A delicious Amish Friendship Bread recipe covered in a cinnamon sugar mix. The recipe includes the starter so you can share it with friends!
I love breakfast breads! My Sour Cream Banana Bread recipe gets amazing reviews. So moist and flavorful. Or try this Copycat Starbucks Lemon Loaf for a burst of citrus flavor!
The Best Amish Friendship Bread
Have you ever shared a bread starter with a friend?
This Amish Bread recipe is based on a tradition of passing a bread starter (a living yeast mix that provides the leavening) from person to person.
That’s how it gets the name “Friendship Bread“. You make a batch of delicious Amish bread then pass the starter along to the next one in line.
I’ve been baking versions of this Friendship Bread for as long as I can remember. It quite possibly may have been the first homemade bread I ever baked!
Eaten fresh from the oven or toasted and slathered with butter, a slice of Friendship Bread tastes like love.
I didn’t even tell you about my favorite part of Amish Friendship Bread yet: the cinnamon crust.
The crust is a thick, crunchy cinnamon sugar, especially if you coat it generously before baking.
Making your own bread starter is super easy, so don’t be intimidated! With this bread, you can mix up the starter batter and use it in the bread right away or set it aside for later.
FAVORITE BREADS: Snickerdoodle Banana Bread | Zucchini Bread
How to Make Friendship Bread Starter
To do this, dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup hot water. Add 1 1/2 cup hot water, 1 cup milk, 1 cup flour and 1 cup sugar. Mix until blended. Use whisk if needed.
You now have enough batter for 4 portions.
Transfer 1 cup sized portions of the batter to THREE individual gallon size freezer bags and set aside.
With the fourth remaining starter batch, prepare the Amish bread.
PRO TIP: Don’t want to give away the starters? You can use each of the 1 cup portions immediately to make a total of 8 loaves of bread, which are perfect for freezing.
Ingredients Needed
Add these ingredients to the bowl with your starter for bread and mix to combine:
- Eggs
- Milk
- Oil
- Flour
- Baking soda and baking powder
- Instant Vanilla Pudding Mix
You’ll have a thick and lumpy batter.
Bake the Friendship Bread
Combine sugar and cinnamon to make the topping.
Grease two loaf pans generously, After greasing the pan, sprinkle with a cinnamon-sugar mix.
Divide batter between two pans then generously top each battered pan with remaining cinnamon sugar mixture.
This is what provides a nice crunchy cinnamon layer on the bread so be generous here!
Bake in a 325 degree oven for about one hour. Cool about ten minutes in pan, then remove to cooling racks. Delicious served hot or cold, with butter! Enjoy.
Storage
This is one of my favorite loafs of bread to freeze! I’ll often make multiple loaves at once so we always have some stocked in the freezer.
When eaten fresh, this bread is best within a day or two. When eaten fresh, this bread is best within a day or two. Store in airtight container at room temperature.
Leftovers are also amazing toasted (in the oven or toaster) or used in Berry French Toast Casserole.
How to Use Starter for Bread
You know those three ziplog baggies full of good starter for bread you have leftover? You will use them indefinitely to keep making more and more bread!
Follow these directions yourself OR write the directions on a note card to deliver with the bag of starter you give to a friend.
Aimee’s Tip
Be sure to write these directions ON the ziploc bag.
- DAY 1: This is the day you make starter or receive bag! Do nothing.
- DAY 2- Day 5: Mush the bag with your hands to keep the yeast moving.
- DAY 6: Add more flour, sugar and milk to the bag.
- DAY 7- DAY 9: Mush bag daily again!
- DAY 10: Bread baking day!
Pour contents of bag in large bowl, add 1 1/2 cup each of flour, sugar and milk. Measure out 1 cup into 3 ziploc bags like you did the first time you made the starter; the cycle keeps repeating.
With remaining batter follow instructions above for making my amish friendship bread recipe.
More Breakfast Recipes
- Beer Bread
- Apple Banana Carrot Bread
- Apple Cider Donuts
- Apple Cinnamon Bread
- Cranberry Orange Bread
- Orange Bread
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Amish Friendship Bread Recipe
Ingredients
For the Starter:
- 1 envelope active dry yeast
- 2 cups warm water
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup whole milk
For the Bread:
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- ⅔ cup whole milk
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 large or two small instant vanilla pudding boxes (not sugar free)
For the topping
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 Tablespoons cinnamon
Instructions
For the Starter:
- To prepare the starter batch, mix yeast with 1/2 cup hot water until yeast is dissolved. Add 1 1/2 cup hot water, 1 cup milk, 1 cup flour and 1 cup sugar. Mix until blended. Use whisk if needed. You now have enough batter for 4 portions.
- In three ziploc gallon sized freezer bags, add 1 cup of batter to each bag. These can be given away or used immediately.
