Amish Cinnamon Bread

Once upon a time, my good friend Linda gave me the starter for Amish bread. Though a rather complicated little recipe, the finished result was absolutely lovely. The only problem was that you ended up with several starters that you needed to give a friend and hope they give one back so you could cook it again later, or you might never taste this delicious bread again! Or you could keep making Amish bread every 10 days, which would be great if we had a bigger family. But between just the two of us, Mike and I started feeling rather Amish after the third batch..

Then I stumbled upon the recipe for the starter in Recipes and Remembrances from the Sanderson Farms Family, a lovely cookbook to benefit the American Cancer Society, given to me for Christmas by my good friend Cindy.

So here you go, the recipe in its entirety, with no mystery starter. It's also very good with raisins, fresh blueberries, dried apricots or cranberries, or your favorite fruit.

Why the Amish are supposed to have ziploc bags, I will never know.

Employee: Jane Dennis
Location: Collins Production

Starter
1 cup self-rising flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup milk

Combine flour, milk, and sugar in a glass bowl.
Stir with a wooden spoon.
Do not refrigerate.
Place mixture in a Ziploc gallon bag.
Let it stand at room temperature for 1 day.

For the following 4 days, with the starter remaining in the Ziploc bag (do not open the bag), kneed and squeeze the dough.

On Day 6, open the bag and add:
1 cup self-rising flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup milk
Squeeze and knead to mix.

Days 7, 8, and 9, squeeze the bag but do not open.

Day 10, add:
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup milk
Squeeze to mix.

Mix is ready to use and makes five loaves of bread. You can separate the starter in to five individual gallon Ziploc bags and freeze for later use or share with friends.

Cinnamon Bread
1 cup starter (from recipe above)
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup canola oil
3 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large box vanilla instant pudding
2 Tablespoons cinnamon
2 cups self-rising flour
1/2 cup milk

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Spray 2 glass bread pans with non-stick cooking oil.
3. Sprinkle sugar/cinnamon mix (2 Tablespoons sugar and teaspoon cinnamon) on bottom of pans.
4. Mix ingredients as listed in order on recipe, stirring well.
5. Pour into prepared pans.
6. Bake at 325 degrees for 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.
7. Sprinkle top with more cinnamon/sugar mix if desired.

Photo courtesy kreativekuisine.