Amish Friendship Bread part 2

The AFB keeps growing and multiplying.  I only feed it once a week now and it appears sufficient to keep the little yeasties viable and making some GOOD pancakes!

The first pancakes I made from the AFB were the traditional way in a frying pan but I was standing there for quite some time.  Took FOREVER.  I could make cake or muffins only standing at the counter long enough to mix and clean up but hate to turn on the oven for an hour and heat up the kitchen.

Then I had the brilliant idea of getting out the Oster Sandwich Maker.  It was advertised years ago to use with sliced bread, tortillas, or corn muffin mix and will make triangle-shaped mini pizzas, fruit pie-things, muffins, or quesadillas.  The limit is your imagination.

Makes really good pancakes!  And mucho faster than my stovetop.  It was WAY under the cabinet and had to do my contortion act to retrieve it.  A little dusty, but a good cleaning and it was ready to go.  The pancakes really plump up wonderfully, browning on both sides and are done in just a few moments…although by the time the second batch comes out I have made inroads into the first batch, nearly burning my fingers as I grab one that is just a bit too warm.

First recipe was awesome, but of course I kept asking myself how could this be better?  I ate some of the leftovers of that batch warmed in the microwave (nuked) with canned pineapple over the top.  Great idea (only needed ice cream for a complete meal…LOL)!  So a week later I used canned pineapple and I substituted the juice for the milk in the recipe.   Lighter and fluffier, not as dense and eaten warm with the warm pineapple?  YUM.

Very tasty, but note to self:  CRUSHED pineapple will probably work better.

I just finished making my third recipe and with this one I added vanilla and substituted water for milk.   I like – has the fluffy and light texture as the batch with pineapple and the vanilla adds a nice flavor.

As I was standing there, waiting for the cooker light to go off, I thought about the chocolate chips I found in my expedition under the cabinet.  Giradeli semi-sweet chips.  YUM.  So I started sprinkling them over the batter after pouring it into the wells of the cooker.

Indescribably good.  I used to be addicted to Sam’s club muffins, especially the chocolate chip ones and these pancakes are a great reminder of that sweet goodness.  Or, on a cruise once they had chocolate croissants for breakfast.  It was enough to get me out of bed!

The message is…If you have a friend that wants to give you AFB, take it!  You do NOT have to feed it every 5 days, and once a week while stored in the fridge is fine.  Be aware – my batch makes my fridge smell like a brewery but some might enjoy that feature.

My new Pet: Amish Friendship Bread

It is called Amish Friendship Bread.  The idea is you keep this sweet bread starter in the fridge, feed it every 5 days and squoosh to mix the contents of the zippy bag each day.  On the 10th day you feed it again and pull out four cups and put in separate bags to give to four friends.  The remainder can be used in a quick bread or cake recipe.

It is kind of like Tribbles.  You feed them and they multiply.  Every 10 days you have to find another four friends willing to accept this gift of a new pet.  Then 10 days later they are trying to find four more friends, and the gift goes on.

None of my friends OR family were willing to accept this fertile pet so I have lots.  I do not need to add a whole cake every 10 days to my diet. Neither does the cat, and he is not even interested.

So I turn to the internet and Google found a lot more recipes than the cake that was provided with the starter instructions.  There is also a method of birth control for the AFB to freeze by the cupful then thawing to use in a recipe.  I like the freedom that provides.  My cat is more self-sufficient than the AFB…

The pet owner of the mother of my AFB and it’s siblings were happy to receive the additional recipes – especially the waffles.   Here at the Dustbunny Palace we don’t have a lot of dried fruit and nuts sitting around – they tend to be consumed so I was particularly interested in the basic batter recipes.

The original recipe has pudding mix and a LOT of oil – one cup for two loaves. I left the oil out by mistake and the cake turned out OK but awfully dense and I really didn’t like the flavor with the pudding. The off flavor may have been the ultra cheap pudding mix with artificial vanilla.  I read that sprinkling the greased pan with cinnamon sugar is nice, so I did that and will do that step again!

Next time I tried another recipe,  making it in my bread machine on the quick bread option.   Turned out AWESOME but way over-browned.  If I use the bread machine again I’ll remove the quick bread before the end of the cycle.  While that was baking I made some pancakes.  Now THAT is hard to resist!  They were so good I didn’t even use any butter or syrup.  Eating leftovers I got the brilliant idea to spoon pineapple over the top.  Perfection!  No, not perfection – that would only come with the addition of ice cream, but pretty close.

The Tribble has turned into a cherished pet.

The Pancake recipe – I find my starter is very thick and I added more milk to make the batter thin enough to pour

Amish Pancakes & Waffles found at http://www.armchair.com/recipe/amish/amish013.html

Pancakes
Combine in large bowl:
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

Combine in smaller bowl:
2 TBS oil
2 cups Amish Friendship Bread starter
1/2 cup milk (plus/minus 1/4 cup)
1 egg

Add ingredients of smaller bowl to ingredients of large bowl and mix on medium speed.
Spoon batter onto greased griddle.

Waffles
Prepare batter for pancakes except increase oil to 1/4 cup.

The following is the recipe I used for the bread machine.  I halved everything so it would make the amount for a single pan full.  Next time I want to do this in the oven.

This is the “Herman” Sourdough starter recipe – I have this around the house somewhere from long ago…(hey, the grey hair is not noticeable yet, or my friends are just being kind to me)

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/7418/amish-friendship-bread-recipe-deviation-puddingless

Friendship Cake with Herman Sourdourgh Starter

3 eggs,1 teaspoon vanilla, 1 cup sugar, 2/3 cup oil, 2 cup flour, 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 2 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon.

Beat until smooth.  Add your choice of raisins, chopped nuts, dried fruit, chopped apples, cherries, pineapple, etc.  Pour into tube or bundt pan and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.  (start checking after 40 min.)

My variation for a smaller amount:

1 egg, one half teaspoon vanilla, one half cup sugar, one third cup oil, one cup flour, three quarters teaspoon baking soda, one teaspoon baking powder, one quarter teaspoon salt, and no cinnamon.

I didn’t add the cinnamon as I wanted to see what the flavor was without any additions other than vanilla.  It is awesome, and very tender and light.  Next time I am going to bake a whole recipe and use two small loaf pans in the oven.

So K, thanks for my new pet!