Amish Friendship Bread?

[Sue 126]

I have been baking the Friendship bread for a while now. I have had a terrible problem with it turning black on the bottom. I've tried to shorten the time but it does'nt get done in the middle. Would anyone know what I can do to stop it from turning black. I've used at least 4 ovens, and 3 or 4 tipes of pans.
Thanks

[goboenomo]

Hmmm It's never gone black on me.
Perhaps in the recipe? or the temperature of the oven...

I just use a not quite metal. But kinda tin foil like loaf pan. And I sprinkled flour on the edges. I don't know if that helps. I was just putting in my 2 cents.

[Heliosept1104]

I just finished making some Amish Bread, and I'll post the recipe that was given to me after a few questions. The bread came out great by the way!!! I used a Vanilla Jell-o pudding and added walnuts. But onto the questions:

1.) Does it matter what kind of bread pan I put it in? Does a metal or glass container work better for the cooking process?

2.) I had put my bread pans on the middle rack of the oven. Would having them higher or lower in the oven be better?

I appreciate any help with this for future cooking!!

Here's the recipe I went off of. I used a gallon sized freezer bag (for the double locking Ziploc) for the starter. I later poured the bread starter and additional items into a ceramic bowl and stirred with a wooden spoon. (I think I did good with the non metal portion of this)


Amish Bread

Important Notes:

DO NOT use any type of metal spoon or bowl for mixing
DO NOT refrigerate
If air gets into bag, let it out
It is normal for the batter to rise, bubble and ferment

Day 1: Do nothing--this is the day the batter was first prepared (see date on bag)
Day 2: Mush the bag
Day 3: Mush the bag
Day 4: Mush the bag
Day 5: Mush the bag
Day 6: Add to the bag: 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup milk--and then mush the bag.
Day 7: Mush the bag
Day 8: Mush the bag
Day 9: Mush the bag
Day 10: Follow the directions below:

1. Pour entire contents of the bag into a NON-METAL mixing bowl.
2. Add 1 & 1/2 cups flour, 1 & 1/2 cups sugar, 1 & 1/2 cups milk then mix.
3. Put 1 cup of this batter into each of (4) 1 gallon zip lock bags. Mark the bags with the date prepared. This becomes Day 1. Give to friends along with a copy of this recipe. You may want to keep one bag of starter for yourself.
4. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
5. To the remaining batter in the bowl add:
a. 3 eggs
b. 1 cup oil (or 1/2 cup oil and 1/2 cup applesauce)
c. 1/2 cup milk
d. 1 cup sugar
e. 2 tsp. cinnamon
f. 1/2 tsp. vanilla
g. 1 & 1/2 tsp. baking powder
h. 1/2 tsp baking soda
i. 1/2 tsp salt (optional)
j. 1 cup walnuts (optional)
k. 2 cups flour
l. 1 large box of instant pudding (Note: Pistachio works really well.)
6. Grease 2 large loaf pans and mix additional 1/2 cup sugar and 1 & 1/2 tsp. cinnamon. Dust greased pans with half of this mixture.
7. Pour batter evenly into 2 pans and sprinkle the remaining sugar mixture over the top.
8. Bake one hour or until done. Cool until bread loosens from the pan evenly (about 10 minutes). Turn out onto serving dish. Serve warm or cool.

[Heliosept1104]

Originally Posted by Sue 126

I have been baking the Friendship bread for a while now. I have had a terrible problem with it turning black on the bottom. I've tried to shorten the time but it does'nt get done in the middle. Would anyone know what I can do to stop it from turning black. I've used at least 4 ovens, and 3 or 4 tipes of pans.
Thanks

You know what Sue 126, it just dawned on me about this, and I also kinda answered my own question, hehe. I think that having it on the middle rack is best for the ventilation and circulation of the heat. Where is the rack that you have your bread sitting at? I think that if it's too close to the bottom then the bottom of the bread will get the most heat and turn black, as you described. I found that the 325 degrees works pretty good. I don't know much about the pans yet. I'll try out a few different pans and I'll let you know. Thanks for the question!! I enjoy trying to figure out stuff like this. Best of luck with future bakings!!

[suziquzie]

I used almond extract instead of vanilla in a batch w/ raisins. It was AWESOME!!!
And I figured out if you want to stop sharing and bake the rest of your batter (into 6 loaves) you use 1 1/2 cups of starter for each batch.

[Heliosept1104]

Originally Posted by suziquzie

I used almond extract instead of vanilla in a batch w/ raisins. It was AWESOME!!!
And I figured out if you want to stop sharing and bake the rest of your batter (into 6 loaves) you use 1 1/2 cups of starter for each batch.

When you use the almond extract, does it affect the taste at all in comparison to the vanilla extract, or is it not noticable? Do you have to keep the flavor oriented with something that works with almonds (vanilla pudding, chocolate pudding, etc.) or does it not matter?
I'll keep the 1 1/2 cup batter for cooking in mind when I can't give away the starters. Thanks for the info!! It really helps!! :)

[suziquzie]

I love almond extract. I've been sampling using it in alot of things instead of vanilla. I use it in cream cheese cake frosting, YUM!
It is definately more noticeable than vanilla, but I like that. I don't know if I would do it with the chocolate, but I end up with 12 loaves by the time I finish, so it's not like it's a waste to try it!

[Heliosept1104]

Thanks!! I'll definitely try it out and let you know (after I'm done with finals that is, lol). Wow 12 loaves!! I couldn't eat that much. Does anybody know how long the bread usually lasts before it goes bad? I don't like to push things past a week usually. Is that a good thing?

[suziquzie]

I would think a week would be alright, we never have them around longer than 3 days. I freeze alot of them, so we usually have it around thru June or so!
I should be getting my starter on Saturday.