A light, white and airy sourdough Amish Friendship Bread variation that’s perfect for sandwiches and French toast.
I love it when members of the Friendship Bread Kitchen community submit Amish Friendship Bread recipes that have been created and tested in their own homes. This basic white Amish Friendship Bread variation was submitted by Carol Gage of Shirley, Massachusetts, who also shared her beautiful photo. We had a chance to communicate by email several times, and I love how much energy and joy she brings to the making of this and other Amish Friendship Breads.
This sourdough/savory bread variation with just a hint of sweetness turned out white, light and airy. It’s perfect for sandwiches and toast on chilly mornings. Carol also recommends turning it into French toast on weekends, which I think sounds absolutely heavenly. Also on my list is making it into a grilled cheese with a cup of creamy tomato soup on the side.
Kitchen Friend Melissa Hale, from Springfield, Missouri adds: “I just pulled my third loaf of this bread out of the oven! It is now our go-to sandwich bread. My 3-year old loves it for his peanut butter sandwiches!”
If you’re looking for a really good loaf pan for these more traditional loaves, we like this one by Oxo. It has a cool micro-texture pattern on the bottom to help with even baking and air flow (no more sticky pockets), plus it has these cool square-rolled edges. It’s super heavy duty, dishwasher safe, and bread slides out easily. It’s our go-to pan in the Friendship Bread Kitchen. If you grab one via this link, we’ll get a small referral fee which helps us keep the Kitchen going.
Basic White Amish Friendship Bread
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ ounce package active dry yeast (2¼ teaspoons)
- ¼ teaspoon granulated sugar
- ½ cup warm water 105-110° F
- 1 cup Amish Friendship Bread starter
- ½ cup warm milk 105-110° F
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2¾ to 3¼ cups bread flour
Instructions
- In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast and ¼ teaspoon sugar in the warm water. Set aside until foamy, about 10 minutes.
- In a large bowl, combine yeast mixture, starter, milk, kosher salt, oil and 2 cups of the bread flour. Stir with a wooden spoon until well combined. Add enough of the remaining flour to form a soft dough that pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Add flour if needed.
- Grease a large bowl and place the dough in it, turning the dough to grease all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1½ to 2 hours, depending on how warm it is in your kitchen.
- Grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan.
- Gently punch down the dough and turn it out onto a lightly-floured surface. Pat the dough into a rectangular shape. Fold one short end (⅓) of the dough toward the center and gently press the seam with the side of your hand. Repeat with the other ⅓ of the dough, bringing it to the center and pressing as before. Fold the dough in half and lightly press the edges together to seal the seam, then press each end of the dough to seal the ends and tuck them under.
- Transfer the dough to the prepared pan and gently press down the dough with your hand to make it even all the way across. Cover the pan lightly with plastic wrap and let the dough rise until it is slightly above the rim of the pan, about 30-45 minutes. Don’t let it rise beyond 1″ of the edge or it will collapse when it bakes.
- When the dough is almost to the top edge of the loaf pan, preheat the oven to 350° F (176° C).
- Remove plastic wrap and bake for 35-40 minutes or until the bread is light golden brown and the bottom sounds hollow when tapped.
- If a soft top crust is desired, lightly brush the top crust with a little melted butter.
- Turn the bread out of the pan and place on a wire rack to cool for least 30 minutes before slicing. Makes 1 (9×5-inch) loaf.
- ENJOY!
Notes
>> Have you tried this recipe? Share your best pic with us or leave a comment below and let us know how it worked for you!
This recipe made a beautiful, tall loaf just like the picture. We loved it. But my husband and I are both diabetic, so I was afraid to eat a whole slice. So I baked the next batch in two 8”x4” loaf pans and they were great! Not as high as the single 9”x5” loaf, but still two nice full loaves, much easier to eat less of on our diets.
Can I substitute sugar for honey in my starter?
