Back to the cinnamon bread.

I made this for a neighbor who I made some cinnamon Amish friendship bread for a while back.  He kept asking me to make more of it, but I’d let my starter die and couldn’t do it.  I found this to be a great substitute and I can make it without having to keep feeding the friendship starter and making more loaves than I could ever hope to eat.

The recipe is from allrecipes.com, here is the link to the original recipe.  I changed the method for mixing the batter together to something I was more comfortable with.  I doubt it makes much of a difference, if any.  For the topping I used 2 tablespoons of melted butter and about 3 tablespoons of cinnamon sugar I already had mixed up.  Maybe this mixture swirled on top of the batter made it rise up all weird in the center but not on the edges?  I don’t know.  It isn’t pretty, but it is good.  Enjoy.

Cinnamon Bread

Courtesy of allrecipes.com

Ingredients

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and sugar one 9×5 inch loaf pan.
2. Beat the oil and sugar, then add in eggs and vanilla.
3. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon, and salt then mix into wet ingredients, followed by the buttermilk.  Beat 3 minutes. Pour into prepared loaf pan. Smooth top.
4. Combine 3 tablespoons white sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and butter. Drizzle topping over smoothed batter. Using knife, cut in a light swirling motion to give a marbled effect.
5. Bake for about 50 minutes. Test with toothpick. When inserted it should come out clean. Remove bread from pan to rack to cool.

After reading through the introduction, tips, ingredients and master recipe I ordered these food storage containers from Amazon.com and once I received them I got started.

The ingredients are simple and you most likely have all of them at this very moment.  Flour, water, yeast and salt.  That’s it.

If you have a large enough container, you can mix it all up in there with a wooden spoon (less clean up), let it rise for a couple hours, then store it in the fridge for at least 3 hours and up to 2 weeks!

There aren’t many hard and fast rules here.  Temperature of the water, initial rising time, the amount the dough has risen (double, triple, etc) days in the fridge, and the amount of dough for your loaf are all approximate.  The directions and ingredients are clear, you just don’t have to worry about water that is exactly 101.3 degrees or a ball of dough that is exactly 1 pound 2.25 ounces.  This is stress free bread making!

That is the part I really love about this.  If you thought you were going to have time to make baguettes to eat with dinner, but suddenly your 2 month old spits up all over the couch and you, then you don’t have to worry about it.  Flexibility.  Wonderful flexibility.

Here are the pre and post risen dough.  My dough just about doubled in volume after 3 hours at room temperature.  I really like these containers.

The dough rose well, it was easy to form into a “boule”…fancy French term for ball of dough, and while the directions for baking seem a bit tedious they are actually quite easy to pull off.  After 30 minutes of baking my bread wasn’t very dark, and it did not look like the bread on the cover of the book.  BUT, it smelled lovely, it had a nice crisp crust, a chewy interior and a yeasty, and just slightly salty flavor.  I am hopeful that the more bread I bake, the better each loaf will be.  So, here is loaf # 1!

I have been on a mission to rid my freezer and fridge of things that need to be used up.  Last week I decided to use the rest of a container of cottage cheese and some bananas I had frozen.  It seemed like an OK recipe.  The only ingredient out of the ordinary was the cottage cheese.  I thought it might create a creamy texture with a little tang.  Kind of like yogurt.  I think it was actually the downfall of this bread.  The cottage cheese curds baked in the bread created a truly funky texture.  The bread took a lot longer to bake than instructed below.  Even after 40 minutes in the oven the middle was gooey.  After 50 minutes I took it out of the oven and after cooling I sliced it up revealing a still undercooked center.  The edges were OK, but I ended up throwing the loaf away after eating half of a piece I had toasted and buttered.  And I don’t throw food away easily.  It just wasn’t worth it.

So, unlike other posts on Hottie Biscotti, this recipe is one that I do not recommend.  If you have a good bread recipe that uses cottage cheese, then please let me know.  At this point I am not likely to try another baked good where cottage cheese is involved.

Here is the recipe, and the source.

