If you’re ready to dip your toe into sourdough baking, you’ll need to make a starter. Here’s a super easy, no-fail way to start your starter (sometimes called a “lazy” starter), and it takes less than 10 minutes. The trick is to use commercial yeast to kick off the fermentation process.
After a few rounds of feeding, your starter will take on a life of its own and continue to thrive with the sugars in the flour and wild yeasts in the air. You’ll be able to make traditional sourdough bread loaves, or if you want to do some Amish Friendship Bread baking, you can convert a portion of your starter to make an Amish Friendship Bread starter.
Test (or Proof) Your Yeast
If you’re not sure if your yeast is fresh, check out this quick tutorial on how to see if your starter is any good. If it’s good, you can add this yeast mixture directly to the bowl, adjusting the amount of warm water to only 1½ cups since you used ½ cup to test the yeast.
Day 1: Make Your Sourdough Starter
Choose a large mixing bowl or jar that will allow your starter to at least double in size. Some experts recommend triple or even quadruple the size. In other words, make sure there is room for your starter to grow, or you’ll have a mess on your hands!
If you know your yeast is fresh, combine 1½ teaspoons active dry yeast (instant or rapid-rise yeast will also work), 2 cups of warm water, and 2 cups of flour. Stir well until all lumps are removed. This is your Day 1.
Cover loosely with plastic wrap and place in a warm area of your kitchen. You’ll see a lot of activity for the first few hours–your starter should almost double in size and then collapse on itself.
I didn’t use a large enough bowl (obviously!) but since I was nearby, I kept an eye on it. Stir your starter occasionally to make sure everything is well incorporated.
When you stir your starter on this first day, it should be spongy and springy, and reluctant to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
If using a jar or upright container, you can mark or place a rubber band around the level of your starter to help you gauge how much it grows when you’re not looking.
For the next 5 days, stir your starter regularly. If your kitchen is really warm, the yeasts in your starter might eat up all the sugars and need to be fed a day or two earlier. Sourdough baking is a science, and you’ll need to pay attention to your starter to see what it needs. Stay flexible, as everyone’s kitchen environment is a little bit different.
If you notice any hooch in your starter before you hit Day 6, you need to feed your starter sooner rather than later. This will happen if the temperature in your kitchen is warm, or if you have a really hungry starter, LOL. If this is the case, you’ll jump ahead to Day 6.
My kitchen is always 75-85° F year-round, so starters need to be fed really frequently in my kitchen. I’m more the exception than the rule, but here’s what I did: on Day 3, I had a light amount of hooch. Because I want to make sure this starter is hearty, I decided to feed it (you could just stir it back in). I reduced my starter to 1 cup and fed it 1 cup flour and 1 cup water. It got happy and bubbly within the hour. Then on Day 5, hooch again. This time, I just stirred it back in as I’m going to wait until tomorrow (my Day 6) to reduce it to 1 cup, give it a good feed, then stick it in the fridge. This is what I mean about playing it by ear and going with your gut — it’ll take some time to get to know your starter (and your kitchen), but once you do, you’ll be able to make adjustments as necessary.
For more information on how to keep your starter happy, these two posts may come in handy (the same principles apply to traditional sourdough and Amish Friendship Bread starters):
- Maintaining a Healthy Amish Friendship Bread Starter
- How to Get a Bubbly, Active Amish Friendship Bread Starter
Day 6: Stir, Divide, Bake/Discard, Feed, Store
On Day 6, stir your sourdough starter and remove one cup. Place it in a new bowl or container the same size or larger (I recommend a large glass storage jar with a latch lid. Here’s the one we use.). Add 1 cup flour and 1 cup water. Stir well.
Discard or bake with the remaining starter. Most of the cakes, cookies, pancakes/waffles, scones, and sweet bread recipes in my Recipe Box can be made with 1 cup of your discard, though you may want to tinker with the sugar as the recipes work mainly with Amish Friendship Bread starter, which is a sweet sourdough starter. Don’t try a recipe that requires any kind of rise as your discard doesn’t have enough oomph to help with that.
Let the starter sit on your counter overnight. In the morning, stir well and place in the refrigerator. Never seal a starter, it needs to breathe! Cover loosely or latch the cover but don’t seal it tight.
You don’t need to stir your starter daily, though I recommend it if you can. It’s always a good idea to check in with your starter and make sure everything is going well.
Repeat the above steps once a week, allowing the starter to come to room temperature before removing one cup to bake with (or discard), and then leave your starter at room temperature after feeding before returning it to the fridge.
Take a Break From Your Sourdough Starter
If you need to take a break from your starter, you can freeze it after you feed it. Here’s the tutorial for freezing your starter.
Easy Sourdough Starter (Made with Yeast)
Ingredients
- 1½ teaspoons active dry yeast (about half a packet, 0.2 ounces, or 6 grams)
- 2 cups warm water
- 2 cups flour
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl large enough to let your starter double or triple in size, combine all ingredients. Stir well and cover with plastic wrap. This is your Day 1. You should see a lot of activity this first day.
- If you prefer to store your starter in a glass jar, make sure there is enough room for the starter to double or triple in size. Do not seal, but leave room for air to come in and out.
- Place in a warm area of your kitchen.
- For Days 2-6, stir daily, scraping down the sides.
- On Day 6, stir well. Discard or bake with 1 cup. Feed the remaining starter 1 cup flour and 1 cup water. Stir well and let it sit on the counter overnight.
- Stir and place in the refrigerator. You don't need to stir it daily, though I recommend it. Repeat the above step once a week, allowing the starter to come to room temperature before feeding and removing one cup to bake with.
- If you need to take a break from your starter, freeze it after you feed it. Read more about that here: https://www.friendshipbreadkitchen.com/tutorial-storing-amish-friendship-bread-starter-for-future-use/
Notes
- Make sure your yeast is fresh. To proof or test your yeast, combine the yeast with ½ teaspoon sugar and ½ cup of the warm water. Combine and wait 10-15 minutes. It should get bubbly. If you don’t see any bubbles, your yeast is old and shouldn’t be used.
- If your yeast is good, you can use this mixture in place of the yeast in the recipe, and add only 1½ cups warm water in the recipe since you’ve already used ½ a cup in the yeast mixture.
- You can also use instant yeast (also known as rapid rise yeast).
- Use this starter to make any of the traditional sourdough recipes in the Recipe Box.
- Understand how to take care of your starter (the same principles apply to AFB starters and regular starters): Maintaining a Healthy Amish Friendship Bread Starter and How to Get a Bubbly, Active Amish Friendship Bread Starter
- If you notice any hooch in your starter before you hit Day 6, you need to feed your starter sooner rather than later. This will happen if the temperature in your kitchen is warm, or if you have a really hungry starter, LOL. If this is the case, jump ahead to Day 6.
>> Have you tried this? Give the recipe some stars and leave a comment below to let me know how it worked for you!