What is the point of starter when all these recipes also contain either a package of yeast or baking powder.
Hello, did u get a reply on this? Because I was wondering the same thing.
Would this bread dough freeze well? I typically buy frozen bread dough to have on hand, but would love to make it myself. Do you freeze it after the 1st rise and shaping (step 6) or at the point right before the oven?
Great recipe! Altho I don’t have kosher salt and use table salt. I cut the salt in half and use about 1.5 teaspoons which turns out good, you could probably use 2 teaspoons of table salt I think but not 1 tablespoon. Nice recipe and quick to make vs the overnight recipes.
I will be attempting this delicious bread Monday 12/4 Gluten-free though my Gluten-free Amish Friendship starter is definitely fermenting well had to release air 4 times today and it’s ready Monday 😉 wish me luck
FANTASTIC recipe! This is an absolute keeper! I made a double batch and substituted 2 cups whole wheat flour for white, using the rest all white. I also used 1 Tbps table salt (I didn’t have kosher salt on hand) for the double batch as table salt is twice as potent as kosher. It turned out perfect! So soft and fluffy and absolutely delicious!
I’ve been looking for a single loaf recipe I can make for a daily use bread …simple, tasty, good texture and slices well. Thus loaf has it all! And…it uses a good amount of starter !
I have a silly question…when doing the folding I get the folding from the top 1/3 and the bottom a 1/3 up, but then the recipe says fold in have. Am I folding either from the top or bottom OR am i folding from the side (like closing a book). I have tried it both ways but just wanted clarification. The last time I made it I add a handful of shredded cheddar cheese to the dough while kneading and it was delicious toasted and dipped in tomato soup.
I have starter in my freezer. Do I need to thaw it at room temperature before using in this recipe. Thanks.
It delicious, but I’ve had to cut it in half to cook it. It’s way to thick.
Doubled the recipe, used part WW flour and a stand mixer and it turned out beautifully! A really nice loaf of bread!
Hi Laurel! Thanks for sharing. We’re so glad you loved the recipe! ❤️
My husband and I are definitely doing something wrong, because our dough is not rising. We’ve made it twice now, and it didn’t rise either time. I’m not sure what’s going on. Yes, our yeast is good. Other than that I don’t know what to do. Any advice?
Hi Jordan! That’s such a disappointment when your bread doesn’t turn out how you want it to. This page should help you troubleshoot possible issues for your dough not rising: https://www.friendshipbreadkitchen.com/faq-bread-dough-didnt-rise-starter/
I make this bread and absolutely love it! Is there anyway to convert this recipe to be used in a bread machine?
Hi Erica! We haven’t tried to make this recipe in a bread machine before, so you’d have to experiment, but we’d love to know how it goes if you try!
I made this dough in a zojirushi bread machine on the quick dough cycle, then took out and shaped and baked in my oven and it turned out great.
Did you make any changes when making the dough in your bread machine?
This was good and pretty easy. I followed the recipe exactly. I will definitely make this again. I did wait about 24 hrs after feeding my starter on day 6 (couldn’t wait until day 10) and my starter was going nuts.
We love to hear this, Julie! So glad the recipe worked out for you. ❤️
I’ve baked 3 loaves of this sandwich bread and my husband has thoroughly enjoyed it (I don’t eat bread so I can only go by his rave reviews :-).) Anyway, I keep meaning to ask if anyone can give me a reason that both commercial yeast AND AFB starter are used in this loaf. Why not just the AFB starter? Just curious. I understand why commercial yeast is used when beginning a starter from scratch. Hope I’ll see a response from someone.
Hi Denise! Some of the recipes on the site that require a high rise use yeast in addition to the starter, which isn’t uncommon for some sourdough sites, including King Arthur Flour (this is a great recipe, if you haven’t tried it yet: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/buttery-sourdough-buns-recipe). The No Knead sourdough bread and Irish soda bread are two that don’t use additional yeast, and most of the cakes, cookies, brownies, and other recipes use just the starter. Here’s a great discussion on why/why not to use additional yeast to recipes that also call for a starter: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/6543/why-yeast-added-when-making-sourdough-recipe. 🙂 Hope this helps!
