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.