If you have hooch on day 3, do you just skip entirely to day 6 and that is your last day?
Hi I did ur steps today is day3 and my starter smells like acetone should I feed it or not🤷🏻♀️
hi Rebecca, I am trying your recipe for the sourdough starter for the first time it was doing really well the first day or I should say couple days, but I did get what you called the hooch and I removed it and added the cup of flour and water a.k.a. skipped to step six but I was wondering, is the starter supposed to be kind of loose? Is it supposed to be really sick or what is it supposed to do? I’ve never done this before.🤷♀️😵💫
how much time and to what degree do we bake it?
Made this starter,on friday,it doubled over night,by sat evening it was back down but still bubbly,Sunday ( today) hasn’t done any rising but bubbly,and sticky,and saw a little liquid but not much.i usually keep my starter out on the counter.do you have to refrigerate it after six days?And if left on counter do you have to remove one cup add one cup flour and water daily? Or can you remove smaller amount and add smaller amount each day you feed it till you use it?Also some recipes to make sour dough bread seem like takes a long time to make can it be made like reg bread? Don’t have that kind of basket to let rise in or Dutch oven to bake in.
Thank you
If I use use my starter once a week and I leave my sour dough starter on the counter, how often should I feed it?
Can I determine this by the hooch that forms? I feel like I would have a better tasting starter if I don’t refrigerate it.
Thanks Carlos
Worked out great👍
I have made 2 loaves of bread, discard crackers, and have given away 2 starters. One more to give away tomorrow also! Looking forward to trying more recipes
Thanks! Will see in 6 days to see how my STARTER TURNED OUT
I have the brown liquid in my starter on the second day. What should I do?
Haven’t tried it yet. Just making my starter today.
Let us know how it goes, Barbara!
Hello, I’m ready to begin baking a loaf with 1 cup of starter. In the future, am I able to take out more than 1 cup from the discard, so as to make 2 loaves vs 1 loaf of bread?
Hi Robin! Yes, you should be able to take two cups and make two loaves.
Happy baking!
First…I should let you know I’m new to all of this! 🙂 I’ve been using the friendship bread starter for a while with good success, so I thought I’d try the sourdough starter. I mixed it up yesterday and it immediately became active and bubbly and rose beautifully. Shortly after that, it collapsed. This morning, there was quite a bit of ‘hooch’ (watery on top), which I stirred back in. It hasn’t done anything since then. Should I scoop out a cup and add flour and water to it? Should I start over? Am I being impatient? Do I really just not know what I’m doing? LOL! Thanks so much! Love this site!
Hi Kelli! We hope everything went well with your starter! There definitely is an adjustment with the feeding schedule when it comes to sourdough starters, so you will have to feel that out with how your starter reacts in your kitchen. If your starter has hooch, it is a sign to feed it. If you notice any hooch in your starter before you hit Day 6, you need to feed your starter sooner rather than later. This will happen if the temperature in your kitchen is warm, or if you have a really hungry starter, LOL. If this is the case, you’ll jump ahead to Day 6. If it doesn’t develop hooch again, I would wait and feed it in the scheduled time. Let us know if we can answer any more questions for you!
I need a little clarification please – in the blog post about feeding your sourdough starter, you say to remove one cup of starter, discard the rest, and add flour and water to the one cup of saved starter. But in the point-form instructions, it says to discard one cup and add flour and water to the rest of the starter. Which is correct? I’m super excited to start this process but don’t want to mess it up! Thanks!
Starter doubled in size and collapsed as it was supposed to. Today, less than 24 hours I have hooch. The site above says I should see that in 5-6 days. Should I now follow the directions in day 6 and remove 1 cup of starter, add 1 cup water and 1 cup flour again to the 1 cup starter? Kitchen is at 75-80 degrees and I am at 5500 feet elevation.
Hi Jason! If you’re seeing hooch, it usually means your starter is hungry. Every kitchen is different which means every starter grows differently. This may help with how to take care of your hooch issue: https://www.friendshipbreadkitchen.com/faq-what-is-sourdough-starter-hooch/
Would you please clarify the difference between Amish Friendship stater and sour dough starter. It also appears the Amish Fr. bread is kept on the couner and the sourdough is kept in fridge after day 7?
Thank you!
Both can be kept on the counter as long as you feed them regularly — the sourdough starter likes to be fed A LOT which is why I recommend storing it in the fridge once it’s established. They also have a different flavor profile (AFB is much sweeter) and maintenance schedule. They are interchangeable to a certain extent though (more in the direction of a sourdough starter used in an AFB recipe, but not necessarily the other way around). This post might help: https://www.friendshipbreadkitchen.com/faq-substituting-regular-sourdough-starter-in-place-of-amish-friendship-bread-starter/
I would like to be entered into giveaway. I want to make my starter so I can start making bread.
I have an Amish Friendship Starter and I wil be making the traditional bread. I actually make it already and the next time I will make the Double Chocolate bread
I was reminded by a neighbor that when she moved in I gave her an Amish starter that she absolutely loved and it made me realize that was 8 years ago! Way too long since I last made any of my own. When I found your site I got started right away. Looking forward to my first loaf this Wednesday! Hoping to make a pumpkin bread 🙂
I have Amish Friendship starter that a friend dropped over and just made the Amish Friendship bread and kept a starter for myself to make more sweet bread, etc. I had also started a regular sourdough starter to try out baking my own homemade sourdough bread. Love sourdough baked goods!
I usually make sourdough but my 15 year old son reminded me that it’s been too long since I’ve made Amish bread. Thanks for sharing.
I am on round #2 of my AFB starter, but I want to try the lazy starter since I’ve had horrible luck with sourdough starters.
I have a traditional sourdough starter and have made several delicious recipes with it. I’m going to try your snickerdoodles next, they look yummy! Thank you for your recipes.
My sister wanted to make the Amish bread and it’s been a long time since we’ve made this. Thanks for the recipe! One of my friends gave me your website for this.
I am working on an a sourdough starter shortly
My son and I are on our 4th cycle with the starter. Tomorrow we’re going to try foccacia. Plus we just started the potato flake starter (finally found some potato foods at the grocery) — on target to make potato on Friday night. I’ll let you know how they turn out.
My daughter gave me a starter several weeks ago, and I’ve made two different breads and havent’ been dissapointed. Thanks so much for all the helpful hints.
I have an Amish Friendship Bread starter that I put in the freezer and take out during the holidays. This year I pulled it out early to keep myself occupied during the “Safer at Home” orders. But I am out of yeast and wanted to try and make a traditional sourdough starter.
I have been loving your website because it helped me make an Amish friendship bread starter and I’ve been able to make all kinds of things with it. I just made bread in the bread machine with it and will be making scones with it today!
I have an Amish Friendship Bread starter. My 5 year old requested we pull it out of the freezer so we’ve been baking extra these past few weeks! I’d love to try this lazy starter if I win the giveaway!
