Amish Friendship Bread
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Amish Friendship Bread (along with Amish Cinnamon Bread) is the chain letter of the baking world. The idea is very simple: a friend gives you a cup of yeast culture (also known as "starter") and a copy of instructions. Following the instructions, you add sugar, flour and milk and it rises. Eventually, you end up with 4 cups of the starter. You use one to make bread (the instructions provide you with a recipe), keep one to start a new cycle and give two to your friends. Each of your friends also gets a copy of the instructions for what to do with the yeast starter. The latter part makes it somewhat like a chain letter. Of course, Amish Friendship Bread does not come with any promises of riches for those who spread it on or curses for those who don't.
The first time "Amish Friendship Bread" was discussed on Usenet was in a posting (http://groups-beta.google.com/group/rec.food.cooking/msg/3db8b5a3c3a495a7?hl=en) on Feb 5 1990. It was an experiment by Girl Scout Troop 15, c/o Emilie Manning in Oswego, NY and was posted by Patrick Salsbury.
Bread made following the traditional Amish Friendship Bread recipe is sweet and tastes more like a cake. You can use the starter to make lots of different types of bread.
See Also
External link
- An online version of the Amish Friendship bread instructions: http://www.freewisdom.org/wiki/AmishBreadHowto
- Early online posting (http://groups-beta.google.com/group/rec.food.cooking/msg/3db8b5a3c3a495a7?hl=en) - the first on Usenet, February 5 1990