A few months ago, a friend gave me some Amish Friendship Bread starter with this recipe. I made a few loaves for us, then I kept the next batch of starter and made a bunch of loaves as Christmas presents for friends. I really like this bread and have been storing the extra starter in the freezer so I can make more. Now it’s becoming an every day snack instead of a treat, so I had to adjust the recipe to make it a little bit healthier. The result is definitely not as sinful as the original, but it’s still pretty darn tasty!
1 cup amish friendship bread starter
3/4 cup egg substitute
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup skim milk
1 cup sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp (kosher) salt
1 cup unbleached white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup chopped craisins
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (optional)
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
• Spray 2 medium loaf pans or 4 mini loaf pans with light olive oil.
• Combine ingredients.
• Pour the batter evenly into the pans.
• Bake for 45-60 minutes until wooden toothpick comes out clean.
• Cool for 5 minutes and turn onto a backing rack to finish cooling.
What I changed: Swapped real eggs with egg substitute to cut out some cholesterol. Swapped oil for pumpkin puree (pumpkin is a super food!) Used skim milk and swapped 1 cup of white flour for whole wheat. Skipped the instant pudding. My original recipe had you dust the greased pan with sugar. Skipped that step, as well. I also ignored the “Don’t use anything metal” warning in the recipe and threw all of these ingredients in my big blender. It really speeds up the whole process, plus it’s easy to pour and clean up.
Some other starter tips: If you are using a ziploc bag, it’s ok to let the air out after a few days to avoid a starter explosion. (Yes, this really happened to a friend of mine!) It’s not the end of the world if you can’t mix ingredients or bake on the exact day. I’ve kept starter in the refrigerator after day 10 for a few weeks and it turned out fine. I’ve even put it in the freezer for future use. As long as it doesn’t turn weird colors, it will be fine. And speaking of the freezer, the bread freezes very well. I usually make the mini loaves and freeze the extra ones as soon as they have cooled.
Thanks for sharing your modified recipe! I’ve been wanting to start up the bread cycle again, but it’s not really good to have in the house if you’re trying to stick to a diet! I’ll have to try your new and improved version the next time I start some up. :)
I have been making the Amish Bread for years and this is a recipe that is entirely different from the one that I used. Sounds great and can’t wait to try them all. This is one that I always put in the baskets for the older people at Christmas and they always send special thanks for the bread.