Can u turn this white bread recipe into rasin bread is it sweet enough
Hi Cheryl! Because this bread is more of a sandwich, all-purpose loaf, it’s definitely less sweet than some of the other recipes on the site. However, the starter itself does give it a slightly sweeter taste. So if you like a lightly sweet raisin bread, we’d say go for it. However, if you like your raisin bread sweeter, than you might even want to try experimenting with the original Amish Friendship Bread: https://www.friendshipbreadkitchen.com/recipe-amish-friendship-bread/
Let us know if you have any other questions!
Do you have the nutritional information that you can share? And what amount you consider a serving per gram or ounce? Thank you so very much.
Here is the nutritional value of the whole loaf: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
You can divide by however many slices of bread you usually cut your loaf into. Let us know if you have any other questions!
I’m dying to try this version of afb! Maybe this weekend. Can’t wait!
Let us know how it goes when you try, Lynda!
Rebekah, I can’t remember if I made this loaf back in May of 21, but I have a batch, for the first rise and can’t wait to bake it. My dough seemed wet and looks like a lot for one pan, but I am going to finish following your recipe. THE NEXT PART IS MY FAVORITE: THE FOLDING. LOL.
So, I did end up using two loaf pans. Otherwise I followed the recipe, and I am very impressed with how they came out. This is def’ a keeper!. I make traditional sourdough but I wanted a sanwhich loaf, and this fits thd bill perfectly.I usually make “quick breads” w/ my afb starter. This recipe is a game changer. Thank you!
I made this bread today and it looked beautiful. I cut into it and the first two pieces were perfect, but then the inside was hollow and resembled the way that I folded the dough before putting it into the pan, and it was still raw. Any advice??
Hi Alexis! I’m sorry that happened to you. That’s always a disappointment. The first thing that we think of when there is large hollow areas in your bread is the possibility that the bread rose too fast. This usually happens if your kitchen is too warm (the recommended heat is from 78-85 degrees). Another possible issue is that there were air pockets in the dough when you did the folding.
As far as the rawness, one possibility was that your oven was too hot (some ovens are running a different temperature than they are reading, so it’s helpful to have a temperature gauge in your over to be sure). I would try turning the temperature down 25 degrees and baking it for longer. Did you let it sit and cool for 1/2 an hour, as well?
Let us know if we can help out with anything else, Alexis! ❤️
Hi! Thanks for the recipes!
My husband made this bread while I made an apple vs. Of the original. They are both very tasty, except his seems to be quite salty.
We are using oat milk, and I believe he used instant yeast. We substituted coarse pickling salt for the kosher salt. The bread came out a bit dense, a bit salty, but delicious. The flavor reminds me of large pretzles, however we are going to cut the salt by at least 1/4 next time. Is there a huge difference in salt? Also, were we supposed to feed the starter for day 10, then separate it to use for this recipe immediately, or take some starter out to use first?
Thanks.
Hi Megan! We don’t think the salt substitute should make that much of a difference, but yes, definitely tweak the recipe to your liking! On day ten, you should feed your starter first, take out your cup you’re going to bake with, and then either freeze or keep the rest going. Let us know if you have any more questions!
Thanks!
I tried it again in a breadmaker. Cut the salt by half. Used 3 cups of flour. And switched it to a ‘sandwhich bread’ setting. It turned out beautiful, rose nice and high, and is delicious 😁. I will definitely be making it again.
Thank for sharing, Megan! That sounds delicious!
Active dry yeast vs instant yeast? Is there a difference in this recipe? I used instant, as it is all I had. Looked good during risings, but been cooking for 60 minutes and the inside is still gooey-ish. Also, should probably mention family members with celiac, so gluten free all purpose flour may be to blame?
