Amish Friendship Bread (No Starter)-Cook's Country Recipe
From Cook's Country:
Recipes for this sweet, cinnamony bread traditionally include two oddball ingredients: a sourdough starter shared among friends and vanilla pudding mix. Testing revealed that there was almost no flavor difference between breads baked with and without starter; the bread's decadent sweetness and substantial cinnamon flavor rendered any tang the starter was contributing undetectable. Rather than use packaged vanilla pudding mix, we increased the sugar and added extra vanilla extract. Stirring in a generous dose of vegetable oil resulted in a bread with a soft, moist crumb without a hint of gumminess. A cinnamon-sugar coating sprinkled into the pan and on top of the batter before baking gave the finished bread a crackly, sweet crust. Rather than sharing starter, we designed our recipe to make two loaves, so you'll have one to give to a friend.
- 2
Ingredients
- CINNAMON-SUGAR COATING:
- ½ cup (3½ ounces) sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
- BREAD:
- 3 ¾ cups (18¾ ounces) all-purpose flour
- 3 cups (21 ounces) sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 ¾ cups milk
- 1 ⅓ cups vegetable oil
- 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Preparation
Step 1
We developed this recipe using an 8½ by 4½-inch metal loaf pan. If you use a glass loaf pan, increase the baking time in step 3 to 1¼ hours to 1 hour 20 minutes; if you use a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan, start checking for doneness 5 minutes early. If you own only one loaf pan, refrigerate half the batter and set aside half the coating so you can bake a second loaf after turning out the first onto a wire rack to cool in step 4. Be sure to clean the loaf pan and brush it with oil before baking the second loaf.
For the cinnamon-sugar coating:
1. Combine sugar and cinnamon in bowl. Brush 2 loaf pans evenly with oil (1 teaspoon per pan). Add 2 tablespoons cinnamon-sugar coating to each prepared pan and shake and tilt pans until bottoms and sides are evenly coated. Set aside remaining ¼ cup cinnamon-sugar coating.M
For the bread:
2. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Whisk flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in large bowl. Whisk milk, oil, eggs, and vanilla together in second bowl. Stir milk mixture into flour mixture until just combined (batter will be lumpy).
3. Divide batter evenly between prepared pans (about 3¾ cups or 2¼ pounds batter per pan). Sprinkle remaining cinnamon-sugar coating evenly over top of batter (2 tablespoons per pan). Bake until paring knife inserted in centers of loaves comes out clean, 1 hour 5 minutes to 1 hour 10 minutes.
4. Let bread cool in pans on wire rack for 1 hour. Run paring knife around edges of pans to thoroughly loosen loaves. Working with 1 loaf at a time, tilt pan and gently remove bread. Serve warm or at room temperature. (Cooled bread can be wrapped in aluminum foil and stored at room temperature for up to 3 days.)
Extra Recipe Notes: A World of Cinnamon
Vietnamese and Indonesian cinnamons are the two most commonly available varieties in U.S. markets. Our taste tests revealed that Vietnamese cinnamon is the bolder and spicier variety. Why is that?
Vietnamese cinnamon (Cinnamomum loureiroi) contains more spicy volatile oils than Indonesian cinnamon (Cinnamomum burmannii). That said, much of any cinnamon's spicy flavor dissipates with cooking.
So which of our top-rated cinnamons should you buy? If you like big, spicy flavor and frequently use cinnamon in unheated applications, we recommend Penzey's Vietnamese Cinnamon, Ground. But if you use cinnamon only for baking or you prefer a milder cinnamon in unheated applications, go with the cheaper Morton & Bassett Spices Ground Cinnamon.