If this is the comment section to enter your yeast-giveaway contest – I’m in, with doughy-fingers crossed! Since beginning my first adventure in the world of sourdough-starter last Sunday, I have had SO many questions! I’m grateful to have discovered AFB which has been really helpful. I had lots of hooch throughout the starter process. One day I had the bright idea since we are wanting wild yeasts to find their way to our starter, that after a good long rain in the now-cleaner atmosphere, I added some warm rainwater to the starter. ANyway, I am realizing that flour and yeast are difficult to find, so I hope to aquire what I need to further this sourdough journey! I plan to make Rustic Sourdough Bread for my first recipe!
While my family and I are sitting at home during this Covid Pandemic, I just realized I have never made an Amish Friendship bread for my children while they are adults. I made it for them as children which they will say they don’t remember. So, naturally, I am going to make a traditional Amish Bread. I also saw a recipe for Amish White Bread.
At first I could not find Any yeast so I made my own yeast and tried it. I failed the first 2 or three tries. I was not allowed to go to the store because I am at high risk with the corona virus. When I finally got to go with my masks and gloves on I found some yeast. I got some and Finally got a starter that worked.I have made several loaves of bread and it is ate almost immediately. I love your recipes. I would love to try your starter mix. Thank you and Blessings.
I have starter on my counter and a few bags in my freezer. I’ve shared with friends and my adult daughter. Today, I’m making the Double Chocolate Rum AFB with 1 cup of starter!
Oh, and I read the kindle edition of Friendship Bread last week. I really enjoyed the book!
Thanks!
I made an AFB starter with my 9-year-old son as part of a science project when the quarantine started in March. Now its May and every weekend since after Day 10, we bake together. Sometimes even twice a week. He is having a great time taking care of “Doeleen”!
I just read the book and am excited to try and make the bread. We are still in quarantine so it’s a perfect time to try something new.
The kids got bigger and I let my starter go, now I’m trying to choose which one to begin with! I think I will start one good for bread and biscuits!
I have 4 loaves of AFB in the oven as I am typing this. My kids absolutely love it and cannot wait until day 10 when I’m baking! I have the AFB starter going and the sourdough starter. I’m learning by trial and error on the sourdough but I’ll get it figured out. Thank you for this site! I’m pulling recipes and tips from it constantly
I have a friendship bread starter going at this time. I actually took it out of the freezer and will be using it this weekend to make some pistachio bread and some snickerdodle cookies. Thank you for sharing so many wonderful recipes and sstarters!!!
I need me some yeast please!
I love your website! Thank you for all of these yummy recipes. I made my first Amish Friendship bread “Starter” recipe a few weeks ago and later shared it with my sister, friends, and son And his family. I gave them each a mini loaf also and it was loved by all! My started is ready again to bake tomorrow and I’m going for your rustic sour dough and probably snickerdoodles, Then share even more! ❤️🤗
Thanks again, Gigi
I’m on my 2nd batch of friendship bread and I’m making a new starter to share with my family soon (since I’m middle cycle on one now).
OOPS. Well please delete this. I can’t figure out how. I see I had already commented early on. While it’s true that I’m making a starter I didn’t realize that I posted twice.
Baking my very first batch of Original
Amish Friendship Bread today. Made 5 bags of starter as well. Can’t wait to try the sour dough recipe!
I have a friendship bread starter… on day 10 so I’m dividing, and my friendship bread is in the oven! can’t wait to try it and pass it on to my friends!
I have made sooooo many friendship breads, so want to attempt the sourdough starter. There is nothing like homemade bread!
I have friendship starter. I want to start a sourdough starter, but I killed my first one so a little nervous.
I love making cinnamon rolls, pizza crust, crackers, and sweet breads with my friendship starter.
I have both AFB and sourdough starters going 😀
I have a friendship bread starter going and planning to start a sourdough one too!
I just started a new AFB starter 10 days ago. This afternoon, I split up my starter into 5 portions (I’m keeping one) and had 2 more portions to bake with. I made a batch of AFB and tried out the AFB Irish Soda Bread. My fiancé couldn’t wait to try both and after tasting the soda bread, he proposed for a second time!
I’ve got a friendship bread starter on my counter right now. Tomorrow is the day to add!
I’m planning on making something with cinnamon chips and something else with blueberries, either sweet bread or muffins. 🤷🏻♀️
I have not had the friendship starter in years. Been thinking about it wishing I had the starter. Lots of memories baking with my five kids when they were younger (now 27 – 40 years old). So glad I discovered this site!
Hi there! Our daughter gave us a starter and the information on how to use it last night, and I can’t wait to try out your bread recipe. It sounds very good. I used to make bread all the time, and wore out three bread machines before getting away from it. My bread was so popular that it would all be gone before I got home from work. LOL Thank you for setting up this website. I’m looking forward to exploring it!
I haven’t made Amish bread in a while so looking forward to trying the sourdough, as well as lots of the sweet treats that my kids will love! My 10 year old daughter wants to cook with me! Great giveaway!! Thanks!
I will be making Amish Friendship Bread! And hopefully make much much more in the near future! I’m thinking multiple types of breads, sweet and savory rolls, and pretzels with some much needed yeast!! Awesome giveaway!! Thanks!
Very cool! May need to try this one 😁 love all your recipes. I have a sourdough starter and just started an Amish friendship bread starter yesterday! I’ve had one before but then got busy with kids work etc. Been trying to bake more again now that I’m a pregnant stay at home foster mom with 2 kids home from school till who knows when lol! Thanks for all the great recipes ❤️
I have several friendship bread starters by freezer. I’ve taken a break for a while but I’m ready to get started again. Can’t wait to make cinnamon rolls again!
Amish Friendship Bread, the starter is super active which is exciting. I am going to make Lemon Poppyseed cupcakes
Looking forward to starting a new batch of starter , since moving and had to end my last starter!
I have an Amish Friendship bread starter going, but am planning to make Amish Sourdough from it! It originally from a neighbor and has come back to me now.
I want to make the Amish friendship bread starter, so excited to find out what I can make with it.
Started my AFB starter this evening, with my son. We love fermenting things, so thought sounds fun! We plan on making biscotti, scones, cake, and cookies. Thank you for sharing such delicious recipes!
I will be teaching my 6 year old daughter (and 4 year old son) how to make the starter tomorrow as part of their “home learning” during a break between virtual learning and my work meetings. I plan on making the original starter and then making the friendship bread, which I use to make regularly about 10 years ago. I’m excited to teach my kiddos about it.
My family was given an Amish Friendship Bread started when I was a kid, and I came here to find out how to make one for myself! I plan to gift one to my friend who is moving into a new house!
I so love sourdough & the different types of amish friendship bread!
I love your biscuit recipe! I am giving some starter to my mom and sister this week. Thanks for the great recipes.