Cottage Cheese Banana Bread

Ingredients

• 2 ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup low-fat cottage cheese
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• Shake of cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325*F.
2. Coat loaf pan with non-stick spray.
3. Combine ingredients in large mixing bowl. Blend well.
4. Pour batter into loaf pan; spread evenly.
5. Bake for 32-35 minutes.

I’ve tried a few variations on the basic cinnamon bread.

1. butterscotch pudding with toffee bits
2. butterscotch pudding with toffee bits and vanilla chips
3. vanilla pudding with pecans
4. chocolate pudding with white chocolate chips

These cookies I made last week inspired my latest bread experiment.  Seeing as how I had dried cherries, almonds and coconut on hand it only seemed natural to give these ingredients a chance in the bread.  I made one loaf plain with vanilla pudding and cinnamon, and to the remaining batter I added the cherries, almonds and coconut; about a handful of each.  What am I doing?  No measuring?  I think I’m turning in to Rachel Ray!  Before you know it I am going to be writing EVOO in my posts and giving all my posts super cutesy names!  OK, OK.  I will not turn in to Rachel Ray.  I will tell you that the amounts were about 3/4 cup each.  Give or take…

If you have friendship bread starter, then just add 3/4 cup each cherries, sliced almonds and sweetened shredded coconut.  If you do NOT have starter, then you can try to make your own using the following recipe from allrecipes.com.  After you make the starter you can make the bread!  The recipe I have been using is at the bottom of this post.  One of the best parts about this bread is the cinnamon sugar coated pans.  It gives such a wonderful, crunchy exterior.  I used some Sugar in the Raw on top of my loaves and it was incredibly good.  Perfect crunchy sweetness.

Amish Friendship Bread Starter

Ingredients

• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1/4 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 3 cups all-purpose flour, divided
• 3 cups white sugar, divided
• 3 cups milk

Directions

1. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Let stand 10 minutes. In a 2 quart container glass, plastic or ceramic container, combine 1 cup flour and 1 cup sugar. Mix thoroughly or flour will lump when milk is added. Slowly stir in 1 cup milk and dissolved yeast mixture. Cover loosely and let stand until bubbly. Consider this day 1 of the 10 day cycle. Leave loosely covered at room temperature.
2. On days 2 thru 4; stir starter with a spoon. Day 5; stir in 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk. Days 6 thru 9; stir only.
3. Day 10; stir in 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk. Remove 1 cup to make your first bread, give 2 cups to friends along with this recipe, and your favorite Amish Bread recipe. Store the remaining 1 cup starter in a container in the refrigerator, or begin the 10 day process over again (beginning with step 2).

Amish Friendship Bread

Starter:

Do not use a metal bowl or spoon.

Do not refrigerate.

The mix will rise, bubble and ferment.  So, “burp” the bag as needed.

Day 1: Do nothing

Day 2: Mush the bag.

Day 3: Mush

Day 4: Mush

Day 5: Mush

Day 6: Add to the bag: 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk.  Mush together in the bag.

Day 7: Mush

Day 8: Mush

Day 9: Mush

Day 10: Follow the instructions below.

1.            Pour entire contents of the bag into a large non-metal bowl.

2.            Add 1 ½ cups each flour, sugar and milk.  Mix together well.

3.            Measure 1 cup of batter into each of 4 gallon size bags and give to friends, along with a copy of this recipe.  Put the date on the bag to help keep track!

4.            Preheat the oven to 325.

5.            To the remaining batter add:

• 3 eggs
• 1 cup oil
• 1 cup sugar
• ½ cup milk
• 2 cups flour
• 1 large box instant pudding (vanilla or any flavor)
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda

6.            Grease 2 loaf pans and dust with sugar or a mixture of sugar and cinnamon.

7.            Divide the batter evenly between the pans.  Sprinkle with more cinnamon sugar if desired.

8.            Bake for 1 hour, cool for 15 minutes then remove from pans to cool completely on wire racks.

* Keep a bag of starter for yourself if you want to make more bread.

Back to the huge zucchini.  I really wish I’d weighed this monster before using it yesterday.  Just use this picture as proof…it was a big vegetable.

