A Friendly Recipe

As I mentioned a couple of days ago, the Herman starter for my version of Amish Friendship bread had reached maturation.  It is a test of one's patience indeed to wait ten days to bake something but ten days it must be!  Why?  I don't know because I can tell you with some degree of certainty that the starter has fermented LONG before the ten days are up.

I have also heard a respectable arguement raised that one can actually make Amish Friendship bread without using the fermented starter.  Personally, I feel that it makes a big difference in the flavor of the finished bread.  If not for the starter, you'd basically be making any other quick bread...zucchini, banana, pumpkin etc. 

While it is certainly easy enough to google Amish Friendship bread and be inundated with 101 variations, a common element of 99% of the online recipes use a box of instant vanilla pudding (or some other equally wretched artificially flavored kind).  Does anyone other than myself find it a bit strange that a traditional Amish recipe uses such a modern food of convenience?

Being highly suspect of the authenticy of said food, I asked a friend to ask her Amish friend about this.  The answer I got was...yes, most in fact do use it and the recipe has included the pudding mix since the late 60's.  I'm quite disillusioned!  My bubble has indeed been burst...LOL!

Luckily, I am in possession of a very old Amish cookbook which does NOT use the pudding mix and it is from this that I base my recipe.  As we all know, baking is not generally as forgiving as cooking but this recipe is one of those rare exceptions.  Aside from not baking the bread long enough, I've found that there isn't much I can do to mess it up.  Therein, I believe is the essense of the starter.  Unless you depart WILDLY from the recipe, the bread still rises perfectly.

As before mentioned, zucchini was the add -in of choice this time.  One 7 inch long (approximately 1 1/2 inch circumference) zucchini yields roughly 2 cups of shredds. 

Let's back up and quickly discuss the starter for a moment though.  If you have nothing and are totally beginning from scratch you will warm 1 cup of whole milk to about 105 but not more than 110 degrees  To this warm milk, stir in one envelope (about 2 1/4 tsp) yeast.  Do not use ANY metal utensils, bowls or other implements when making, stirring or storing your starter.  Allow the yeast to "bloom" for 10 minutes before stirring in 1 cup of granulated sugar and 1 cup all purpose flour.  Cover the bowl and place in an out of the way warm place such as the back of the stove or even in the microwave where it will rest for 4 days.  You will stir it once each day.

On the 5th day, add 1 cup warm milk, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup all purpose flour.  Stir well, return the lid and stir once each day until the 10th day.  On the 10th day, feed the starter as usual.  Reserve 1 cup for preparing your bread.  Divide the remaining starter into 1 cup plastic containers.  Keep one to serve as your next starter and give the rest to friends along with a copy of the recipe or freeze them for another day.

Should you have a starter already, remove 1 cup from the fridge and allow it to stand at room temperature for 5 days, stirring once each day.  Feed on the 6th day.  Rest and stir until day 10 when you will feed, divide and store or give away the extra portions and bake your bread.  It goes without saying that you should begin this process in a large bowl else you'll only be transferring later as the starter grows.

One the 10th day...we bake!  One cup of the starter is sufficient for two loaves of friendship bread.

The basic recipe (as I make it) is as follows:

• 2/3 cup grapeseed oil*  ( I know it is expensive, however I do not buy the whole health hype over canola oil which is NOT a healthy oil despite what you hear...however, if the grapeseed oil is too pricey, canola works just as well).
• 3 large cage free organic eggs
• 1/2 cup pure cane sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup organic whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 cup organic unbleached all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons aluminum free baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

1. Place all the ingredients into the bowl with your one cup of starter and stir vigorously by hand until combined.  Do not use a mixer.  Mixture should be mostly lump-free.
2. Butter and SUGAR (not flour) the insides of two loaf pans.  Divide the mixture evenly between the two pans.  Bake in a preheated 325 degree oven for 45 minutes to an hour.  Prick with toothpick or cake tester to test doneness.
3. Cool in pans for 10 minutes.  Remove from pans and cool on wire racks.  Warning:  Resistence to warm friendship bread slathered with butter is futile...you will be assimilated! 