What brought me to your website was the happy memory of receiving an Amish friendship bread starter from a co-worker 20 years ago, and the wonderful breads I made and starters I shared. Recently my 14 year old daughter has been staying up late into the night kneading and proofing dough to make bread and pizza crust, and I wanted to share the gift of teaching her about Amish friendship bread.
Hi!
I was given some Amish Starter Dough from a friend at church. I have no idea which starter bread it is. It calls for pudding, which I don’t want to use as I don’t want all the artificial ingredients in the final bread. I’m very interested in the Lemon Poppy Bread. And I’m also considering the Banana Bread. I’m excited about all the options to use the starter!
I have my very first Amish Friendship Bread starter and am excited to get baking. I never knew it could be used for so many different recipes or that it can be frozen. I’d love to try a sourdough starter, but currently can’t find yeast in the stores.
Hi!
My daughter received some Amish Starter Dough from a lady at church. We have no idea which one it is. All I know is it calls for pudding, which we don’t want to use as we don’t want all the artificial ingredients in the final product. After looking at all your yummy recipes we might make the Lemon Poppy. And I’m very intrigued with the Snicker-doodle cookies. So many options!
I love the traditional starter cinnamon bread… I quit 100, yes 100 years ago with saving starter because I didn’t know you could freeze it and it was getting ahead of me as I didn’t have enough people to give it to. I would love to try some of the other recipes such as sourdough bread and the cookies and it would be nice to have some more of that cinnamon bread. It has been sooo long since I had it last.. *S*…
I remember my mom doing Sourdough. Would love to try it. Just finishing second round of Friendship Bread Starter!
I’ve got traditional starter in my freezer. I’m planning on making 3 loaves of something this week, I haven’t decided yet!
Gonna need more starter!
I received AFB starter 4 or 5 years ago around Thanksgiving and ended up baking my first loaves during the Christmas baking season. I keep a few bags of it in the freezer and it is now an annual Christmas tradition in our home. Beer bread is a current family favorite and doesn’t last long once it’s out of the oven. We love sourdough, but I’ve never made my own. I’m excited to try it out!
I’ve never had a bread starter and am so in love with sour dough bread and would love to be able to make it whenever I choose..
Sourdough starter
Have had ZERO luck with starters! dying to make sourdough cherry scones or bread!
I have to keep my starters in the microwave with the light underneath it on low, so it slightly heats the inside. It’s always cold in my house, so that’s the only place that’s not drafty. I also open my starter bag outside the Mic for an hour or 2 every day so it picks up wild yeast from the air.
I have a traditional AFB, working on a natural sour dough starter (going slow due to it being a bit cold still), and started a potato flake starter yesterday, cheated by using some AFB starter to get it going.Made some coffee cake, pizza dough, and going to make bread today.
Amish starter is a gift from my daughter. I just received it. I’m excited to learn how to use it and care for it. My first recipe to try will be the classic bread and/or scones
I currently have an Amish bread starter. My sister gave it to me. I’m a little worried that she didn’t care for it properly, as she admittedly wasn’t feeding it regularly, so I’m currently nursing it back to health. I’m thinking about making a traditional loaf today to see how it goes.
I’m quite excited to make Friendship bread and possibly traditional sourdough as well! I remember getting a bag of Amish starter when I was a child and making it with my Mom!
I have the traditional starter, but decided to make the round loaf. Turned out fabulous. Made cinnamon rolls. I love your recipes. Unfortunately ran out of starter, so today I am going to make another batch with my last packet of yeast.
Absolutely love the AFB, this week I will try the pizza crust. So far my favorite has been lemon, I even make the original with stevia for my husband.
I have an Amish friendship starter. So far I’ve made monkey bread and cranberry scones. Thank you for the wonderful site, and all the delicious recipes!
I’m excited to try making AFB starter for the first time. May 10 is my fathers birthday, so I’m hoping for luck. It’s been difficult to find yeast! Thank you for sharing such wonderful recipes.
I do not have a starter right now…have done friendship in the past a lot. My kids have been bugging me to start one so I can make the chocolate chip cookies, corn bread and peach cobbler to start, lol. I have to say I could eat those things too!
I have an an AFB starter. I have a few in the freezer actually. I pull one out and make two loaves of the bread. Everyone loves it so when I get low, I will start my 10 cycle all over again.
I have a traditional sourdough starter and an Amish Friendship Bread starter. I will be making some sourdough blueberry scones tomorrow and some Amish Friendship soon.
I have AFB starter in the freezer, and I’m considering making a sourdough starter. This sounds easy enough 🙂
I made a friendship bread starter 5 days back using the recipe on your website. Cant wait to try baking with it in 5 more days.
I was excited to find out about the website. I found out the starter could be used in more than one recipe. Can’t wait to get started!
I have an AFB starter that I loving named DJ after my mom that passed away in December 2019. She was the person that introduced me to Amish Friendship Bread and this site helped me find the starter recipe that she used. I now make AFB every two weeks due to my family’s high demand 😂.
I’ve been so excited to find your website! I started my friendship bread starter in April, baked several loaves, & now have several starter portions in my freezer. I shared with my daughter who fondly recalls me baking it when she was a child. I’m going to try baking a chocolate bread today. I’d really love to do a regular sourdough starter also, so I can make some sourdough bread & pizza crust!
I would love to be a winner, but I’m not waiting on your gift of yeast to start my starter! I used to have some going for about 3 years did a wide variety of version (favorite was mango coconut with a chocolate drizzle on top), but then I starting traveling for work.
Quarantine is bringing out the baker and gardener in me that has been dormant since 2011! A great way will be to restart a friendship bread….and if this works, to spread the friendship among my friends!
I have all 3. We love bread starters. Makes the bread better in our opinion.
I have been baking more while in quarantine and decided to attempt to make starter. On the third try I had a healthy wonderful batch so began asking around who might like some. My neighbor was so excited to see this come back around as she remembers years ago when this was popular. Thank you for your wonderful guidance, I am enjoying the fruits of something homemade.
I have a regular friendship bread starter.
I had friendship started years ago but let it go. I now have an active sourdough started that I started myself 5-6 years ago and care for it lovingly. I recently was interested in doing friendship bread but didn’t have any started and came upon your site when I did a search. I am on day 5. so far so good.
A friend of mine shared the Amish Friendship Bread starter and I baked from scratch for the first time! My kids loved it and I enjoyed the process so I’d like to go for my long time dream of sourdough bread made at home! I’d love a lazy sourdough starter. It was so fun and therapeutic!! Thank you!
Love, Love, Love the recipe!
I started the yeast about 2 weeks ago! My favorite thing I’ve made so far is pancakes! I add blueberries.
Had so many that I froze some and I just pop them in microwave!
Just what I needed in this quarantine!
Be safe and stay healthy!
