Friendship Bread

On my visit to Phoenix, I met Zosia and her family. Zosia is a good friend of Anna, with whom I came on the boat from England to America 60 years ago. Anna and I kept friendship ever since.

Zosia presented me with her "Friendship Bread" starter and recipe. I followed it day by day and on the 10th day, I baked it and took it to Irene's friends who are now my new friends on Facebook! We also called it "Time Cake" since although it has many ingredients, the main ingredient is your time!

Zosia's daughters

Special tips:
- Do not use any type of metal spoon or bowl for mixing.
- Do not refrigerate.
- If air gets into the bag, let it out. It is normal for the batter to rise, bubble and ferment.

DAY 1: Do nothing. (This is usually the day you receive the starter batter.)
Day 2-5: Mush the bag once each day.
Day 6: Add to the bag: 1 cup all purpose flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup milk, then mush the bag.
Day 7-9: Mush the bag once each day.
Day 10: Follow the instructions below:

1. Pour the entire contents of the bag into NON METAL bowl.
2. Add 1 1/2 cup flour, 1 1/2 cup sugar, 1 1/2 cup milk. Mix.
3. Measure out 4 separate batters of 1 cup each into four 1-gallon Ziploc bags. Keep starter for yourself and give the other three to friends, along with copy of this recipe. Date the bags with marker. (Should this not be passed to a friend on the first day, be certain to tell this friend which day the bag is at when presented to them.)
4 . Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
5. To the remaining batter in the bowl, add:
     a. 1 cup oil
     b. 1/2 cup milk
     c. 3 eggs
     d. 1 cup sugar
     e. 2 tsp cinnamon
     f. 1 tsp vanilla
     g. 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
     h. 1/2 tsp salt
     i. 1/2 tsp baking soda
     j. 2 cups flour
     k. 1 cup craisins or raisins
     l.  1 cup walnuts or Texas pecans
     m. 1 large box instant vanilla pudding (but I skipped all those chemicals and it turned out fine).

6. Grease 2 large loaf pans.
7. Pour the batter evenly into the pans. You can sprinkle with mixture of 1/3 cup sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon (optional).
8. Bake 1 hour. Cool until bread loosens from the pan (about 10 minutes). Turn out onto a serving dish. Serve warm or cold. .

Now serve the bread to your friends, and if they like it, give them the starter and this recipe. They say only the Amish know how to create the starter, so if you give it all away, you will have to wait for another friend to make it if you would like to have it again!  If you keep starter for yourself, you will be baking every 10 days. The bread/cake is very good, and so it is good for making new friends!