- In your bowl will be a remaining one cup of batter. You can use this immediately following the directions below.
For the Bread:
- Okay, with your 1 cup of batter, add remaining ingredients (except the topping ingredients). Mix. Will be slightly lumpy, that’s okay.
- In two loaf pans, grease generously. I like to grease my pans, lay parchment paper on just the bottom of the pan, then grease again!
- After greasing the pan, sprinkle with a cinnamon-sugar mix. Divide batter between two pans then generously top each battered pan with remaining cinnamon sugar mix. This is what provides a nice crunchy cinnamon layer on the bread, very important!
- Bake in a 325 degree oven for about one hour. Cool about ten minutes in pan, then remove to cooling racks. Delicious served hot or cold (with butter of course)! Enjoy.
- For the remaining 3 bags of batter, follow the instructions in the notes below: (I usually write these on the bag with sharpie)
Notes
Nutrition
Whether you share your bread starter with friends or keep it all to yourself, this Amish Bread recipe is so much fun.
Does it matter what fat percentage the milk is?
Nope! I’ve used skim (fat free) as well as whole. Turns out great!
You didn’t even say how much yeast! Lol
How am i going to make it?
When u talk about adding to the starter u also say add this and this…how much dear? This is annoying!
You must have missed the entire recipe card at the end of the blog post. It’s all there 🙂
Are you using self rising flour ?
Nope. Just all-purpose.
Doesthisgoin the fridge or counter?
Counter.
It’s been a busy week and some how I’ve gotten my days off so I thought today was day 6 but it’s actually day 8!? What do I do!? Do I just add as if it’s day six and continue to mush for four more days or do I add day six stuff and still bake in two days!? Help! Lol
This bread is simply delicious! My kids always look forward to bread-baking day! This is also a great loaf of bread to freeze and give out to friends as a gift.
All purpose flour or self rising?
All purpose.
I am using your recipe this time and have never used one with yeast. Anyway is the starter mixture supposed to be a lliquid like milk almost. Mine is so do I go ahead and separate the starter into bags or did I do something wrong? The only thing I can think of is that I added yeast to a 1/2 c water than added another 1 1/2 c. of water along either the sugar milk and flour. Thanks for any response ASAP ??
Yes, the starter is liquid.
Can you omit the pudding mix or use something else instead?
I used to make Amish Bread years ago and I added Jello in place of pudding on occasion.
Yes u can omit the pudding mix.
I’ve got a starter on day 10 but due to unforeseen circumstances I’m not going to be able to bake it today.
Can I add everything and bake it tomorrow?
Or will I need to make a new starter?
It can go another day no problem!
Thanks for all your tips. I’m confused about the part that you said you wait until you have 8 s starters to make 8 loaves. How do I keep my starters going beyond day 10? Can I just do day 10 but not bake it? And then mush it for 10 more days? Also, what is the best way to freeze this bread so it doesn’t get freezer burnt?
What if you don’t make the bread after 10 days. Does it go bad?
I believe the 4 starters make 8 loaves.
I have no one else that wants the dough,seems to be a big deal getting anyone interested.But,I have more almost ready to cook.What Iam wondering is can I omit the extra stuff and the dividing the dough step and just go right to adding all the stuff ,or number ten?I dont want any more dough.
FYI: you can use just about any flavor of pudding! I have made it with banana, chocolate and pistachio, to make just a few. And you can make hybrid versions by using 2 small packages (chocolate and banana)
When do you add the pudding and 2 cups of flour?
In the first step under “for the bread”
When I don’t have any one to give the starts to on day 10 I pull out one cup to save for my start and make a double batch with the rest right after I feed it and it works great! I tried coconut cream pudding tonight. It was so yummiest! My favorite so far.
Ours was horrible! It was super dark and didn’t cook. Can you clarify the size of the pudding. Large and small don’t help. There are so many sizes.
5.1 oz. Instant vanilla pudding 😋
Thanks Jody!
Thanks so much Jody!
can you put sliced apples or nuts in this?
When you freeze them, do you slice and then just pull out slices and toast them? Or freeze as whole loaf?
I freeze the whole loaf, then thaw on counter before serving.
can I freeze the starter on day 1, take it out later, and start the 10 day process from there, or does the starter need a day to start fermenting before freezing. I have been told I can freeze the starter…
I’ve never tried freezing the starter, so I’m not sure, sorry!
You can freeze the starter and use when you are ready. Just know that when you take it out of the freezer, that is Day 1.
Why can you not use the sugar free pudding mix?? Thanks, been looking for the recipe for a while now.
Thanks so much for the recipe, I had lost mine! Was wanting to make loaves of bread for Christmas gifts! Looking forward to baking again. I used to add bananas, nuts, raisins! Have a wonderful Christmas!