Now for the add-ins...

To add anything like chopped nuts, raisins, cranberries, zest, chocolate chips, other or extra spices the basic recipe need not change.  The same is true for fresh blueberries.  Simply toss your add in with a bit of ap flour before stirring into the batter.  The flour coating helps to suspend your goodies in the batter and prevent everything from landing on the bottom of the loaf.

For Zucchini or Carrot Cake bread, the same is true.  However, if the weather is extremely humid you may find that an extra egg gives more lift.  I didn't happen to need one for the loaves I just made. 

• Zucchini Walnut = basic recipe + 2 c. shredded zucchini + 1 c. chopped walnuts + 1/2 t. extra cinnamon + 1/2 t. ground mace.  *Dont shred zucchini in food processor...makes it to watery.
• Carrot Nut = basic recipe + 2 c. shredded carrot + 1 c. chopped nuts of choice + 1/2 tsp extra cinnamon + 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• Carrot Cake = basic recipe - 1/3 c. oil + 1 extra egg + 1/2 cup crushed pineapple, drained + 1/2 cup shredded coconut + plus all the rest of the add-ins for Carrot Nut.
• Banana Nut = basic recipe + 2 ripe bananas, pureed + 1/4 c. extra ap flour + 1 c. nuts of choice + 1 tsp. ground cardamom + extra cinnamon + optional 1 cup chocolate chips
• Chocolate or Double Chocolate = basic recipe + 1/2 cup sifted cocoa powder + optional chopped nuts + optional orange zest and for double chocolate + 1 cup chocolate chips or chunks.
• Lemon Blueberry = basic recipe + 2 cups fresh blueberries tossed in 1 T. ap flour + 2 T lemon zest + 1 T. lemon extract
• Lemon Poppyseed = basic recipe + 2 T lemon zest, 2 T. lemon extract + 2 T. poppyseeds + optional lemon glaze made from powdered sugar and lemon juice.
• Orange Cranberry = basic recipe + 3 T. orange juice concentrate, 2 T. orange zest and 1 cup dried cranberries

I could go on indefinately...the combinations are only as limited as your imagination.  A strusel topping can also be added to any of the breads...with or without oats.  I've even made them with a struself layer running through the center.  Instead of two loaf pans, you can bake the bread off in a bundt cake pan for one large, impressive looking loaf that is great for company.  Serve as a dessert or with your morning coffee.  Wrap and refrigerate leftover if there are any.  These loaves will dry out if not wrapped well and...they would mold rather quickly at room temperature because they are so moist.

Enjoy!

Poolside breakfast!

(c)copyright Jill Anderson

The Homegrown Gourmet

Busy, busy, busy....

Fellow foodies...today is shaping up to be an all day food marathon in the Anderson house!  It figures!  This is the first day in 8 or 9 days that it has not rained and here I am, cooking.  Actually, I don't mind as I am yet unable to enjoy the pool due to the crazy glue with which they closed my surgical inscision.  We wouldn't want THAT washing off in the pool!

I'm very enthusiastic about today's endeavours.  For starters (literally), I've been cultivating a Herman starter for my version of Amish Friendship Bread for ten long, long, long days now.  Today is day ten.  I fed it the third ration of milk, flour and sugar this morning and it is bubbling away on the back of my stove under the light from the range hood. 

For those of your who do not know, a Herman starter is a sweet sourdough starter.  I actually started mine with a cup of Lucky (my old friend and faithful companion) to which I added 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup all purpose flour and 1 cup whole milk.  I know, it sounds sick right?  Milk...really??  But trust me, the enzymes in this stuff will kill any fungi jungi and prevent your Herman from turning into bad juju. 