Last night I was rummaging through my recipe files in search of a zucchini bread recipe when I ran across an old AFB recipe card from at least 30 years ago! I remember how delicious it was, and in this time of shelter-in-place I thought it’d be awesome to spread a little love through homemade bread! I do NOT have any starter at this time. My favorite recipe from way back when was a chocolate bread variation. MMM!!
I have used the Amish Bread starter many times in the past. In fact the clerk at the 7/11 near me really enjoyed it when I gave him a bag with a whole folder of recipes.I; had a bag in the freezer, but it had been in there too long, I thought. But after reading about it, I probably could have used it. Since I am no longer teaching classes, I want to start it again. I am the one who sent you a message about the lack of yeast in stores. I would love to win some yeast. I will write down the name of the company who has it, in case I don’t win. thank you so much for supporting us bread makers. One of my most favorite recipes is sourdough biscuits, They are light and fluffy and melt in your mouth. thanks again,
Just finished my first sourdough starter…otherwise known as my labor of love!
I made chocolate cake with the extra starter. I would love to keep this process going. Thanks
I have an Amish Friendship Bread Starter. I got it today!
I have a friendship starter going today I day 9. I will be making a lemon bread for my son tomorrow evening.
My mom used to make regular sour dough but I never did it. I really want to start and learn a memory I remember looking forward to when she made.
I just got my second starter jar- on Amazon they have them with blue lids and clear lids. I wanted one for each starter. I had an Amish starter that I used for several years. I was critically ill last summer and in the fall our daughter came to stay for a while to help my husband take care of me. So, three guesses? Yes, she threw out the starters I had in sealed bags in the freezer. I started a new Amish starter in the blue lid last week, and will be using the clear lid to make your sourdough starter sometime this week.
I have just recently started a friendship starter! I’ve had a traditional sourghdough starter for a few years and use it for everything from pancakes to muffins to bread! I’m not able to get yeast these days which limits what. I bake. Thank goodness for my sourdough starter!
I currently have a frozen afb starter that I’ll be reviving this week. I’m hoping to finally try the soft pretzel recipe for my husband, and my mom and I will be doing several things using our fresh Florida blueberries and peaches.
I’m starting two different starters tonight. I’m lucky enough to still have yeast (my daughter got into making her own pizza from scratch) so I’m making a new batch of starter with that and then three bags of starter without yeast. Two bags will immediately go to friends from them to have their own and start their “apocalypse” freezer stash and I will keep one. That way I have one each of milk, flour, sugar mix AND a milk, flour, sugar, and yeast mix.
If I can keep both of those going and healthy, I might try a traditional sourdough without yeast, as well. But that one seems a lot more involved and I’m new at this.
I have no starter. It would be awesome to be able to make a starter. Thanks
I’m on day 8 of a traditional starter. I’ve made crackers (so good) with the discard so far but I’m not so patiently waiting to begin making breads!
I just used my Amish Bread starter. But I also wanted to try my hand at making my own starter! It’s nice and bubbly! Hoping it works out! I’m curious to try a sourdough starter.
Awhile ago my sheltie Lundie found his way to my 9 day old traditional sourdough resting on the kitchen table. One day more and I would have had a loaf of delicious bread. With the yeast I would attempt the recipe again plus an English Muffin Sourdough Bread. Let me know when I can preheat the oven! Thanks
I lost my starter years ago after a hurricane and no electric for 10 days! I would love to start a new starter and make some delish items!
I have in the past and actually was thinking today would be a great day to get a new one going again!!
Hi! I have had my Amish Friendship Bread Starter going for several months now. About a month ago I started a traditional sourdough starter named “covid” LOL
I have and Amish Friendship bread starter. I just baked yesterday a chocolate choclate chip bread. Next time I plan on doing the original vanilla cinnamon. I would love to try other recipes!
I have an amish sour dough starter and when it’s ready I want to make your biscotti and some amish friendship bread! Yum I can’t wait!
I have a standard in the freezer and started the Amish friendship bread. I would love to make it a chocolate bread.
I’m going to make the Amish Friendship starter tomorrow for my grandchildren. It will give them something new to do now that they can’t go out. The all like to help their mother bake so this sounds like it will turn out to be a great family project for them.
I used the Amish Friendship Bread Dough years ago & have just gotten back into it since retirement. I love baking Breads, Rolls, Muffins, anything and trying new recipes! I Love to bake & share with my family & friends.
I made 10 loaves. Five lemon and cranberry and five cinnamon sugar. Family and neighbors really enjoyed. I think the virus has more people trying to make bread! Not complaining it’s a very satisfying experience to share something that requires time and patience to create. Homemade bread speaks to the soul.
I have Amish Friendship Bread Starter that Ioriginated last September and had froze some. Started it back up a few weeks ago and besides traditional AFB I have made Blueberry Lemon AFB AND Blueberry Lemon Ricotta Scones which were to die for! Now I “get” that u use the starter to substitute for buttermilk I think I have a few other ideas brewing!
I have the Amish Friendship Bread starter, and baking day is tomorrow! I have two of our children still at home as teens…and know it will not last long! We will be serving it with the cinnamon recipe, and having a brunch w applewood smoked bacon…perfect for our quarantined Monday morning! And I will send a plate up to a dear friend a few houses from us. Gwen is in her late 80s and loves the benefits of my shared goodies…a starter for her will go with it! Thank you!
Soozie
Amish Friendship starter here but would love to try an new starter.
Today is day 10 of my first starter. Can’t wait to give some friendship bread and starters away this evening!
I was just given the Amish Friendship Bread Starter from a lady in my church. Day 6.
I cannot wait to start baking on day 10. There is a yeast shortage in our town and we cannot find yeast anywhere? I could totally share this bag of yeast with all the ladies in my church who have brought our family yummy goodies.
Thank you! I have tried making sourdough bread and have failed every try. I am certainly going to give this a go. I will let you know. Hopefully I will succeed with this recipe.
I just made chocolate friendship bread yesterday – that’s my family’s favorite but I would love to try a non-sweet bread like a more traditional sour dough.
I have already made my starter but could use some to make more
I have an Amish Friendship bread starter as well as a traditional sourdough mother starter going. Just made Amish Friendship bread yesterday…sourdough pizza crust on Friday. Lots more baking on tap. Would love some yeast!
I am on the second week of using my AFB starter. I have made AFB, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, and triple chocolate bread…we are eating that today for Sunday dessert. I have been wanting to make a savory sour dough bread, but alas, no yeast to be found.
Thanks for having a drawing for yeast there has been NO packages in any grocery store for weeks. I want to make a Friendship starter as I think it would be a nice way to keep in touch with friends. Thanks again!
I love all 3 but usually stick with AFB, so many things can be added. My mom always has a starter going while we were kids, she is gone now. I recently came across her recipe for it and decided to make my own. Only been alittle over a month but had forgotten how easy it is and how delicious. My friends are very happy I started this 🙂
I currently have an Amish friendship bread starter going that started in 2018! I love the recipient options!
