friendship

What a long day! I was at school yesterday and today for 12 hours. A total of 24 hours in 2 days. 8 of those hours were spent in parent conferences. I have heard it all- I think. 5 years of conferencing with parents has revealed a lot of things. There are parents who freak out that their child has all 100s and one 97. There are parents who want to talk out all the problems that they are facing at home, there are parents who find out that their child has been telling them one thing but doing another, there are parents who are surprised to find out their child has homework and does not tell them that the homework exists. I could go on and on. I am drained. And I am usually energized by being with people. But the last 2 days have been draining.

So, what do I do when I am drained? Make 2 loafs of Amish Friendship Bread. :) Diana Blaine (link to she and her husband's ministry to the right) came to visit a few weeks ago. She left me with this starter for Amish Friendship Bread. It was a bag of dough that sat on my counter for 10 days and then I followed the recipe to whip it into 2 fabulous loafs of bread. So good.

I gave away the starters to coworkers last week, and am in need of 3 more peeps who want a bag of dough to start off their Amish Friendship Bread cooking. It is pretty easy to do. Most days all you do is "mush the bag". Here is the recipe.

Amish Friendship Bread
Do not use at any time a metal spoon or bowl for mixing. DO NOT refrigerate.

It is natural for batter to rise, bubble, and ferment.

Day 1: Do nothing ( this is the date on the bag)

Day2: 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. Mush the bag.

Day 7: Mush the bag.

Day 8: Mush the bag.

Day 9: Mush the bag.

Day 10: Follow instructions:
1. Pour entire contents of the bag into a nonmetal mixing bowl.

2. Add 1 ½ cups flour, 1 ½ cups sugar, 1 ½ cups milk.

3. Measure out four separate batters of one cup each and put into 1 gallon ziplock bags. Keep one for yourself and give 3 to your friends along with a copy of this sheet. Don’t forget to write the date on the bags.

4. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

5. Add to remaining batter: 3 eggs, 1 cup oil, ½ cup milk, 1 cup sugar, 2 tsp cinnamon, ½ tsp vanilla, 1 ½ tsp baking powder, ½ tsp baking soda, ½ tsp salt, 2 cups flour, 1 large box instant vanilla pudding mix

6. Grease 2 loaf pans.

7. Mix additional ½ cup sugar and 1 ½ tsp cinnamon. Dust greased loaf pans with mixture, save the rest to pour on top.

8. Bake bread for 1 hour or until done in the center. Cool until loosens from pan.

9. Turn onto serving dish. Serve warm or cold.
If you keep a starter for yourself, you will be baking every 10 days. This bread is very good and will make your home smell delicious! ENJOY!

If you are interested in a starter, let me know. I have 3 to give away this week. I just made mine. It took about 30 minutes to prepare. But, in 1 hour I will have some fresh bread to enjoy. Yum.