If you don't have any sourdough starter with which to begin, simply mix 1 packet of yeast into 1 cup of 105-110 degree milk and let it stand 10 minutes till it foams and the yeast blooms.  Add 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of milk and begin your arduous 10 day count down.  Do not refrigerate the starter.  Feed it the same formula on the 3, 6th and 10th days.  If you already have a live starter as I did, you only need feed on the 5th and 10th day.  On the 10th day...you bake using 1/4 of the starter which is about a cup.  Keep one portion for your starter and either give the remaining two to friends or freeze them.  You'll need to treat each portion as a new starter and feed on the 5th and 10th day regimen.  I won't go into the specifics of the bread recipe at this time because I'll be posting it later.

So at some point today, my house will be filled with the sweet aroma of baking friendship bread.  I have some zucchini that need using so I have decided that mine will be zucchini spice.  I don't follow the Amish friendship Bread recipe to a tee but mine is obviously an adaptation.  The loaves freeze well also.

In addition to this, I am putting the finishing touches on two contest entries for the tea contest sponsored by Mission:Food  I adore food contests.  It gives me a chance to be creative and since I'm a Sagittarius, it also satisfies my constant need for competition!  I'm giving away NOTHING as to the nature of my recipes though (in case they are a flop).  Various elements for each are either chilling or drying as of this post and I expect to assemble and photograph each after lunch.  I must say, I'm fairly exuberant with anticipation for the outcome!

For Stella at http://thewitchykitchen.blogspot.com/  I made a batch of my Vegan Chickenless Chicken Salad for lunch today so I could photograph it and post the recipe.  I'm noshing on that in whole grain pita pockets with some crisp raw veg on the side.  I have prepared mine with homemade soy-free coconut oil based vegan mayo but you may use a commercially prepared product like Nasoya or Vegannaise if you wish. 

The recipe itself is simple but it takes a little time (and fiddling) to prepare the barley which will become the "chicken". 

You will need:

• 1 1/2 cups dry bulk pearled barley
• 3 cups low sodium vegetable stock
• 1 tablespoon dry poultry seasoning
• 1 medium yellow onion, peeled and halved
• 2 cloves peeled garlic
• 2 large carrots, halved (peeling isn't necessary)
• 2 stalks celery, halved
• optional: bouquet garni of fresh thyme, sage and parsley

*the fresh herbs are optional since you are already using dried poultry seasoning  but I encourage you to use them since nothing adds the fresh herby taste better than fresh herbs!

1. For this stage (which may be done a day ahead) you will bring the broth to a simmer in a 2 quart saucepan with lid.  Add all the ingredients in the above list along with black pepper and kosher salt to taste.  Cover tightly and cook until barley is tender and liquid has been absorbed.  This may be done on the stove top or in the oven. 
2. Remove the vegetables and discard  Fluff the barley with a fork and cool completely before proceeding to make the salad.  This works well done the day ahead.
3. The cooked barley must be ground using either a food processor or an old fashioned meat grinder that attatches to the counter top.  The latter actually provides the best textural results but since most don't have this gadget; a series of pulsing and scraping the sides of the processor will suffice.  You do NOT want a barley paste!  Pieces are fine.  Their chewy texture is what gives the salad the mouthfeel of minced chicken.
4. Place the ground barley in a large bowl and add the following:

• 1 cup or more for extra creamy Vegannaise or see my recipe for homemade soy-free coconut oil mayo.
• 1 cup finely diced celery
• 1/2 cup finely diced bermuda onion
• 1/4 cup finely diced red bell pepper
• 1 cup chopped broccoli slaw
• 3 tablespoons minced Italian parsley
• 1 tablespoon finely minced dill
• 3 tablespoons dill pickle (or sweet if you prefer) relish
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Mix all ingredients thoroughly and chill until ready to serve.  This salad works equally well as a sandwich filling or served in hollowed out tomatoes or lettuce wraps.

the broccoli slaw, when coated with the mayo even looks like shreds of chicken and the barley is indistinguishable.

Well, lunch break is over and its back to the kitchen.  Look for some exciting posts by this evening!

(c) copyright Jill Anderson

The Homegrown Gourmet