Using instant yeast shouldn’t make that much of a difference in this recipe (here’s a post on the different types of yeast: https://www.friendshipbreadkitchen.com/faq-use-instant-yeast-active-dry-starter/). I am thinking that it probably had something to do with the gluten-free flour. We have found that most GF flours take a longer time to bake with (especially the 1 ingredient flours like Almond or Coconut flours, but also with the blends).
Most perfect dinner rolls EVER!!
So glad this recipe worked for you, Nancy!
CAN I MAKE THIS IN A BREAD MAKER? IF SO HOW?
Great recipe but found your instruction # 9 a hoot – tap bottom of loaf and if it sounds hollow its done. So to test for doneness, I remove it from loaf pan and tap the bottom? Seems like there should be an easier way to test for doneness…
I made this over this weekend. It was absolutely incredible!
Tips:
1. I put the yeast sugar water mixture in my oven with the light on and the door ajar. The rise in the foam was amazing. I used a cereal bowl and it foamed about 3/4 of the way up the bowl.
2. I used my Kitchen Aid Mixer with the dough hook. It was actually rising in the bowl as I mixed it up for about 4 minutes.
3. I found that using my mixer I didn’t have to knead it for 6 to 8 minutes. It was ready to rise in the bowl after about 3 minutes. It was rising as I was kneading it.
4. I covered the bowl with clear wrap and put it in my oven with light on and door ajar. I checked it at 30 minutes and it had risen out of the bowl. Incredible rise!
5. Put it in the pan and into the oven again with the light on and the door ajar. I checked it at 20 minutes and it was ready for baking.
6. Baked it for exactly 35 minutes and it was perfect. I rubbed a stick of butter on the top immediately after taking it out of the oven.
This bread is so delicious. We had it that night with our breakfast for dinner. The next morning I made French Toast with it.
My house is very cool as we live in a hot climate and the AC is on all the time. So using the oven to rise the bread was such a great trick!
Hi Mary-Alice! So glad it worked out for you! Thanks for these helpful tips, too! If you took any pictures of the bread, we’d love to see them, as well! Feel free to post them on our group Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/amishfriendshipbread/
This bread is seriously delicious. I can’t get over how easy it is to put together. The hardest part is the waiting on the rise. I’ve made it several times and it is consistently perfect. My family loves it. I keep saying I’m going to make French toast or cinnamon toast or sandwiches out of it but everyone just cuts a slice and eats it. Before I know it, it’s all gone.
So glad that you (and your family) enjoy this recipe! We love hearing that! If you ever take photos of your bread, we’d love to see it, too! You can post it on our group FB page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/amishfriendshipbread/
Just made this for the first time tonight. I made them into rolls! They were delish! Thank you!
We’re so glad you enjoyed them, Candy! If you took any photos, we’d love to see them! Feel free to post them on our group page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/amishfriendshipbread/
I just made this bread for the third time this week because my grandchildren love it for toast. We are now on our 7th week of “sheltering at home” and we’ve started having afternoon tea every day. This bread is perfect for that. Today, I added 1 cup of old-fashioned oats to it and it is delicious. I keep a cookbook of all their favorite recipes so they will have it when they are adults but I think I’ll keep a separate one and call it “Pandemic Friendship Bread Recipes.”
Can you substitute regular flour for the bread flour? I can’t find any in the stores right now only the white flour. Thank you!
Hi Kari! Yes, regular all-purpose flour will work just fine!
Is there any way to use the starter to make a regular non-sour bread. I hate sourdough breads. They don’t taste like bread, just sour.
Hi Dianna! You’re in luck! Since Amish Friendship Bread starter is sweeter than regular sourdough starter, there’s a slight tang but it’s not noticeable unelss you’re trying to make a sourdough loaf. This recipe, for example, takes like regular white yeast bread. And most of the recipes on the website yield cakes, muffins, cookies, and other treats that don’t have a distinct sour taste. 🙂
Can I make this using my bread machine’s dough cycle then raising and baking in the oven?
