MAUI- Amish Cinnamon Friendship Bread Recipe

Amish Cinnamon Friendship Bread by Jaime Navarro. This Amish bread is actually more like a  cake, a pound cake, very sweet, has some density to it, lots of body, hints of cinnamon, and lots of sugar. Well, according to Jaime the ultimate foodie, this bread needs a starter, like a sour dough, it has to start from the first day, and it is wrought into shape in 10 days, where upon you can divide the dough amongst some of your friends so that they can make this baked dish. So what are the ingredients and the process to making this? Okay slow down, here we go.

For the Starter: (Amish Cinnamon Bread Starter Recipe)

Starting from scratch, DO NOT USE A METAL BOWL OR UTENSILS. What I'd do is use a glass or plastic bowl, and use rubber utensils.

In a medium bowl, thoroughly dissolve 1 packet of active dry yeast in 1/4 cup of warm water 105-115 degrees F. Stir in 3/4 cup of warm milk, mix in 1/2 cup of sugar and 1 cup sifted all-purpose flour in a separate container. Gradually stir this into the yeast mixture. Pour the starter into a 1-gallon Ziploc bag. Count this as Day 1 of the Friendship Bread process.

* If you haven't purchased active dry yeast before, it is usually sold in the baking goods section in your market.

So here are the instructions because the starter will need 10 days to settle and you're going to have to work this starter, so it's not baking time yet folks.

Day 1- (Directions were at the top, you just did it, or will.) Leave it at room temperature do not put it in the icebox or freezer. Just let it be.
Day 2- Squeeze the bag  several times. (that's all)
Day 3- Squeeze the bag several times again. (that's all)
Day 4- Add 1 cup of flour, 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of milk. Squeeze the bag. Just squeeze it and that's it.
Day 5- Squeeze the bag several times. (that's it)
Day 6- Add 1 cup of flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup milk. Squeeze bag.
Day 7- Squeeze bag several times. (that's it)
Day 8- Squeeze bag several times. (that's it)
Day 9- Squeeze bag several times. (that's it)
As you can gather, steps 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, and 9 calls for you to just squeeze the bag several times, it kind of gets it going, make it alive!
Day 10- In a large non-metal bowl, combine batter with 1 cup each of flour, sugar, and milk. Mix with a wooden spoon. Pour four 1 cup starters into individual gallon Ziploc bags. Give away starters to friends with this set of directions. To the remaining batter add;

1 cup of canola oil
1 cup of sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
3 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 cups flour
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 large box of instant vanilla pudding (make sure it is a large box and instant)
2 tsp. cinnamon

In a separate bowl, mix 1 tsp. cinnamon and 3 tbsp. sugar. Sprinkle into a well greased loaf pan(s) and coat the sides with sugar mixture. Do not use Pam or other non-stick spray. Bake for 1 hour or until done.

Jaime Navarro with starter in Ziploc bag
Photos: Ron Sambrano 2011

What would I eat this delicious bread with? I'd eat it with hot coffee, and not put any sweeteners in it because this bread or cake is just sweet to the max but excellent, not like a sweet Krispy Creme donut, but just a good kind of sweet if that makes sense. Oh yeah my foodies out there, this is a good cake... I'll call it a cake, it's more like a cake, sorry Jaime, it's a cake to me, but nontheless, this Amish Cinnamon Friendship Bread is called friendship because the starter grows into a monster because of the yeast, and it gets so huge you share it with... your friends, get it? Jaime had to explain that to me, I'm kinda slow upstairs. So try this out and email me and tell me how it turned out. Ron