Good Morning from Maryland!
love the post today on boozy bread. It makes me giggle because all my neighbors recycle buckets are filled with their beverage of choice each week. Definitely will try the chocolate rum bread.
Keep Safe!
I have a friendship starter. And plan to make more bread for our family. I would like to have a sourdough starter.
I made the Amish Friendship Bread years ago but used up the last of the starter and was hoping to begin a new starter with your recipe for the AFB but can’t find yeast.
I have a traditional sourdough starter and a friendship bread starter was just given to me! I’m excited to start using it and love your site as a guide for care and recipes!
The cinnamon bread was great. It was so moist and smells great to
Hi. I’m new here. However I’ve been using the Amish friendship starter, which I didn’t even know that’s what it was, until I found your site. Great site btw. I’ve learned a lot!
No starter at this time as I still can’t find yeast of any kind here or online….Hoping for yeast to begin.🙂
I don’t currently have any starter. I would love to try the lazy starter for the sourdough. I have baked AFB for many years and love the variations in your book. MUST restart that too! Wishing for yeast. 🙂
Sadly my traditional sourdough starter got mold in it so down to just frozen amish friendship starter that is it’s child
Oops…just posted a comment then looked at the package of Fleischmann’s Active Dry Yeast that I used and it says 2-1/4 tsp. Did I use too much?
You’ll just have a super active starter, Sue! Which also means it may want to be fed a lot more frequently. This post might help: https://www.friendshipbreadkitchen.com/faq-how-often-should-i-feed-my-starter/
I made Friendship Bread 30 years ago until I ran out of friends to give starters to and realized the delicious bread (cake) was the source of a substantial weight-gain!. But I’m ready to start again, share with old and new friends, and enjoy. I followed your starter recipe 2 weeks ago but it quit bubbling so I threw it away. I tried again last week, and I’m still not sure my starter is healthy (after reading your advise) but I’m going to try baking tomorrow and see how it tastes. It was not easy to find yeast in the local groceries, but I did locate a package of Active Dry Fleischmann’s yeast, expiration date 9/4/21. Do I need to try another type of yeast?
That’s perfect, Sue. Active dry is what we use (and measure it out — you don’t neeed the whole package so you can save the rest!).
I have 2-3 bags of Friendship Bread starter in the freezer. I also have a dehydrated traditional sourdough starter. I would like to get a starter going for no knead artisan bread. So, like everyone else, I need yeast.
Hi Linda! The No-Knead bread recipe in my Recipe Box doesn’t need yeast — you can use either of your starters (AFB or traditional sourdough). https://www.friendshipbreadkitchen.com/amish-friendship-bread-no-knead-sourdough-bread/
I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO STARTING & USING MY FRIENDSHIP STARTER. I JUST LOVE LOOKING FOR NEW RECIPES ON THE WEB!
I have a regular friendship bread starter going and am planning to bake the original bread this time since it’s my husband’s favorite.
I started an Amish Friendship starter during this time of social distancing and your website has been an invaluable resource. I was able to start my starter despite having no dry yeast and it is active and healthy. I’ve been freezing the starters I would normally give away, so I’ll have plenty to take to people in the office when we return! I’m eager to start a sourdough starter now.
I have a friendship bread starter right now. My family, neighbors, and I have been taking turns sharing our starter. It has been a great way to stay connected with each other. I will probably make a traditional AFB with my starter, but may try out one of the other recipes on your site that use the AFB starter as a base.
Definitely have a lot of people in my little town making bread because I can’t find a single packet of yeast anywhere so if I could win some would be wonderful thanks for all the help in my baking endeavors.
Amish friendship starter and I made bread
I have made my sour dough starter, on the sixth day. Looking forward to baking bread, buns and English muffins, perhaps a pizza or two. Maybe something with chocolate too.
I am just trying to start a starter. Wish me luck.
My starter is currently in the fridge.
I took my Friendship starter out of the freezer again after my hubby and I finished the breads I had in there! Being in quarantine and not being able to give it away to friends and family….somebody had to eat it, right??? Tomorrow I’ll be making some more pancakes and possibly some triple chocolate bread!! YUM!!!❤️
Looking forward to making this lazy sourdough starter!!!! My favorite bread is sourdough and now I will be able to make my own thanks to you and your recipes!!!! I started your Amish Friendship Bread starter last November and it keeps on giving!!! Love it! Thanks!!
Right now I have NO starter going in the kitchen or stored in the freezer-how the heck did THAT happen? I need to make one pronto! Think I may try the one above. Hubby LOVES sourdough bread and with the grocery stores not stocking everything all the time-homemade bread sounds like a really good idea.
I would like to make the amish friendship bread starter. Haven’t been able to find yeast for about a month. I wanted to make this really good chocolate friendship bread that my dad use to make.
I will be starting a new starter for friendship bread in the morning, let my last one die, we love to add pecans to ours, so good
My favorite thing to make with friendship bread starter is double chocolate chip muffins and lemon poppyseed muffins. I can’t wait to try something with sourdough starter.
I am making the Amish Frienship bread starter. I had the started years ago and decided it was time to get it going agaiin. I am looking forward to the smell of bread cooking as well as the delicious bread.
I have over 10 packages of sour dough starter in my freezer. My 4 year old grandson loves my cinnamon bread but he calls it Suga Bread. I overnight him a loaf every month. I make a loaf of it for my 99 year old Mother in Law all the time.
I’m going to make the Lazy Sourdough Starter tomorrow. Looking forward to trying it. Thanks for the recipe.
Yes! I have 2 starters going some in the freezer and have been sharing with neighbors & friends. I’m unable to find yeast locally so I’ve been limited on what I can bake. Thank you!
I have used your recipes before. I need to get a starter going. Love you recipes!!
I have an active Amish starter but I really want a sourdough starter (it’s my favorite and not as “sweet”). I tried the potato flake way but it was hard to keep up with. Thanks!
I have the friendship bread starter going and I’m going to make your cornbread recipe!
Yes, I have starter. Mine is 25yrs old and lives on the counter in a glass canister. Once in a great while it gets sad because it was ignored and then I refresh it by feeding it almost daily for a few days. When I’m not using is I feed it 1/8 cup, 1/8 cup 1/8th cup to keep in going until I get around to using it. There’s a 2 year old next-door that LOVES the zucchini muffins I make with the starter. 🙂
I have Amish Friendship Bread starter, but would like to try my hand at sourdough. I love the Amish Friendship Bread as is so I will be making that, experimentation will resume after I am able to gather more ingredients – hopefully in the near future!
I took my Friendship Bread Starter out of the freezer to process for friends who are baking during isolation. I made traditional bread, and three people happy.
I am on the 2nd go around. More happy people. Now I am looking for a fun new recipe. I would love to make bread starter, but we are all in the unlevened boat together, no yeast.