What is a trick to cutting up fresh baked bread so it doesn’t cave in?
Waiting until it cools, unfortunately. The structure of the gluten is still pliable when hot/warm and when all the warm air rushes out… it collapses.
This sounds yummy.
I don’t buy bread at the store any more, can’t wait to try this one. Love home made bread
I love baking bread, but I only ever do it once in a great, great, great while. Next time I’m itching to bake some, I will have to try this recipe! Nothing’s better than hot, fresh, homemade bread!
A video showing the fold process in this recipe would be really helpful. I’m a visual learner and I get confused after the 1/3 folds.
Me too! Is thereally a video of this one yet?
Not yet, Amber, but we’ll keep you posted!
My entire family LOVED this! However, my sons don’t want to use it as sandwiche bread bc of the sweetness. Is there any way to make the bread less sweet?
Hi Vania! So glad that your family enjoyed this recipe. Amish Friendship Bread starter is naturally sweet, so all of the recipes do have a certain tang to them. However. If you’re looking for a more savory recipe, however you can check out our Sourdough Tomato Amish Friendship Bread. This recipe uses tomato juice or V8 to counteract the sweetness of the starter. Happy baking!
I use a regular sourdough starter (way less sugar) and the result is a great white bread that still has the flavour.
That’s awesome, Richard. Thanks for sharing!
130/5000
Hello, I have prepared the starter for 10 days, so, am I the recipe without the yeast proposed in this recipe?
You’ll need to follow the recipe which includes the addition of yeast — the starter helps with flavor and does contain some yeast but this recipe works best with the additional yeast.
Yeast is not available at this time I do Luckily have a great starter but need a basic white bread recipe that does not need yeast any suggestions ?
Hi Amy! We have a few bread recipes on the site that don’t require yeast if you have a great starter (just be sure to use it the day after you’ve fed it or when you see good bubbly activity). The one that comes to mind is Irish Soda bread recipe (https://www.friendshipbreadkitchen.com/irish-soda-amish-friendship-bread-recipe/). There’s a Sourdough Tomato AFB here: https://www.friendshipbreadkitchen.com/sourdough-tomato-afb/.
There’s also the potato flake bread and rolls (which uses a potato flake starter instead of the regular AFB starter, but you could try it: https://www.friendshipbreadkitchen.com/potato-flake-amish-friendship-bread/).
I hope one of these works out for you! Just remember to be patient with the rise time, especially if you have a cool kitchen — you’ll want to get it as warm as you can to help with the rise. Good luck!
Bonjour, j’ ai préparé le démarreur sur 10 jours, donc, est ce que je suis la recette sans la levure proposée dans cette recette ?
Hello, I have prepared the starter for 10 days, so, am I the recipe without the yeast proposed in this recipe ?
Hello Rosie! This particular recipe requires extra yeast because it needs time to rise. Our other bread recipes are different and do not require extra yeast. They do not require extra yeast, but for Basic White Amish Friendship Bread, you should prepare the starter for ten days and add the extra yeast proposed in the recipe.
Can I follow directions and use a bread machine with this recipe
Hi Mary! We haven’t tired to make this particular recipe in a bread machine. We do have a bread machine Amish Friendship Bread variation here. If you’re familiar with your bread machine and have made recipes like this one which require rest time and kneading, then it’s certainly worth a try! If you do try this recipe in the bread machine and it turns out well, we would love to see photos of your Amish Friendship Bread creations. You can submit photos here. Happy baking!
Could we freeze the dough? If so, at what point of the procedure? Should I let it rise (the second time) before freezing it. Or should I freeze it then after it is room temperature, knead again and give it enough time to rise again before baking?
