Amish Friendship Bread?!
Amish Friendship Bread?
I am making Amish Friendship bread. I got in on the fifth day and added ingredients on the 6th day. My friend stated that you are supposed to keep all the air out of the bag, but my bag fills with air everyday. Is that a problem? Also, I used self rising flour. Is that a problem?
Answers:
Hello from Lancaster Pennsylvania, where many Amish live!
But it seems that Amish Friendship Bread isn't particularly Amish. It's just a sourdough. Don't worry about air getting in. You need to keep the sourdough warm, wet, and fed. The reason for the bag is to keep it from drying out.
When yeast feeds, it produces carbon dioxide. If your friend's bag doesn't inflate, either she has a leaky bag, or else her yeast are lazy - she's not keeping hers well fed, wet, and warm.
As far as that goes, you don't even need to cover the starter. There is yeast in the air, naturally - and an open container was used to give the very first Amish Friendship Bread got its start.
Of course, there are other things in the air as well. In an industrial community, you probably want to keep the dough covered.
And if you think about it, the Amish are in an industrial community, where the industry is agriculture. Considering all the dust that a team of horses might kick up, and what might be in that dust, maybe keeping it covered is a good idea.
It's been twenty years since I baked this bread regularly, but I used to keep my starter in a plastic box with a loose-fitting lid. As long as it doesn't dry out, you feed it according to the directions, and it stays between 70F and 100F, the starter will be healthy and happy, and you'll be eating wonderful bread.
I think you will be fine....
this web site may help you...
http://www.armchair.com/recipe/bake002.h...
SInce my friend passed the recipe on to me I've been making Amish Friendship Bread every 10 days (this is my 3rd time). At first it was nice, now I'm tired of it. Although each time I make it I add something different to try to liven it up. ? Also just so you know it's more like a cake than bread. It falls along the lines of a banana bread, carrot cake, or something like that.
To answer your question, personally, every time I noticed that air got in the bag I let it out. That doesn't mean that it wouldn't have been okay if I hadn't, but I didn't want to take any chances. Also, I don't think using self rising flour will be a problem either. The last time I made it (2 days ago) I used cake flour and added baking powder (experimenting again). I'm not Amish, but I do own a bakery and honestly there's not much you can do to mess this up. So experiment and have fun. I think the worst thing that can happen is you may burn it. The recipe calls for leaving it in the oven for an hour (if I remember correctly), but I've never done that. Of course it depends on your oven, but I've always thought that was too long, so I do 35 - 45 mins.
Hope this helps!
Have fun! =)