Recently I received a starter for Amish Friendship Bread from a church friend. It has been years since I’ve made this bread, so I was pretty excited! This bread is known for being super good and also, like most delicious foods, super high in calories. For those days I don’t want to splurge a ton of calories on bread, I decided to try an altered version of this recipe. Even with less sugar and more whole wheat flour, it’s still super yummy and not nearly as calorie consuming. It also produces less starters–only two!

Lighter Amish Friendship Bread (Bakes two medium loaves)

• Do NOT use any type of metal spoon or bowl for mixing
• Do NOT refrigerate
• If air gets in the bag, let it out
• It is normal for the batter to rise, bubble and ferment

Ingredients

• Starter from a friend
• 2 cups low-fat milk
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 cups white flour
• 1 2/3 cups sugar
• 2 boxes of instant vanilla pudding or 2 cups of shredded zucchini
• 3 eggs
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt

Directions

• Day 1: Do nothing
• Day 2: Squish the bag
• Day 3: Squish the bag
• Day 4: Squish the bag
• Day 5: Squish the bag
• Day 6: Squish the bag
• Day 7: Squish the bag
• Day 8: Squish the bag
• Day 9: Squish the bag
• Day 10: Follow the instructions…
  • Pour the entire contents of the bag into a non-metal bowl
  • Add 1 cup white + 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk
  • Mix and divide 1 cup batter each into 2 gallon zip-top bags. (These are your two new starters.) This should not be passed onto a friend on the first day. Be certain to mark the date on the bag itself starting with “Day 0” when it is made.
  • Preheat the oven to 325 degrees
  • To the remaining batter in the bowladd:
    • 3 eggs
    • 1/3 cup canola oil
    • 1 cup low-fat milk
    • 2/3 cup sugar
    • 2 tsp. cinnamon
    • 1/2 tsp. vanilla
    • 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
    • 1/2 tsp. baking soda
    • 1/2 tsp. salt
    • 1 cup white flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour
    • 2 boxes of instant vanilla pudding (what I used for this round of the recipe) or 2 cups of shredded zucchini
    • Grease and flour two medium loaf pans
    • Sprinkle 1 Tbs. sugar + 1 tsp. cinnamon on top of both loaves of batter
    • Bake for 55 minutes to 1 hour. Cool until the bread loosens from the pan evenly (about 10 minutes). Turn out onto serving dish. Serve warm or cold.

I gave away one starter from this recipe and keep another for myself. It’s great for breakfast or a snack! 🙂