Comments on: Amish Friendship Bread: Skipping the Ziploc bag.

By: elwen

elwen — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 03:20:52 +0000

yes i often freeze my starter if i don’t have friends who want one or just am not ready to start again usualy though i will pull my bag or bowel out in the evening and start my first day the next morning after it has had plenty of time to thaw and get back to room temp idk if this makes a differance but it what i always do

By: Joann

Joann — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 22:29:15 +0000

I agree about the plastic, the first time I had this starter it was in a tub. now I recieved it in a ziplock. thank you to all who knew a little more than I. I have some bread in the oven. my husband loves the choc. bread.. now I donot have to buy it.

By: Vicky

Vicky — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 13:11:52 +0000

In answer to why you shouldn’t use metal utensils or bowls: According to my husband who has his bachelor’s degree in Biology, the metal can “kill” the yeast in a sourdough-type starter. I didn’t care to know anymore than that. My mother used to make this bread quite a bit when I was young, and 30 years later I get a starter from one of my co-workers. To adjust the amount of starters you end up giving out, adjust the recipe up or down by 1/2 cup increments on the flour, milk and sugar for the day 10 additions before you mix and dole out new starters. For example, if you want to keep one and give out 4 starters, you would add 2 cups of each. If you just want to keep one for yourself, just add a 1/2 cup each.
I have successfully frozen starter and used it. If you are truly worried about the metal on the lid of the jar interfering with the starter, use a piece of waxed paper or parchment paper and place it on top of the jar, then screw down the lid. That should keep the starter from touching the metal of the lid. I’d much rather have a lovely crock to keep my starter in than the plastic baggie I got it in, and I’m glad to see other people are doing something like that.
-Vicky

By: Shrewbi

Shrewbi — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 17:17:51 +0000

Last month I found myself at work, saying “Thankyou” to a co-worker who had handed me a ziplock bag of goop, and a recipe sheet. So I followed all directions until it came to the last group. I do not care too much for cinnamon, so after a bit of thought I decided to change out a few things. I left out the cinnamon, kept all else the same, but added a tsp. of Almond flavoring, and 1/3 cup poppyseeds. (Almond Poppyseed muffins seem to have gone extinct in my area and I miss them). Instead of a loaf pan or sheet pan, I used cupcake papers and muffin tins and OH MY . . . 35 muffins later I was done. It only took 25 min to bake two tins full at a time. They were wonderful!
Warning though. The papers seem to leech oil out of the little flat-topped muffins, by day 2. Next time I will not use the papers, and will dust each with either flour or sugar, I have yet to decide. I was not sure how changing things would turn out, but I always figure, “Nothing ventured – nothing gained”. Outside of work, I have no friends to give it to, and work is flooded with starters from my co-worker. So as sad and hard as it seems … you can just Throw-away the extra batters, and keep just the one cup for yourself. Its a simple easy solution. I was very glad to see posted here that keeping it frozen is possible, and that I can use something besides the plastic container. My husband is the cook and kitchen keeper in the family and that plastic bag has been giving him “fits”. He likes his counters the way he likes his counters, without that bag!
A last coment: I actually took the time to measure the remaining amount that is left after taking out the “give aways” It came to almost exactly 1-3/4 cups of the starter.
Thank you for having this wonderful site. It answered every question I had about using and storing the starter.

By: meredith

meredith — Wed, 05 May 2010 22:32:11 +0000

hey! thanks everyone for all your information!! It really helped me understand the process. I recieved a AFB from a lady at work, with no real understanding of it (other than the instructions). Also, she gave it to me on like day 7….judging by what you all have said…I’m just going to act like today is my day 2 (got the starter yesterday). Also, she gave me a little sample of her baked AFB along w/ the starter, so I knew what I was making (I thought that was a good idea, seems I had never even heard of it before!). YUM, it was awesome! Can’t wait to bake mine!! :)

By: Beth Terry

Beth Terry — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 18:28:05 +0000

Hi Gail. You do need to keep it warmer. And you don’t need to worry about it going “bad.” You want the bacteria to grow. They are good bacteria. If you refrigerate them, they won’t grow and your bread won’t really rise the way it should. Cooling the batter is a way to slow down the process.

By: gail

gail — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 17:51:06 +0000

im really confused with whether to refrigerate it or not thru the 10 days. some people do and some dont. i think the yeast needs the room temp to ferment and grow but it seems bad to not keep it in the refrigerator for so long. ive made the bread once after having kept it in the fridge. it didnt raise much but tasted good. im wondering if thats because i did not keep it at romm temp?

By: Carol

Carol — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 21:50:08 +0000

On day ten, instead of adding 1.5 cups of milk, sugar, and flour, add only 3/8 cups of each. Do not measure out three one cup amounts for other bags. Continue the recipe as stated and voila! You have made the bread without extra starter.

I use up the extra bags this way and when I get down to one bag I then make the extra starters and freeze them until I am ready to use them.

By: KIM

KIM — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 16:35:30 +0000

Hi,
I just baked my FB and yumm..I had this in the 70's and we would keep in a large mayo jar in the fridge for use anytime. I believe we had to feed it every so many days, or if we took out a cup we had to add a cup of flour?
Anyways, I love this blog and wanted to share what I baked.
I used the cinnamon but reduced it in half, and also diced up 2 medium apples. It is so good! but next time I think I'll reduce the sugar, and also I'm going to try. Instead of all the oil, use half oil and half apple sauce.
In the oven now I have added 3 mashed bananas and reduced the sugar, and added brown sugar mixed with butter on top like a struesel topping... hoping it is as good as the other :)
I'm also wanting a recipe for more of a sandwich bread if anyone has it.
---BEADLBRAIN

By: Avon

Avon — Sun, 10 May 2009 00:41:00 +0000

I have another use for the starter. We have been taking two of the extra cups after baking, and on day 3 I use them in a standard sourdough recipe that comes from Bread Alone. It comes out a tiny bit sweeter than regular sourdough bread (because the starter has sugar in it) but it makes awesome sandwich bread.