Thank you!
I have a friendship starter, so far it looks ok. I love this starter. I use to make it all the time, I think my friends got tired of it 🙄. I just learned that you can freeze it, so started more 🥰🥰🥰
Today we are making the AFB starter. Had one years ago and let it go. We used to make armload with chocolate pudding and the cinnamon sugar. We are also going to make the lazy sourdough starter. I have yeast in the freezer and usually make 5 minute artisan bread and waffles.
I have sourdough starter to make some delicious bread.
I keep thinking I need to make up a new starter but I haven’t yet. I keep hoping I hear of a friend willing to share!
I have the Amish Bread Starter and have tried Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins which I added pecans to.. and also the
Amish Friendship bread with the cinnamon and the Vanilla pudding. both were excellent and shared with others.
I have found though that my yeast the second time around didn’t seem to bubble like the first batch and not sure why.
I have a starter in the freezer. I made several loaves?muffins. I decide to take a rest from it. I would love to win this yeast. Thanks for the chance to enter.
I have a friendship bread starter going. I want to try pretzels next but it seems to need yeast- which of course can’t be found. Lol
I have regular Friendship Bread Starter, and a separate sourdough bottle made the traditional way. I haven’t ever tried AFB with yeast, but it looks like fun!
I am really loving the world of fermented foods~ I just started getting into Kombucha as well.
Stay safe, stay well!
I would like to to do all three .love German sourdoughs
Lazy starter divided in freezer. I love all things cinnamon, I mean chocolate, I mean apple, or is it sourdough…ugh I love baking these and appreciate any and all recipes!!?
Hi, I have the Amish Friendship Starter currently but really want to try the Sourdough Starter. I have made many of the breads; Apple & Raisin Bread, the Original Friendship bread, Cinnamon Rolls and a Blackberry White Chocolate Chip Brea but I put it in a 9 x 13 pan and my husband ate it like a coffee cake.
Love following the recipes; unfortunately, we let our starter die. Getting ready to try our own. Thanks for the recipes and tips!
Hey! As soon as I find some yeast, I will be making Friendship Bread. I will share some with my mom, and my Aunt. Then I will start it all over again so that I can share some more, but then freeze some that time so I can start it up again when I am ready to. I haven’t ever tried the sourdough before, so I may try it as well. I can’t wait! Now just to find yeast around here, lol.
I’ve got such a lazy starter, but it still makes good friendship bread! Thanks for this website, it’s so helpful!
Hi there, I have a sourdough starter and am trying to make not so sour sourdough bread. I also have a friendship starter that needs to be baked with today. So I’m just about to make your lemony loaf. Thanks for such a wonderful site.
I have a traditional strater, love finding all the new ways to use it.
Hi. I have made an Amish Friendship Bread Starter and a Sourdough Bread Starter. I am planning to bake breads, rolls and cakes. I am excited about this. I am planning to bake today.
I’ve got a relatively new AFB starter that I’ve baked with a few times.
I usually bake no-knead whole wheat bread in the Dutch oven.
I have my first Amish friendship starter in over 20 years! Made my first loaf tonight. Ended up with 6 cups instead of 5, but I’m baking another recipe from this site tomorrow. Friend gave me a sourdough starter, but I’m not quite ready for it yet.
I have an Amish friendship bread starter and a traditional sourdough starter. There’s a lot of fermentation going on in my kitchen and I need a notebook and calendar to keep my feeding tasks straight!
Starting both Amish Friendship Bread starter and this one (using spelt). Somewhere in my house is some Alaskan sourdough starter which I will try when I find it.
I haven’t had Amish Friendship bread since leaving the East Coast.
Hello. I have a Amish friendship bread starter given from a friend. We have loved her bread for years and I finally asked for the starter. I’m excited to try a sourdough starter since I have fond memories of my mom making sourdough waffles every weekend. I would love to do that for my family.
I bought Bormioli Rocco Fido Square Jar with Blue Lid. Link found on your website. The jar is beautiful and well made. Arrived today. Will be making the Amish Friendship starter tomorrow. I am excited and looking forward to sharing in my community. Thank you! I’m feeling the LOVE!
I have both, a Amish and sour dough going at the same time. Scones for the family and artisan sour dough also.
I haven’t made Amish friendship bread in many years until recently. A friend gave me the starter & I made the one pan & one pan with choc chips. When my starter is ready again I’m going try with nuts & raisins – that is what I remember from way back.
Thanks for such a variety of recipes. I’m doing a lot of baking & cooking for my son’s family down the street & myself during this crazy quarantine time.
I’m a retired man who loves to bake (and cook). I have lots of time to do both, but I can’t find yeast anywhere. I’m currently trying my hand at creating a sour dough starter, but haven’t been able to use it yet. I’m now going to attempt making Amish Friendship Bread starter since I just stumbled upon your website. Let’s see which one works first. My wife of 38 years will be the judge of my success.
Banana friendship bread! I love friendship bread and banana bread and so excited to have them both in one.
I was recently given a traditional sourdough starter, and I converted some of that to Amish Friendship Bread starter. I made the original Amish Friendship Bread a few days ago, which I hadn’t made in years. I’ll be making sourdough bread this weekend. I’m looking forward to trying some of your Amish Friendship Bread variations. I haven’t been able to find yeast anywhere near me, so I’d love to win some!
I would love to win a packet of yeast! I currently have a friendship bread starter on my counter. I’ve made friendship bread before, but it’s been several years. I plan on actually baking some of the “extra” starter for some of my students families that are having a hard time right now balancing distance learning to thank them. Thank you fit doing this yeast give-away!
I have an Amish Friendship Bread starter. We made the cinnamon sugar bread loaves with the directions accompanying the starter from my friend. We have also made jumbo cinnamon sugar muffins and a dense brownie bread usingless egg and chocolate chips in batter and on top. From the last batch, we made the no knead sourdough from this website’s recipes. It was a huge hit.
Hi, I have a non traditional sourdough starter that is based on a Friendship Bread that I received years ago. I adapted it to make it less sweet and more like a regular yeast bread in texture and crumb. Most people who have eaten it really like it.
It is a milder flavor than most sourdoughs, and I just made some yesterday. Started about 11am and finished baking it about 11:30pm. Yeah, I should have started earlier, or MUCH later and baked in the morning. But I have 2 beautiful loaves of bread that will suit me very well.
Blessings
My neighbor gave me a Amish starter a few weeks back. I made the original Amish bread and banana bread. Excited to try something else.
Hi!
I have the Amish and sourdough starters going in tandum.
Once I know my starters are ready I will be printing the recipes, jarring & dropping them off to my wonderful neighbors!
I have an Amish Friendship Bread Starter! On my second batch and it definitely seems less happy than the first go round. I’m actually here to see what I am going to make today! The first batch was the original and it was made exactly like the recipe here with some instant pudding I had that was vanilla bean! The bread was amazing! Ready to venture out and see what happens!
