Pumpkin Amish Friendship Bread

Pumpkin Friendship Bread

A Mother's Day gift of Amish Friendship Bread starter batter began my fascination with a century-old tradition. I was given a 1 gallon Ziploc bag containing a cup of the batter along with written instructions for multiplying it four fold so it could be shared among friends. Using that bag of batter and nursing it over 10 days produced four 1 gallon bags of starter batter. 

The first 3 or 4 times of making this yeasty batter, I was able to find enough friends and neighbours willing to try it, but later I just froze the bags and used them up one at a time to make different flavours of friendship bread. The starter batter freezes indefinitely, so it's easy to make these sweet breads at a moment's notice.

There's always a can of pumpkin puree in the pantry after Thanksgiving. Following the recipe for Banana Walnut Friendship Bread and using a can of pumpkin puree in place of mashed bananas, produces a lovely bread without using a store-bought pumpkin bread mix.

Enjoy this bread for breakfast the day after Thanksgiving.

Ingredients:

Wet -

1 cup AFB starter batter

3 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup Canola oil

½ cup milk

Dry -                      

1 pkg. Pillsbury Pumpkin Bread mix

For Dusting -

¼ cup sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon powder

Optional -

1 cup raisins

1 cup chopped nuts

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. Mix Dusting ingredients together.  

3. Grease 2 large loaf pans and dust with half the cinnamon/sugar mixture.

4. Beat Wet ingredients together until well combined  .

5. Sift Dry ingredients and work into batter until well combined.

6. Stir in the Optional ingredients, if using.

7. Pour batter into pans and sprinkle top with remaining cinnamon/sugar mixture.

8. Bake at 350°F for 50–60 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

9. Cool on a wire rack until bread loosens from sides of pan before slicing.

Note: This bread freezes well if packaged in a 1 gallon Ziploc bag.