Amish Friendship Bread Starter Recipe (Gluten-Free)

By msweeney

Friendship Bread Kitchen

Ingredients

• 1 (0.25 ounce) package gluten-free active dry yeast
• 1/4 cup warm water (110° F)
• 1 cup gluten-free flour
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup milk

Details

Servings 1
Adapted from friendshipbreadkitchen.com

Preparation

Step 1

Kitchen Notes

For instructions and the recipe for Amish Friendship Bread, click here.

Thanks for the gluten free recipe.

You are welcome, Cathy! Please let us know what you create with this starter. Happy Baking!

Hi. Just one cup of flour, like sorghum? No xanthum gum?

Hi Danelle

We just use the gluten-free flour for this Starter recipe. Hope that helps!

Where can I get the rest of the recipe for what to add for gluten free after day 10?

I am so thankful to have found this recipe for gluten-free friendship bread starter. We have friends that could not share in the fun and now we can “start” a friendhip bread for them…they are gluten intolerant, or actually allergic, or have celiacs disease. Thanks again so much!

What about the pudding that you put in?? That is not gluten free???

Wow, I can’t wait to try this!!! Do you have to use white sugar? Can you use honey, maple syrup, coconut palm sugar?

You can use various sugars. Let us know what you end up using!

I too am wondering what to use instead of pudding. I have a batch going right now, but the next time I am going to experiment with spelt flour and using almond milk instead of milk. Will let you know how that works out.

Melissa,

Spelt isn’t a gluten free flour, in case you wanted to keep it gluten free. I’ve used almond milk and a GF blend, so will let you know after tomorrow how the recipes turn out. I’m going to adapt some of the regular recipes. I also looked up jello instant pudding and it looks like it’s gluten free and dairy free.

Hi, wondering of you made this friendship bread with the almond milk, and if so, how it turned out? Thanks

I use almond milk and it works wonderfully. It bubbles nicely and has a great flavor. I use Silk Original Almond milk.

Thank you

Yay!!! Thank you! I’m so excited to try it!

Look around the internet for recipes that don’t use the pudding mix…I found LOTS of them, along with many other recipes for the starter. I just made two quick bread loaves last night without the pudding and they turned out wonderful. I also don’t like to use rancid, unhealthy oils like the veg. oil or canola oil most recipes call for, so I just used one snack cup of unsweetened, organic applesauce. Next time, I’m gonna try using melted coconut oil or melted butter, instead of oil. You could also replace the white sugar (in recipe only, NOT for the original starter) with rapadura or sucanant.

Which of the GF flours have people tried?

I use a combination of rice, cornstarch and tapioca starch in equal parts. This turns out well. I’ve also used a flour blend of several different GF flours, which also worked well. I think you can try about whatever you want, though a heavy bean flour won’t work as well I don’t think. My next is to experiment with almond flour, less sugar and canned coconut milk or homemade almond milk, so go with the diet I’m presently following. That also means I have to begin a new starter with the above.

I used Bob’s Red Mill and it worked great.

Hi.

I just got a starter bag of friendship bread from a dear friend.

I have a few questions you might be able to help with.

1. Can the starter be frozen? If so on what day is best to do it? ( eg. Day I day 5 after feeding or day 10)

2. Can I use gluten free flour in my starter on day 5 and continue with GF flour from then on? Or is it better to stick with reg. Flour and just make a new starter batch?

3. Can I use raw sugar instead of white refined sugar ?

4. Last question,: Can I switch to almond milk instead of cow’s milk in my current batch of starter?

I am really happy to have found all the wonderfully creative recipes to use the starter with , because I was a little worried about what I would do with all the starter bags every 10 days. LOL.

( Now I know what to do with them in the event I can’t give them away )

Thanks

Diane,

1. Yes you can freeze the starter. I do it on baking day when I divide it up, so that would after feeding it on day 10.

2. I started my starter with gluten free flour. Yes, you can use Gluten free flour from here on out, though realize that there will be gluten in it. If you want to make a new batch of starter using gluten free flour and almond milk.

3. Yes, I use raw sugar often and it works great!

4. Yes, you can switch to almond milk in this batch of starter, just realize again that there will be cow’s milk in it.

I don’t know if the gluten or cow’s milk every totally works out of your starter, so I don’t take a chance.

Happy Baking

Hi Diane!

1. Read our FAQs for more information on storing starter, but yes, it can be frozen. If you received it from a friend, it can be frozen immediately. If you made it from scratch, you’ll want to give your starter 10 days to get going. When you take it out of the freezer, bake with it right away or give it a Day 6 feeding and let it get going again on your counter so you can divide, share and bake on Day 10.

2. You can use GF flour at any time.

3. Yup!

4. Yup!

WHen switching out ingredients for the starter, just keep an eye on it and make sure the color is consistent, the smell is yeasty, and it’s bubbling from time to time. If it smells funky, turns color or goes flat and seems bubble-less (especially 24 hours after a feeding), it may have spoiled. Remember, when in doubt, throw it out.

Enjoy, Diane!

Hi! Do you know if you can substitute a nondairy beverage for the milk (e.g. Almond milk, etc.)?

Sorry! I just read the comments after my post and found the answer is already there. I am soooo excited to make this gf/df version!!

I am so excited! Friendship bread was a favorite of mine fo so long, but having to eliminate gluten meant no more bread! I wonder if you could use agave syrup instead of sugar?

Hi Natalie! You’ll have to play with it a bit, but we do have a great Kitchen Friend submitted agave recipe here and you could make adjustments for GF flour, etc:

http://www.friendshipbreadkitchen.com/pantry/agave-apple-afb

Would love to know what you end up trying (and if it worked, and if it didn’t!), so keep us posted!

I have attempted making a starter twice and failed both times. For the first time the mixture overflowed the conatiner overnight and I had a big mess in the morning. I thought I lost about half of it but thought I could continue and just have less in the end. So I stirred it and later that day it was rising again so I stirred it again. The next morning I had another big mess on my counter. I had lost so much I threw it away. The second time I used a MUCH bigger container so that it wouldn’t overflow. That was successful but by day 8 (?) it smelled REALLY bad (an alcohol smell). So I threw it away again! I used Fleischmann’s Yeast (just discovered that I used RapidRise instead of regular – that probably solves at least one problem!), Hodgson Mill Gluten Free Multipurpose Baking Mix (Whole grain millet flour, whole grain sorghum flour, whole grain brown rice flour, and Xanthan Gum), sugar and Almond Milk. So I’m pretty sure that the RapidRise yeast caused the overflowing. Could it also be the cause of it going bad?

I wouldn’t use any mix with guar gum or xanthan gum for the starter. It’s great for the actual bread. I used almond milk in my starter with no problem. It does get kind of an alcohol smell…that’s the fermentation process. Plus with the RapidRise yeast, it probably just went through the process too fast. Just my thoughts from doing gluten free AFB. I might add that I don’t use yeast at all and it turns out great!

Ruth, part of the problem may be that you have it in a container instead of a bag? Stirring just doesn’t have the same effect as mashing. I made that mistake too, I follow the directions so well, and there wasn’t a step that said “now pour the stater into your gallon baggie” and it overflowed my container, so I put it in the bag. When it is in a gallon ziplock bag, you can let the air out as it builds up, and resist the temptation to mash too much! I’m on day 5 of my GF starter, so I’ll be baking all day on Wednesday! I’ll keep you posted, Darien. Thanks for the agave recipes!

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