Hi, I made a “starter” two weeks ago from a YouTube channel using Organic whole wheat flour and water only. After 5 days of feeding & removing I made two loaves using ingredients from a German friend. Today I came across YOUR website and am excited to try the Amish Friendship Starter! Someone gave me a loaf years (2 decades!) ago, and some starter. I was a new mommy and let the starter fall by the wayside. Now that I’m not working, I’m loving my kitchen again!!
I have the Amish friendship bread starter! I love it, and this site! I have directed all my friends who have questions about their starter here and am very excited about all I have learned here. I have no more starter fears! Thank you Friendship Bread Kitchen, now my kitchen is a friendship bread kitchen too! Thank you for doing this give away, hope I win some yeast! I’m doing a twist on friendship bread tonight, I’ll let you know how it goes!
So I made a twist on the traditional friendship bread, no cinnamon in the pan, just sugar, traded the vanilla pudding for banana cream and added semi sweet chocolate chips, It was SO GOOD!! My family ate the 2 loaves I made in less than 24 hours. If you like chocolate and banana, this is a winner for sure!
traditional sourdough starter Please and Thank you
At the moment I don’t have a starter on hand. I had a friendship bread starter a few weeks ago, but I think they yeast went bad. I think maybe my daughter mixed the last step with metal. My friendship bread was fine that we made that day, but my other starter bags never bubbles back up even after feeding them.
I have an Amish friendship bread starter. I’ve had it for over five years and even moved it from New York to Texas with me. My favorite recipe to use it in is lemon cheesecake Amish friendship bread – but I make it as mini cakes.
Good Morning! I will be making the Cranberry-Pumpkin Amish Bread today with my friendship starter. My sister gave me some a long while ago. I baked with it until I needed a break, then froze it. Now I have rejuvenated it and I have started to leave loaves and starters on my friends’ doorsteps again!
I’d love to try sourdough but I live in the desert so my attempts have not gone well in the past…
It has been a while since I did sour dough, I think I will give this recipe a try!
I have an Amish friendship bread starter (I use this website all the time to make small modifications!) I’ve never tried sourdough and I’d love to give it a shot!
I always have friendship starter on hand, but I’m new to sourdough starter. Can I start baking with this starter after day 6 and do I have to do another 6 days before being again?
After day 6, you can continue to maintain your starter and feed it as necessary, removing a cup when you’re ready to bake (and when your starter is ready — only use when bubbly and active).
I have an amish friendship bread starter and I found you looking for recipes without pudding. WOW! There’s so many varieties that I must try!!
The lemon blueberry and chocolate rum both seem like great alternatives to the cinnamon/sugar bread. I’m going to hand my giftable starters off with hand-written directions on the bag and the URL to your website for the day 10. Thanks!!
I have only ever tried Amish Friendship bread starter. Regular sourdough seems so much more intimidating to me! And my husband doesn’t really love the taste of some of the more “sour” traditional sourdough. So I thought the Friendship bread starter might be the best way to go as a newbie. It’s been fun experimenting with different recipes though! I might try the traditional sourdough some day.
Just getting started with Friendship Bread. Got my first bag of starter about 2 weeks ago and thought I had killed it (house was colder than recommend). Not bubbly, but smelled yeasty so fed, divided and made the yummiest friendship bread and waffles. Can’t wait to bake some more, and try new recipes.
I have an Amish Friendship bread starter and would like to start recipe as a starter
Back in the late 70s I had wonderful success with “Herman”….but over time life got busy and I neglected my friendship starter. 😢 All the years later trying to get a starter going only to find it going to acetone smell.
Do I just add flour? Or a full feeding of milk, sugar, and flour?? I WANT to succeed. Friends are depending on me.
Hi Judy — Are you talking about an Amish Friendship Bread starter or a traditional sourdough starter? Make sure you use our recipe for the AFB starter (https://www.friendshipbreadkitchen.com/amish-friendship-bread-starter/), and follow the instructions for 10 days. There will always be a fermented smell, and a super sharp acetone smell sometimes means it needs to be fed (https://www.friendshipbreadkitchen.com/tutorial-what-should-your-starter-smell-like/). If you follow the instructions and pay attention to your starter (https://www.friendshipbreadkitchen.com/tutorial-maintaining-a-healthy-amish-friendship-bread-starter/), you should have a lot of success. Good luck!
I have an Amish friendship bread starter and a traditional sourdough starter going now. However, my traditional sourdough never really seems to get right! I would love this starter to share with friends and family as well 🙂
Have been making Amish Friendship bread recipes for 20+ years. Started my sourdough starter about 2 weeks ago, recipe from my local bread bakery, going to bake my first loaf or four today, wish me luck. 🤞🏻
Herman is my Amish Friendship Bread starter and he will be six days old tomorrow. Exciting day for him as he will get fed. I look forward to making the bread and chocolate chip cookies. Sally is my sourdough starter and she is seven days old tomorrow. Looking forward to making a nice loaf of bread with her.
We received a friendship starter from a friend and when it was ready, my husband tested positive for Covid so we didn’t feel safe to give it to anyone. So we have a lot of starters! So far, we’ve made graham crackers and rosemary olive oils crackers. They were both absolutely delicious! Our next recipe will be pizza dough.
I have a sourdough starter that I use for pancakes,crackers and bread. I would like to start a Friendship Bread one soon
Blessings
Love the idea of sharing starters. I have a traditional starter that has been dried, frozen, and almost killed. Still wirks.
No starters at all, but I want to try!
Yes I have have had my first starter for about 20 day! I have made biscotti, banana muffins, pancakes, waffles, and cinnamon bread. I have so much I wanna bake… lemon poppyseed cake and no knead bread are on the doc it for sure
Sourdough starter and I make bread and cinnamon rolls
I’m trying this starter as of today. I’m a lazy baker, although can’t wait to try to make the bread !!
Looking to get started on baking bread – Amish friendship bread seems like a good place to start. Will make bread and cinnamon bread or rolls.
I’m interested in starting a sourdough starter with my daughter, but it sounds complicated with many variables.
Hi Sarah! Any sourdough starter takes time and patience, but if you’re looking for a fast and easy way to get started, I generally recommend trying an Amish Friendship Bread starter first. Starting a starter (any kid of starter) is actually quite easy — it’s the maintenance that you want to pay special attention to!
How do I get some flavour into my sourdough – it’s just plan bread any advice would be much appreciated
You can add herbs or even cheese, Lyn! If you want it more sour, you just need to keep developing your sourdough over time. 🙂
I tried rye sourdough bread recently when my neighbour introduced me during the lockdown at home. I have it toasted with avocado for breakfast and it was awesome. And I begin to search on more information about it and learnt about the benefits of it. Its has a great history and theory and like to try on learning to make the starter and hope in time to come can pass on to my children.the mother yeast. Thks u.