Amish Friendship Bread Recipe Variations (2024)

FAQs

What is the difference between Amish friendship bread starter and sourdough starter? ›

A Herman starter or Amish Friendship Bread Starter is typically made with milk, flour, sugar and commercial yeast. A sourdough starter is generally made only of flour and water. A Herman starter will be sweeter and more mellow flavored than a sourdough starter.

If too much moisture escapes, the bread could dry out. Check expiration dates and use fresh ingredients. For Amish Friendship Bread in particular, you'll want to make sure your yeast (if starting a starter from scratch), baking soda, and baking powder are fresh.

Active Amish friendship starter will keep for up to three months in the freezer. "You can also pop your starter in the fridge, but you can't forget about it like you can with freezing your starter," Gee says.

many people do the reverse bc of the dry air at high altitude but moisture in the bread results in a higher rise which then collapses bc the structure can't support it. aside from that, try using a flour with a higher protein content. if you're using bleached all purpose use unbleached.

In the process, the sourdough helps to break down natural irritants found in wheat, like gluten and phytic acid, making the bread more digestible and nutritious. In fact, many people who are gluten-intolerant can take pleasure in eating bread again.

Sourdough breads just taste better—they're more complex, more aromatic, and more adaptable to a wider range of flavors than commercial yeast.

People making Amish Friendship Bread for the first time often ask what their starter should smell like. Your starter should have a lovely, yeasty smell, like getting a whiff of bread rising in a bakery, times five. If you stick your nose into your bag of starter, you'll get a pretty heady hit of yeast.

Feed your sourdough starter with a high protein bread flour, rather than all purpose flour. Add some rye flour to your sourdough starter - this is a great way to strengthen your sourdough starter and introduce some whole grains into your wild yeast colony. Rye starters will often produce those big, mousse like bubbles.

Warmer homes or frequent baking will require more frequent feeding (around every 12 hours), while colder homes every 24 hours. Storing your sourdough starter in the fridge will require feeding around once a week. It can, however, be stored up to two months in the fridge without being fed.

Sourdough starter can be stored on the counter or in the refrigerator. "If you're someone who bakes sourdough bread more than a couple of times a week, keep your starter in a cool, dry place. If you don't bake every week, keep it in the refrigerator," Pellegrinelli explains.

Why is my friendship bread not rising? ›

Keep it warm!

Cold kitchens are a bane to any Amish Friendship Bread starter or sourdough starter, especially if you're trying to rise dough. Keep the dough warm and draft-free.

Amish communities emphasize helping each other and working together, as shown by activities like barn raisings. The practice of Amish Friendship Bread, where people share the bread's starter mix, reflects this community spirit, encouraging a sense of togetherness and giving.

If the area is too warm, bread will rise too fast and begin cooking before the yeast has finished acting. Then, when placed to bake in the oven, the "over spring" is exaggerated and large air pockets form inside the dough.

If the dough is too wet it can create extra steam in the bread and add to the pressure that is already building up in the bread by the gases produced by yeast. This will cause your bread to burst in odd spots and not where you have slashed it. Try reducing the hydration of your bread dough.

While our business has expanded well beyond St. Louis since then, that same sourdough starter is still used in our iconic sourdough bread and the craft of baking bread fresh each day remains at the heart of Panera Bread.

There is no single best ratio, but I've found a ratio of 1:5:5 fed twice daily at 12-hour intervals to produce a sourdough starter that's strong and healthy. This ratio corresponds to 20% ripe starter carryover, 100% water, and 100% flour (a mix of whole grain rye and white flour) at each feeding.

The preparation of sourdough begins with a pre-ferment (the "starter" or "leaven", also known as the "chief", "chef", "head", "mother" or "sponge"), a fermented mixture of flour and water, containing a colony of microorganisms including wild yeast and lactobacilli.

Currently, in English language, the term 'sourdough' is used to describe a yeast free bread. It is simply made by creating a starter dough with flour and water (sometimes with addition of yeast), which is left to rest for a few days/weeks.