Amish Friendship Bread

[ostrich]

So DH and I inherited some Amish Friendship Bread mix. This stuff is kinda like a chain letter and a science experiment in a bag. My first thoughts upon seeing it were:

- It looks an awful lot like breast milk.
- There's no way in hell I can eat it.
- Warm milk + lactose + sugar = bacteria heaven = death by explosive diarrhea
- Perhaps it'll evolve into some kind of blob monster and go after the cats.

I think I'd like to continue the experiment and see if it turns out. DH would obviously be the guinea pig. I guess my questions are:

1. The recipe is complicated. It's built so, at the end, you have 4 parts of mix to hand out to other people. I just want to make one loaf for me. Ideas?
2. Do you think subbing out regular flour for the featherlight mix would work? The bread ends up kinda dense...like a sweet coffee cake.
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Ostrich :>--O==={

I lie below, you float above
In the pretty white ships that I am dreaming of

[cruelshoes]

I used to love friendship bread. It is so hilarious to see the way it takes over an office. It gets to the point where people start avoiding you on day 10, because they know there's more starter coming in.

It's not complicated at all - it's really just a simple sourdough. Some says you just squish the bag, and some days you add stuff. You really are going to end up with 3 extras at the end. There's no way around it. If you don't feed the starter it gets all slimy and gross. If you don't want to keep it going, just dump the extra or take it to work to pawn off to another unsuspecting person.

The featherlight mix would probably work, but I would add an extra 1/4 cup or so and xanthan gum when you get to day 10 and bake your bread. You're not going to eat it, right? Even if you use featherlight when you feed/bake it, it will still have the gluten from the original starter.

I found a friendship bread recipe over on the glutenfreeforum a while ago and have been dying to try it. The poster says you can give it to gluten eaters and they can use their gluten flour in it.

Sourdough baking is just fascinating. I have read accounts of pioneers that kept their sourdough mother alive for many years.
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-Colleen
Dx 8/05 via bloodwork/biopsy
10-YO son Dx 11/05 via bloodwork/biopsy
Daughters (12 and 2) have neg. bloodwork

A woman is like a tea bag-you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water. - Eleanor Roosevelt

[ostrich]

Yeah, I was contemplating dumping the extra, but I hate wasting food like that. Ah well. Perhaps I can simply cut the recipe down by 1/4.

And noooo, I won't be touching this batch. The starter used normal flour. Ours isn't an actual kit or anything. It's just a Ziplock bag filled with dubious tan liquid. Once I make the bread the bag's getting thrown out. Then I'll try starting again with GF ingredients. In either case, if I figure it out I'll post the recipe.
_________________
Ostrich :>--O==={

I lie below, you float above
In the pretty white ships that I am dreaming of