Good Things Take Time

This is Amish Friendship Bread. It takes a long time to make. And by "long time," I mean "ten days." The idea is, you receive starter batter from a friend (in this case, TG's mom); it's made from milk, flour, and sugar. It sits on the counter for a few days, unrefrigerated, and all you do is stir it (mine was in a ziploc bag). After a few days you add more milk, flour, and sugar, and it starts to actually bubble. I guess there's chemical reactions going on that can't happen in the fridge. The bag gets full of air (gas?) and you have to let it out every day. From the smell, which is not unpleasant, it seems to turn into something related to yogurt.

On the tenth day, you add more stuff (the Amish call everything "stuff"), and then dish out three cups of batter in containers to give to others to start (hence the "friendship" part). The rest gets eggs, flour, sugar, vanilla pudding, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt, all mixed together, and baked. You can add in different things like fruit and chocolate chips - streusel on top would be great, as the final product is similiar to coffee cake: sweet and moist. I chose chocolate chip and plain. These were really good...I was pretty skeptical at first, what with the non-refrigeration and all. But with the time it takes to wait for it, I'm not sure I would make it again unless someone gives me starter again. I'm more of an instant gratification type of girl, you know?