Amish Friendship Bread Starter Recipe & Printable (2024)

FAQs

What is the difference between Amish friendship bread starter and sourdough starter? ›

A Herman starter or Amish Friendship Bread Starter is typically made with milk, flour, sugar and commercial yeast. A sourdough starter is generally made only of flour and water. A Herman starter will be sweeter and more mellow flavored than a sourdough starter.

As fermentation gasses build up in the container , let it out or the bag will go BOOM! It is normal for the batter to rise, bubble, ferment and smell like good beer or alcohol. Smelling like nasty feet is bad and means that your starter died and you need to toss it an start again.

If it's properly cared for, Amish friendship starter can be maintained indefinitely. "It is heartier than most sourdough starters because the sugars in the added milk and sugar give the yeasts extra food to survive, but other things like ambient temperature and contamination could alter your starter," Gee says.

Since it is minimally processed when you compare it with white wheat flours, whole wheat flour is said to be packed with nutrients and potential microbes, providing faster fermentation for a starter.

If you are new to sourdough baking or don't have the time or inclination to make your own starter, a bought starter may be a good option. However, if you enjoy the process of creating your own starter and want more control over the fermentation process, making your own starter may be the way to go.

The original instructions for Amish Friendship Bread states that you should not use metal bowls or utensils. The original reason was because there's a chemical reaction that occurs between the fermenting starter and metal.

Does Amish friendship bread need to be refrigerated? No. After the bread has cooled completely, you can store it like any other baked good in an airtight container at room temperature for several days, or wrap it tightly and freeze it for later.

When the sourdough starter isn't fed often enough or feedings are skipped, it is common for an alcohol odor to develop. Increasing feeding frequency can help; however, if the starter has been neglected for a while, it may require more effort to revive it.

If you didn't discard a portion of your starter each time you feed it, two things would happen: Your starter would grow to an enormous, unmanageable size. Your starter would likely become more and more inhospitable to the bacteria and yeast we want as the mixture would become ever more acidic.

If you bake couple of times a week or once a week, best to move the starter in the fridge. You would then remove it from the fridge for feeding ahead of preparing the dough. Can I leave my starter out overnight after feeding it? Yes, if you have just fed it.

Can you skip a day feeding sourdough starter? ›

Don't worry — everything will be just fine. A sourdough starter is often likened to a pet, but unlike a puppy, if you forget to feed it when you're supposed to, nothing bad will happen. Because even though starters are technically alive, they're incredibly resilient.

And you guessed it..the more starter you use, the faster your dough will ferment - resulting in a less sour loaf. Using less starter in your recipe will help slow down the fermentation process.

Sourdough starter is a live food, it has active yeast and bacteria. If you use too much starter it will consume the sugars and nutrients in the dough mix too fast. If this happens there will be a lack of bubbles that should be there due to fermentation.

According to Elizabeth Coblentz, a member of the Old Order Amish and the author of the syndicated column "The Amish Cook", true Amish friendship bread is "just sourdough bread that is passed around to the sick and needy".

While our business has expanded well beyond St. Louis since then, that same sourdough starter is still used in our iconic sourdough bread and the craft of baking bread fresh each day remains at the heart of Panera Bread.

The starter is a mixture of flour and water that captures wild yeast and bacteria over time, creating a leavening agent for bread. On the other hand, sourdough discard refers to the portion of the starter that is removed and discarded before feeding the remaining starter during regular maintenance.

There is no single best ratio, but I've found a ratio of 1:5:5 fed twice daily at 12-hour intervals to produce a sourdough starter that's strong and healthy. This ratio corresponds to 20% ripe starter carryover, 100% water, and 100% flour (a mix of whole grain rye and white flour) at each feeding.