Amish Friendship Bread Starter Recipe

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Use this Amish friendship bread starter recipe as a base for the original cinnamon bread plus other quick breads, dinner rolls, muffins and other baked goods.

This quick bread batter mixes up in one bowl, requires no rise time and makes two loaves. Perfect for gift-giving and making a new friend.

amish friendship bread sitting on a cutting board
julie clark in a kitchen

Give the gift of Amish Friendship Bread.

This Amish friendship bread starter one of those recipes from my childhood. I remember my mom making this bread on a 10-day cycle and yes, I so looked forward to eating it straight from the oven. It’s like an edible chain letter, the gift that keeps on giving!

What is the difference between amish friendship starter and sourdough starter? Amish friendship starter uses milk, sugar and flour, plus yeast to ferment. Traditional sourdough uses water and flour and that’s it.

This sweet sourdough is good for more than just cinnamon bread. I’ve baked it in muffin tins for muffins and in a 9×13″ cake pan for a coffee cake. You can also switch up the pudding flavor to get different flavor variations.

But I’ve also used the friendship starter to make:

It really is the gift that keeps on giving.

Enjoy! -Julie

PS...Want a printed version of this recipe? It’s in our family cookbook! Plus 125+ other recipes for you to love.

Amish Friendship Bread Starter Ingredients

Have Ziploc plastic bags (for easily storing the starter), glass bowls and wooden spoons on hand. For sourdough, you don’t want to use metal bowls or utensils. Sourdough is acidic and can react with some metals.

ingredients for amish friendship bread starter on a table

  • Instant yeast or active dry yeast will both work.
  • Use at least 2% milk, or use whole milk if you have it.
  • Don’t want to use a plastic bag? Store it in a glass container that is covered with plastic wrap.

Ingredients for the Bread

After you have the starter made, the bread takes pantry staple ingredients:

Notice it takes two boxes of instant pudding. This adds flavor, sweetness and moisture to the bread. I highly recommend using it at least the first time you make the bread, but the bread will work without it. If you’d like, add an extra teaspoon of vanilla extract.

ingredients for amish friendship bread on a table
amish friendship bread starter recipe on a ziploc bag
amish friendship bread starter recipe on a ziploc bag

Amish Friendship Bread Starter Recipe

4.75 from 239 votes
Use this Amish Friendship Bread Starter Recipe as a base for many the original friendship bread, dinner rolls, muffins and other baked goods.
Servings 20 slices
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Fermentation time 10 days
Total Time 10 days 1 hour 10 minutes

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Ingredients
 

Starter ingredients:

Bread ingredients:

Instructions
 

Make the starter:

  • Pour the warm water into a small glass bowl. Sprinkle the yeast over the water. Let this stand for 5-8 minutes to allow it to dissolve. ¼ cup warm water, 1 package active dry yeast*
  • In a larger glass bowl (or plastic bowl. Don't use metal bowls or utensils for sourdough), mix together the flour and sugar with a wooden spoon. 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1 cup granulated sugar
  • Stir in the milk and then the yeast mixture. Pour it into a gallon-size zippered plastic bag and seal. Do not refrigerate. Allow the sourdough mixture to sit out at room temperature. This counts as Day 1. 1 cup 2% milk
  • Day 2, 3, 4, 5: Mash the bag. Release any air each day.
  • Day 6: Add 1 cup each of flour, sugar and milk. Mash the bag until it is mixed well.
  • Day 7, 8, 9: Mash the bag. Release any air each day.
  • Day 10: Pour the sourdough into a glass (or other nonmetal) bowl. Add ½ cup each of all-purpose flour, granulated sugar and milk. Mix well with a wooden spoon.
  • Divide out 1 cup portions of the starter, placing each one-cup portion in separate zippered plastic bags. You'll get about 4-5 bags. Seal the bags, and give the starter away to friends along with the instructions, keeping one for yourself if desired. The starter then goes back to Day 1.
  • Keep one starter for yourself, and bake the bread.

On Day 10, make the bread:

  • Preheat the oven to 325ºF.
  • In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients. Mix well just until combined.1 cup friendship bread starter, 1 cup vegetable oil, 3 large eggs, ½ cup 2% milk, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 cup granulated sugar, 2 cups all-purpose flour, ½ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon baking soda, 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder, 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 2 small boxes instant vanilla pudding, 1 cup chopped nuts
  • Spray two 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" loaf pans with cooking spray. Mix ½ cup sugar and 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon into a small bowl. Dust the greased pans with half of this cinnamon/sugar mixture. Pour the batter evenly into the pans and sprinkle the remaining sugar mixture over the batter. ½ cup granulated sugar, 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • Bake for 60-65 minutes or until the a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out with a few moist crumbs.Cool until the bread loosens from the pan evenly and turn onto a serving dish.

