for your bread, one to continue feeding, and two for gifting.

    For the Bread

    1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit
    2. Grease two large bread pans.
    3. 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.
    4. Mix remaining ingredients in a large nonmetal bowl until smooth.
    5. Pour evenly in the two pans and top with remaining cinnamon sugar.
    6. Bake 50-60 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
    7. 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

    Keywords: Friendship, bread, amish

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    Comments

    1. Lola Martin says

      March 09, 2022 at 2:52 pm

      Can you use instant yeast in the starter fur the amish friendship bread?

      Reply
    2. Aly says

      December 12, 2021 at 2:47 pm

      Can you use dairy free milk?

      Reply
      • Melissa Riker says

        December 14, 2021 at 2:37 pm

        I think so but I have not tried myself Aly

        Reply
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