[Buxtehude]

<img alt="" src="http://outofthegarden.files.wordpress.com/2007/09/afbbatter1.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"><br><br>
When somebody gives you a bag of that Amish friendship bread starter, do you feel thrilled or nonplussed?<br><br>
It feels like a chainmail scheme to me. If I don't make the bread, let the batter die, and fail to pass on some starter to a new person, then I'll die a horrible death, or crops will be blighted.<br><br>
I worked with a lady who made lots of this bread. She added EVERYTHING to it, even canned fruit cocktail and marshmallows.<br><br>
I'll go with the "curse" option, but I'm open to new perspectives.

 

[jacqibay]

LOL! A curse I think. The first time I got a bag of that I was so thrilled. I was new to cooking and new to the job. (r'ved it from a coworker)<br>
Unfortunately, I got it 2 days before a road trip. I actually took it with me across country, but threw it away when we realized we'd be camping in the middle of the Smoky's when it was time to bake it. (I thought we might be at my husband's parents).<br>
It does make a tasty bread, but there are plenty of recipes on the internet that tell how to make the starter....You can share the finished product with friends instead.

 

[seattlegirl]

Curse! I hate the <i>obligation</i> of it.

 

[cidersock]

Curse! I feel like someone's giving me a baggie full of work to do.

 

[Gingerbread]

Mostly a curse. Especially since you keep making it, so you <i>have</i> to eat it or give it away. PITA sometimes.

 

[altoids]

I treat it just like I treat chain emails. Get whatever benefit from it you can, and delete it. I rarely pass it on.<br><br>
It's actually kind of tasty, if I recall correctly.

 

[merigayle]

never heard of it. seems like i am lucky for that <img alt="biggrin.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/biggrin.gif">

 

[diablita]

never heard of it here either

 

[wyrillco]

A lady I work with is always trying to give me some. After I threw out the first baggie, now I just tell her no.

 

[Jellybean]

Yes, of course a curse! I'm not really germ-a-phobic,...but this stuff is just wrong! Hard telling where it all came from! Nasty, nasty. Lets just let this stuff go.....

 

[Buxtehude]

It usually starts with somebody giving you a baggie full of sweet sourdough starter that they made at home. It comes with a list of instructions on how to keep it alive! On the first day you do nothing. On the next day, you stir it. Then you add flour and sugar to feed the yeast.<br><br>
And so on.<br><br>
After about a week you can make a bread out of it, saving some to keep alive and to make more starter with! Most friendship bread recipes use vegetable oil, flour, sugar and instant vanilla pudding.<br><br>
Here's where you can get creative. You can add carrots, cinnamon, nuts, cherries, cinnamon, coconut and anything else. You can substitute chocolate pudding for vanilla and add coffee powder. You can substitute applesauce for some of the oil. It can be really good!<br><br>
The problem is when you look at it as a way to use up leftovers in your fridge! Yuck! Stop the madness!<br><br>
Plus, keeping the starter alive and passing it on to others, because you can't possibly use it all, can be a hassle.<br><br><br><img alt="" src="http://whippedtheblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/amishbread2.jpg" style="border:0px solid;">

 

[Buxtehude]

It's kind of a neat throwback to an earlier time when we couldn't just run to the store for yeast, or perhaps even baking powder or soda.<br><br>
A predecessor of friendship bread was something called Herman Bread.

 

[diablita]

that is a nice idea, actually

 

[Gingerbread]

The idea of it is nice, and I can see where you would share it way back when you couldn't get yeast or other leavening. It's the chain-mail aspect I don't care for. You actually don't have to save some to give away. I've found it tasty. I've never seen any recipe with pudding in it (my first reaction to that is: ew) but you can do almost anything with the base, really.<br><br>
As for "where it came from" part, yeast is in nature, and you're baking it so it whatever that might be "wrong" gets killed. The yeast you put in regular bread comes from somewhere too. It's not nasty, but that's just my opinion.

 

[runinbehind]

Someone gave me a baggie of it once. The recipe she included called for a full cup of veg. oil. I just couldn't do it. Not that I don't eat plenty of fat...I just don't cook that way unless it's a really special occasion. I'm not about to make what I consider an "everyday" bread with that much fat in it.

 

[Buxtehude]

Gah!

 

[RaisingArizonainNH]

Curse. I haven't gotten any in a long while ( knock on wood) but usually I forget to keep it alive or just pitch it out I can't be bothered.<br><br>
My Dad used to make sourdough bread and kept this crock of sour dough starter out on the porch. I felt like we were keeping a mutant relative or something out there that we had to go feed, and check on every day. It was a phase thank goodness, that he let go after a few months.