Video

Notes

  • Instant yeast will work as well.
  • For muffins, preheat the oven to 425ºF and bake the muffins for 5 minutes, then reduce the baking temperature to 375ºF and bake for an additional 13 minutes.
  • If you can’t find anyone who wants the sourdough starter, simply throw those 1-cup bags into the freezer until another time when you’d like to start the sourdough process our bake the bread. When you pull the sourdough out of the freezer, treat it as Day 1. Or just go ahead and use that cup to bake loaves of friendship bread!
Refer to the article above for more tips and tricks.
The calories shown are based on the recipe being 2 loaves of bread, each with 10 slices, with 1 serving being 1 slice of bread. Since different brands of ingredients have different nutritional information, the calories shown are just an estimate. **We are not dietitians and recommend you seek a nutritionist for exact nutritional information. **

Nutrition

Calories: 253kcal | Carbohydrates: 26g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 9g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 28mg | Sodium: 100mg | Potassium: 90mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 16g | Vitamin A: 49IU | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 36mg | Iron: 1mg
Course Breads
Cuisine American
Calories 253
Keyword amish sourdough, friendship bread starter, herman sourdough, sourdough starter recipe

How to Make Amish Friendship Bread: Step by Step

There’s not really a lot of steps to this friendship bread recipe. It’s a mix and bake situation.

Step 1: Mix all of the bread ingredients together in a large bowl. Use a whisk until mostly combined, then a rubber spatula to finish it. Don’t overmix.

batter for cinnamon bread in a bowl

Step 2: Prepare the loaf pans. Spray the loaf pans with cooking spray (or line with parchment paper then spray with cooking spray). Sprinkle them with a cinnamon sugar mixture. And then bake. My pans were 8 ½ x 4 1×2″ loaf pans. They took about 61 minutes to bake.

two loaves of unbaked amish friendship bread

two slices of buttered amish friendship bread on a plate

a loaf of friendship bread
About JulieJulie Clark

About Julie Clark

I'm Julie Clark, CEO and recipe developer of Tastes of Lizzy T. With my B.A. in Education and over 30 years of cooking and baking, I want to teach YOU the best of our family recipes.

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4.75 from 239 votes (171 ratings without comment)
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Jo Hart
5 years ago

I’m curious about the milk. If I set milk out on my counter all day, I would assume it would spoil and I would never want to drink that. I know the starter contains milk, and then you add more milk on day 6 and it just sits out on the counter all the time… how are we not getting sick from spoiled milk once we bake the bread?

Barbara sullivan
5 years ago

I recieved a starter from my neighbor , I refrigerated it 3 days ago…is it still good to use?

Sarah-have
5 years ago

I feel like a dummy for asking, but once I use the starter to make two loaves, do I keep a cup of that batter to make a new starter? Confused as to how to keep the starter going🥴 thank you so much

Kim
5 years ago

If I don’t want such a sugar intensive bread, can I cut down on the amount of sugar shown in the recipe?

Melissa
5 years ago

This recipe exponentially increases with more starters than I can handle/freeze/give away. Can I make the bread without creating more starters first? (ex: can I make the bread with only the 10 day completed bag – without adding new milk/flour/sugar to create new starters first?)

Andrea Woolley
5 years ago

Hi!
Things came up & I didn’t feed or bake my Amish Friendship Bread on the 10th day. It is now 3 days past the
10th recipe date. Can I finish this batch as per the instructions for the 10th day….feed it, divide it into 4 one cup
starters, and finish adding the later ingreidents and bake it?

Look forward to your answer.
Appreciate your help!

lisa
5 years ago

Any blueberry recipes

Megan
5 years ago

Do you need to use dairy milk? We have almond milk or coconut milk, but we don’t do dairy.

Amanda
5 years ago

I’ve had mine for over ten days. Is it okay to still make it?

George
5 years ago

What is the purpose of making the bag? Is it just to make sure the ingredients are incorporated properly or did it actually affect flavor of the starter?

Nicholette Sherbut
5 years ago

How long is -until it gets bubbly – I have bubble on top after a few minutes. Is that the bubbly you are referring to?

Monica R Valentine
5 years ago

How do I adjust recipe if I’m keeping one starter and not giving any starters away?

Julie A Russell
5 years ago

can the bread be finished and baked on day 11 if out of town on day 10. thanks

Trish
5 years ago

I love this bread! I have done 3 rounds now. Tomorrow is my day 10, however I am going to see some family today and would love to share the bread and starter. Will it be ok to make it a day early?

M
5 years ago

Hello! Is it supposed to smell strongly of alcohol?

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