Sunday, March 30, 2008

Does anyone want a starter for cinnamon amish bread?

I have three of these babies, ready to be mashed by you. Anyone interested? It makes two loaves of pretty tasty bread every ten days or so.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ok, I have to ask...what in the world is a starter?? I know that it makes bread, but how can you keep it going? I would love to have some (if it makes bread that looks like that!)...I just thought I should figure out what it is first!

Joc said...

Starter is just the base of the bread. It's just a liquid that's kept in either a jar or a bag. Recipes that use starter often do not use yeast, because the starter is the 'active' ingredient that makes the bread rise. Once you have a starter (which you can make or get from a friend) you have to 'feed' it every few days (depending on the recipe) to keep it active. Feeding starter is really easy, usually you just add a few things to the jar of starter, then stir and let it sit. Breads that are made from starter are often very easy to make because they usually don't require much kneading.
You don't have to make bread everytime you feed it, but you do need to feed it every 10 days or so (depending on the kind).

That was really long. Sorry, Lisa. But I hope it was helpful!

Ryan said...

Thanks for the offer, but I actually have some sitting on my counter right now waiting to be "burped".

I got mine from Joc a while back, and then I passed it along to my mom. My mom said after making a few batches she put her starter in the freezer for a month or two. She said she pulled it out and set it on the counter to thaw, and then fed it according to the directions and it still worked just fine. So that's my plan--when it comes time to divide this batch, I'm just going to put it in the freezer for a bit so I don't have to keep up w/ it until school is out for the summer.

shanna said...

Good idea, Ryan. I hadn't thought about that. I have four starters sitting on my counter right now so, I may need to do a little freezing myself so I don't get overwhelmed. Lisa, I'll keep mashing your bag until I see you. Look up cinnamon amish bread starter on cooks.com and it'll give you an idea of what you've gotta do to the starter. Jocelyn summed that up quite nicely! Let me know if anyone you know wants one. I still have two more to give away (or freeze:).

Ryan said...

Shanna, I think we may have a similar recipe b/c if I follow the directions for the starter, I end up w/ a cup for me (to continue for the next batch), and a cup for two friends. What I usually end up doing is just throwing out two cups since I don't have two friends that want starter every 10 days--a waste, I know.

But what I've also done before is used those two cups to make a double batch of bread b/c the amount of starter left to make my batch of bread after taking out the 3 cups is about 2 cups (confusing, I know). So in short, I just take out one cup to keep going for next time and use all the starter left for a double batch of bread.

Anonymous said...

Jocelyn,thanks for your explanation, but I should have stopped reading there - Ryan and Shanna talking to each other about burping (!) their starters and doubling batches...maybe it's the end of a long day and my brain's not working very well, but I DO like the idea of not having to knead the bread as much. Shanna, thanks for the reference to the website...I am definitely going to try to learn more about this whole starter thing! Thanks, guys, for trying to explain this!

Joc said...

Lisa, burping is only for the amish bread. And all it means is to open the bag and let out the air...

Joc said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jess said...

Wow! More power to y'all! That sounds like something I just can't add to my plate right now - but might be fun to get into when I am not working so much. Thanks for sharing - it is always fun to learn something new. Burping is something I have been doing a lot lately - well...burping the baby (not myself or starter).

Anonymous said...

Ok, I hope my last comment didn't sound mean - I was just trying to be funny about how complicated this all sounds. I hope I didn't offend any starter people out there. I really do want to try this whole thing and see how it works. Thanks for taking the time to explain it to me, and Shanna, I'm looking forward to getting that from you - thanks for offering it!

Collins said...

Very entertaining! Shanna, I need a new batch if you still have some sitting there. I accidentally started adding the ingredients to make the bread to the two cups instead of the one and had to throw the rest away! It was delicious though! Gerald's parents were in town and it was perfect for breakfast. I made one plain and one with chocolate chips. Keep me one!

Joc said...

And all this talk about the bread reminded me that I froze a few loaves of it last summer, and so I pulled one out for breakfast this morning. It was so good!

shanna said...

I've got a starter with your name on it, K. And Lisa, your comment didn't sound mean at all! I'll bring two starters with me Thurs.

Tabitha said...

I'm sorry that I missed out on all the starter chatter. :) You all are hilarious and I'm so looking forward to seeing you April 27th weekend! Hope you all are in town!