Dissolve yeast in warm water in a small bowl; let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes.
Combine 1 cup flour and 1 cup sugar in a 2-quart container (glass, plastic, or ceramic); mix thoroughly. Stir in 1 cup milk and yeast mixture. Cover the container loosely and leave at room temperature until bubbly. This is day 1 of the 10-day process.
Days 2 through 4: Stir starter with a spoon. Day 5: Stir in 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, and 1 cup milk. Days 6 through 9: Stir starter with a spoon.
Day 10: Stir in remaining 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, and 1 cup milk. Remove 1 cup starter to make your first bread. Give 2 cups starter to friends (1 cup each) along with this recipe and your favorite Amish bread recipe. Store remaining 1 cup starter in a container in the refrigerator or begin the 10-day process over again (beginning with step 2).
Editor's Notes:
Once you have made the starter, you will consider it day 1, so you can ignore step 1 in this recipe and proceed with step 2. You can also freeze the starter in 1 cup measures for later use. Frozen starter will take at least 3 hours at room temperature to thaw before using.
FAQs
If your starter looks discolored with a pink or green tinge, has mold (a no-brainer but worth mentioning), or if the sharp acetone smell doesn't go away, discard your starter and make a new one from scratch. It's sad, but so is food poisoning. The rule in the Friendship Bread Kitchen is: when in doubt, throw it out.
Why is my Amish Friendship bread starter not bubbling? ›
Timing and Temperature
This is usually the case in cold environments (AC under 70F, winter kitchens). If your starter is barely bubbling or not bubbling at all 12-24 hours after the last feeding, simply stir it again and let the jar sit for a day or two. Then feed again and see if you get bubbles.
How long can you keep an Amish Friendship bread starter? ›
If it's properly cared for, Amish friendship starter can be maintained indefinitely. "It is heartier than most sourdough starters because the sugars in the added milk and sugar give the yeasts extra food to survive, but other things like ambient temperature and contamination could alter your starter," Gee says.
What is the hooch in Amish Friendship Bread? ›
Your starter is hungry. In traditional sourdough terms, that funky stuff is called hooch. It's naturally-occurring alcohol that forms when your starter needs to be fed.
Can Amish starter go bad? ›
Yes, AFB starter is hardy, but it needs to be fed. If your starter turns pink or has pink splotches, throw it out.
Why does my Amish Friendship Bread sink in the middle? ›
Keep the oven door closed while your Amish Friendship Bread is baking. You may be tempted to peek, but sudden temperature drops can result in the bread collapsing in the middle.
How do I make my starter more bubbly? ›
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.
Why can't you use a metal bowl for Amish Friendship Bread? ›
The original instructions for Amish Friendship Bread states that you should not use metal bowls or utensils. The original reason was because there's a chemical reaction that occurs between the fermenting starter and metal.
What if my bread starter is too wet? ›
If your starter is too runny, it maybe that you need to increase the ratio. A ratio of 1:2:2 can work - so you'd double the flour and water. Alternatively, if your starter is very runny, a 1:2:1 ratio could be used.
Can I skip one day of feeding my sourdough starter? ›
If you miss one of your starter feedings, it'll be just fine. Give it a feeding when you next remember it needs one, and continue with your daily feedings as usual.
If you don't get rid of the excess, eventually you'll have more starter than your feedings can sustain. After a few days, your daily 1/4 cup flour and water won't be enough to sustain your entire jar of starter, and your starter will be slow and sluggish, not much better than discard itself.
Can bread starter go bad from sitting? ›
Starvation - if you don't feed your starter for a long period of time it will develop harmful bacteria and mold. This will smell terrible and look orange, pink or fuzzy and green. Mold - mold can also occur in a well fed starter if there are mold spores on any of the equipment you've used or in the flour you're using.
Should I stir the hooch back into my sourdough starter? ›
After a week without food, your starter probably has a thin layer of clear to light-amber liquid on its surface. This is alcohol, a byproduct of fermentation (a.k.a. hooch), and is perfectly fine to stir back into the starter.
Why does my starter have so much hooch? ›
Hooch is the liquid that collects on top of a sourdough starter when it hasn't been fed for some time. Hooch is a mix of water the alcohol that formed during the fermentation process. Its presence doesn't mean that something bad happened to your starter, it just means that it's hungry.
Why do they call it friendship bread? ›
Amish friendship bread is a type of bread or cake made from a sourdough starter that is often shared in a manner similar to a chain letter. The starter is a substitute for baking yeast and can be used to make many kinds of yeast-based breads, shared with friends, or frozen for future use.
How do you know if a bread starter is good? ›
A “ripe” starter is one that's fermented for some number of hours and is ready to use in a recipe, whether to make a levain or mix directly into a dough for sourdough bread-making. Generally, when a starter is ripe, it has risen, is bubbly on top, has a sour aroma, and has a looser consistency.
How do you know if your starter is bad in bread? ›
Typical signs of food spoilage and mold include pink, orange, or green colors, white fuzzy spots, or sometimes areas that are darker with white areas on top. If you see any of these signs, I would recommend throwing your starter away and creating a new one.
How do I know if my yeast starter is good? ›
In the starter, you should notice some activity like the yeast colonies moving around/floating up and down, maybe some CO2 bubbles and the associated sulphur smell, the amount of sediment/yeast should increase, and the gravity of the solution should go down - All the same things that happen in a larger wort volume.
What consistency should bread starter be? ›
When starting to build your starter you can leave it a bit thinner but once you start making bread you will want it THICK, You want your sourdough starter to be the consistency of thick pancake batter. if it's too thin add a scoop of flour. If it is too thick add water to find the right consistency.