Ginger was scared of it.  I took it out of the fridge and when I turned around she saw it and tucked her tail in between her legs and ran out of the kitchen.  Strange.

This recipe is from Paula Deen, which explains the odd mixing techniques and large amounts of sugar, oil, and eggs.  The ingredients were simple.  I resisted the urge to add pineapple or chocolate chips.  I’m glad that I did because I enjoyed the simple flavor of the zucchini and the rich pecans.  Sometimes simple can be perfect.

I sugared the pans after greasing them, a new favorite trick that gives the bread a nice crunchy, sweet exterior.  I had mixed up some cinnamon sugar for the rice pudding last week, so I used the cinnamon sugar in one of the pans, so that loaf was a little extra special.

The memories of the Amish bread catastrophe made my palms get all sweaty when it came time to remove the bread from the pans.  Hooray!  Only one little corner of the bread remained this time.

Zucchini Bread

Ingredients

• 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg (optional)
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3 cups sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1/3 cup water
• 2 cups grated zucchini
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 cup chopped pecans

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, nutmeg, baking soda, cinnamon and sugar. In a separate bowl, combine oil, eggs, water, zucchini and lemon juice. Mix wet ingredients into dry, add nuts and fold in. Bake in 2 standard loaf pans, greased and sugared, for 50-60 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.

I survived my first 2 days with 6th graders.  I realized that I’ve kinda missed teaching.  I didn’t miss staying at school for 11 hours, getting home after 6pm, sitting down and realizing just how exhausting it can be to be on your feet all day, well, except for a 25 minute lunch.  That’s right 25 minutes.  All of you office people out there who enjoy hour lunch breaks where you get to eat at a real restaurant with waiters and such should be thankful.  And on those days where you have to have a quick lunch, think of the teachers out there who don’t ever get to leave the building they work in for lunch.

Sorry!  I forgot this wasn’t about self pity,  but about Amish Friendship Bread.  I wish I knew these kids…they look so very friendly.

Photo courtesy of hiddenvalleys.com

I don’t have the time or energy this evening to make anything.  I can, however, mix some ingredients together and let them sit for a week and a half, stirring occasionally, and then make yummy bread with the resulting starter. Everything in this recipe is in my kitchen…and so is probably in most people’s kitchens.  From start to finish, including measuring the ingredients and heating the liquid, this took me all of 15 minutes to toss together.

Teaching note: Do not use the word “toss” when asking 6th graders to throw something in the trash.  They will truly TOSS it, from 15 feet away, into the trash can and then proceed to say, upon being told not to do that in the future, “Well, you said TOSS it, Mrs. Z!”

There are tons of variations and options with this dough.  Dark chocolate, white chocolate, dried berries, banana, cinnamon, lemon, nuts, zucchini, nutella, peanut butter…almost anything goes. There are also quite a few recipes that use the amish bread batter to bake things other than bread.  Brownies, cakes, cookies, biscuits, pancakes.  Quite a versatile dough.

Here is the starter recipe.  You can see the rest of it here, but I will be posting it in its entirety once my starter is ready…about a week from tomorrow!

Amish Friendship Bread Starter

Ingredients

• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1/4 cup warm water (110° F/45° C)
• 3 cups all-purpose flour, divided
• 3 cups white sugar, divided
• 3 cups warm milk (110°F/45°C), divided

Directions

Day 1

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Let stand 10 minutes. In a 2 quart container (glass), combine 1 cup flour and 1 cup sugar. Mix thoroughly or flour will lump when milk is added. Slowly stir in 1 cup milk and dissolved yeast mixture. Cover loosely and let stand at room temperature until bubbly.

Day 2 to Day 4

Stir starter with a wooden spoon.

Day 5

Stir in 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk.

Day 6 to Day 9

Stir only.

Day 10

Stir in 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk. Remove 1 or 2 cups to make your first bread, give three cups to friends along with the recipe. Store the remaining starter in a container in the refrigerator and begin the 10 day process over again. You can also freeze this starter in 1 cup measures for later use. Frozen starter will take at least 3 hours at room temperature to thaw before using.