11:17 am - 33 degrees outside - blue sky, sunshine, 3-4" of snow on the ground...
Who can make the better bread
starter...? That is the current question right now in our house.
I want to make sure that our
kids know how to cook, so they pretty much have free reign to experiment in the
kitchen – as long as they clean up after themselves! Our daughter has been on a
sourdough bread kick lately, and that somehow got turned into a challenge of
who could make the better bread starter.
Caitlyn chose a sourdough
starter that she found on the Homestead and Chill blog - recipe posted on
Starter Dough Bake Off – Part 1 – Sourdough Starter {click here}. Caitlyn chose
this starter recipe because it had good reviews.
I chose an Amish friendship
bread starter that I found on The Benson Street blog – recipe posted below. I
chose this starter recipe because I’ve made Amish friendship bread ages ago and
once you have the starter you can add in different flavors to switch it up.
In 10 days, we will be turning
our starter doughs into bread and have a blind taste test where the guys will
decide which starter is the winner!
 |
| Caitlyn's starter is on the left, and my starter is on the right. |
AMISH FRIENDSHIP BREAD STARTER
by The
Benson Street
Bread Batter Start: Mix 1 cup
flour, 1 cup milk, and 1 cup sugar in a gallon sized plastic Ziploc bag.
Do not use a metal spoon or
bowl for mixing. Do not refrigerate. If air gets into the bag, let it out. It
is normal for the batter to rise, bubble and ferment.
Day 1: This is the day you either make your bread
starter (1 cup milk, 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, mixed and stored in a gallon Ziploc
bag) or you receive bread starter from someone in which case, you do nothing
with it other plan place it on your counter.
Day 2: Mush the bag.
Day 3: Mush the bag.
Day 4: Mush the bag.
Day 5: Mush the bag.
Day 6: Add 1 cup flour, 1 cup milk, and 1 cup sugar
to the bag and mush it thoroughly together.
Day 7: Mush the bag.
Day 8: Mush the bag.
Day 9: Mush the bag.
Day 10: Pour starter mix into a large bowl and add 1
cup flour, 1 cup milk, and 1 cup sugar. Stir and put 1 cup of starter into four
separate gallon sized Ziploc bags. Keep one for yourself and give the other
starter bags to friends. If you want to make
Amish Friendship Bread once, you’re done. But if you want to be able to bake it
whenever you’d like, save an extra bag for yourself and either toss it into the
freezer until ready to use or start the process all over again, treating Day 10
as Day 1. The starter tastes better over time, so rather than making it fresh
whenever you want some Amish Friendship Bread, consider keeping a bag on hand.
And now its time to bake it!
There are so many uses for the starter, and here is just one of them:
Amish Friendship Monkey Bread
Dough:
1 cup Amish Friendship Bread
starter
2 cups self-rising flour
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons sugar
1 egg
½ cup shortening
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
Gooey Cinnamon Mixture:
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup butter
2 tablespoons cinnamon
Dry Cinnamon-Sugar Mixture:
1 cup white sugar
3 teaspoons cinnamon
Directions:
1. In a large mixing
bowl, combine starter, flour and milk. Mix well.
2. Set aside at room
temperature overnight.
3. The next day,
preheat oven to 350° F (175° C).
4. Stir the starter
mixture and add the remaining dough ingredients.
5. Pour onto a
well-floured surface.
6. Knead until dough
is elastic but no longer sticky. Add flour as necessary but be careful not to
over knead as it will make the dough tough.
7. Shape dough into a
large ball and let it rest while making the gooey cinnamon mixture.
8. Add the gooey
cinnamon mixture ingredients into a sauce pan and cook over medium heat until
sugar has dissolved.
9. Grease or spray
Bundt pan, then pour a thin layer of the gooey cinnamon mixture to the bottom.
10. The dough is ready if you press a finger into it and it
springs back. Pull apart about 40 dough balls, approximately 1¼" in
diameter. For an extra cinnamon-y hit, roll each ball in the dry cinnamon-sugar
mixture.
11. Layer the dough balls to the pan and pour the remaining
gooey cinnamon mixture on top.
12. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown and
bubbly on top.
13. Allow to cool for 5 minutes.
14. Take a plate and place it upside down over Bundt pan.
Flip right side up onto plate. If desired, use a vanilla drizzle on top before
serving.
15. ENJOY!