My family loves this bread! I made rolls out of it this time. I tried to make hamburger buns, but I find the dough to be really sticky and hard to shape. I feel I waste a lot of dough this way. Is it supposed to be really sticky? I’m wondering if I’m doing something wrong?
Just keep adding bread flour until it forms a nice dough ball. The recipe says it will pull away from the sides of the bowl so I kept adding flour until it did that. Turned out great!!
Great tip, Julie! So glad it turned out well for you!
Way too thick/dense I’m not sure if I messed something up (as I doubled the recipe) or if it’s just not my favorite recipe but I will be trying a new recipe next time?
Hi Lydia! I’m not sure what happened — this recipe has been tested several times and has always worked well. Doubling the recipe can cause problems with measuring inaccuracies and ingredients not being fully incorporated. You also have to make sure your starter is well-fed and active. Hope this helps!
Tried this last week in Denver (high altitude) and when it looked perfect, I took it out. Still really doughy in the middle, but the edges were so awesome I had to try again. So I am about to pop in another loaf, and tried extra flour/liquid, higher temp, as per high altitude recommendations. Fingers crossed! Anybody have a tried and true altitude adjustment for this recipe?
Hi Catherine! Our recipes are tested pretty much at sea level, so I’m not sure how to advise specifically for your altitude. I did find this:
https://www.sourdoughhome.com/index.php?content=altitude
which talks about Colorado specifically. Hope this helps and please post any updates!
HIGH ALTITUDE ADJUSTMENTS
So I live up in Estes Park CO, which is still higher than Denver. Town is at 7400 and my house is 7900. Denver is just under 5000. I have made modifications and a few loaves that have come out fantastic. I used the high altitude adjustments that are listed on King Arthur’s website (https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/high-altitude-baking.html) as the starting point for adjustments. The whole warm kitchen thing has been pretty key and a lesson for me to prepare for winter in my colder house. (I’ll run the pellet stove and likely put the dough on it to rise)
Bake the loaf at increased temp 370 or 375 and it will bake for 35 minutes.
Add 1/2 cup of flour to base 2 cups.
Add 1/8 tsp of salt (and honestly 1/4 tsp up here is tasting pretty good)
Add 2 tbsp of milk to the base amount of milk.
This next step allows the dough to stay fluffy inside and not so dense. After the first punch down, let it rise a second time, punch it. Then do the last kneading with shaping.
I lived in NC when my mom made bread. We were at 600 ft elevation and enough humidity to omit liquid!!! So baking here was off-putting. The K.A. adjustments have made things a lot more fun.
I made this today and plan to make another loaf tomorrow to give to a neighbor. It is wonderful.
Easy enough to not take up all day or make a mess that takes all day to clean up, but interactive enough to feel like it is making bread. I love to knead it. Have to work on my fold, seal, put it in the pan skills, though.
Best bread I’ve ever made or tasted..I’ve had many failed attempts but this turned out awesome.The loaf was half eaten before super…thank you for sharing this great recipe.
Thanks for the great feedback, Bobbie! 🙂
This recipe is great! It has now replaced store-bought bread in our house. My 3-year old loves it, and has a slice almost everyday. 🙂
That’s great, Melissa! So glad you both enjoy it. We’d love to see a picture of your bread. Here’s the link to submit your photo: https://www.friendshipbreadkitchen.com/recipe-box/submit-photo/. Thank you so much for being a part of the Friendship Bread Kitchen!
I would love to make this for my husband and my son.
The recipe doesn’t say when to add step #1, the yeast, water and sugar.
Hi Susan-I’m sorry for the omission. Add the yeast mixture in step #2 to the starter, milk, kosher salt, oil and 2 cups of the bread flour.
Carol
Updated! Thank you Susan and Carol!
How do I get the starter or how do I start a starter?
Hi Sylvia! You can make your own Amish Friendship Bread Starter using our recipe. You can find our recipe here!