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Amish Friendship Bread Starter

List of Ingredients

1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
1/4 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
3 cups all-purpose flour, divided
3 cups white sugar, divided
3 cups milk


Directions
1 In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Let stand 10 minutes. In a 2 quart container glass, plastic or ceramic container, 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. Consider this day 1 of the 10 day cycle.
2 On days 2 thru 4; stir starter with a spoon. Day 5; stir in 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk. Days 6 thru 9; stir only.
3 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, or begin the 10 day process over again (starting with step 2). 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. When it's thawed, bring it to life again by adding a tablespoon of sugar (count this as day 1) and continue as directed.

Note: When giving starter away, only half fill the container and provide for some ventilation (ie. small hole in top of jar). The starter does expand and unless the gases caused by the fermenting process are allowed to escape, they will build up and could cause the lid of the container to pop off. You can make a small batch of starter by using only 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of milk on day 1. Add the full amount of ingredients called for on days 5 and 10, however.


Recipe