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Amish Friendship Bread Fail

When I started this blog, I purposefully included a category called “Fail.” I knew that it would happen. I’m that kind of cook. I swap out ingredients; every once in awhile I accidentally switch recipes in mid-stream. (Does that ever happen to anyone else? Would they admit it?)

So, my Amish Friendship bread adventure. It’s a long story but here’s the quick version. This Christmas my neighbor from across the street, Yuko, popped over with a small loaf of sweet bread and a Ziploc bag of…… gunk. She is so sweet and we chatted and she told me about this bag of liquid and that it was an Amish Friendship bread starter. She had a photocopied recipe for me and explained about the 10 day process.

I’m thinking to myself, No prob. I know how to do sourdough, so what’s the diff? That’s when I made my first mistake. I looked at the copied recipe. Instant Vanilla pudding? Instant pudding in my house? Aw, hell no.
Easy, I thought. I’ll just swap some other stuff for the pudding. Vanilla? Check. Thickener/pudding substitute? Hmmm, how about yogurt? Check.

So for 10 days I lived with a Ziploc bag on my counter. Yuko suggested I “mush” it every morning and then on day 5 add a cup of flour, sugar and milk. Another couple of days of mashing…..
This sucks, I thought. It smells; it’s a little sticky and it’s growing obscenely big. My own sourdough starter seems demure in comparison.
“It’s fine,” I said. “I’ll do this for the experience and I will NOT pawn Ziploc bags off on anyone else!”

The big day came. And I forgot. Mistake #2. Next day I thought, Eh, it’s sourdough. It will be fine! Maybe it was the extra day; maybe it was the yogurt. Maybe it was the alignments of the planets….  The damned loaves never set right.
“Honey!” I called, “Do you want some…. batter?”

I might try it again. It’s a cool idea — a sweet sourdough. But I’ll find a regular recipe online and I think I’ll lose the Ziploc.

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