the end of the Amish Friendship chain

(Source)

Amish friendship bread. It’s a food chain letter that has made its way into my kitchen at least 6 times in my life—twice in the last 2 years alone. I always accept it, because it doesn’t take a lot of work or ingredients and after 10 days you have a tasty coffee cake. Plus I like to bake.

But, I dread giving it away. I feel like it’s some sort of test of friendship.

Will you be my friend? How about I sweeten the deal with a bag of fermented dough! In 10 days you can make cake out of it. I could have made you a cake myself, but I like my friends to be self-sufficient. So bake it yourself. Then we can be friends forever.

My sister gave me a Ziploc bag of Amish Friendship Bread starter this weekend. Between my love of baking yeast breads and my desire to avoid giving the starter away I decided to use all the starter, unfed, as part of my own bread recipe. What’s more fun than Amish Friendship Bread? Miniature Amish Friendship Hoagies, that’s what!

Aren’t they adorable?

This recipe makes a slightly sweet bread with a soft crust but a dense crumb (a bit like a bagel crumb). It’s perfect for breakfast. Try toasting it with butter and jam.

Amish Friendship Hoagies

Ingredients

10 oz Amish Friendship Dough (all the starter that you got from your friend)
3 oz Durum Semolina
4.25 oz Whole Wheat Flour
4 tsp sugar
1 tsp yeast
1 tsp sea salt
3 oz water
1 oz butter
1 Tbsp oil

Directions

• Combine the flours, sugar, yeast, and salt in a mixing bowl.
• Add the starter, butter, and oil and combine.
• Slowly mix in the water to create a tacky, slightly sticky dough.
• Knead the dough on a floured surface by hand for about 10 minutes, adding more flour if needed.
• Place the dough in an clean, oiled bowl. Cover and let rise at room temperature until double in size.
• Cut the dough into 6 equal pieces with a pastry cutter.
• Form the dough into small hoagies about 4-5 inches in length. (This site has a good description of how to form one)
• Cover and let rise at room temperature for about 2 hours, or until slightly puffed up in size.
• Score the hoagies—make two slits with a knife on top.
• Preheat the oven to 500F. Place an empty baking dish or loaf pan in the oven at this time. This will be used for the water bath.
• If you have a baking stone, place the hoagies on the baking stone (if not, you can use a regular baking sheet) in the oven.
• Pour 1 c. water into the empty baking dish and spray the oven walls with water.
• Close the oven door for 30 seconds.
• Spray the oven doors with water again. Close the oven door and reduce the temperature to 450F.
• Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the bread registers 200F on a thermometer. If they are browning too quickly, cover them with a sheet of aluminum foil.