Amish Friendship Bread...

So, have you heard of Amish Friendship Bread? It certainly isn't novel; Google lists about 76,300 sites that have references to "Amish", "Friendship", and "Bread". Even Wikipedia is up to speed on this "recent" phenomenon:

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. The sweet, cake-like Amish Cinnamon Bread is a common bread that is made from this starter; it is a simple, stirred quickbread that includes a substantial amount of sugar and vegetable oil, with a mild cinnamon flavor. It has characteristics of both pound cake and coffee cake.

So what is the big deal you ask? Let me tell you. The big deal is that Amish Friendship Bread is WAY good. We've been making it for several weeks (we got our starter from Sara's brother Nick and his wife Jyllian) and we've also been sharing it with relatives and neighbors. Everyone seems to like it. And then, come to find out, there are all sorts of extra "options" that you can mix in. My Mom sent me a bunch of recipe "tweaks" earlier today and I've posted them as a Google Doc so everyone can access them: Amish Friendship Bread Variations.

Interested? Intrigued? Want in on the fun? Let me or Sara know and maybe you will be lucky enough to get a starter from us in one of the next batches. Oh, and Happy New Year everyone!