Cheryl Olson
Kitchen Friend Marti Yount submitted this recipe for a traditional rustic sourdough recipe using one cup of Amish Friendship Bread starter. Even though Amish Friendship Bread is traditionally sweet, this variation opens the door to more traditional uses of the bread. Think thick slices slathered with butter. Sandwiches. French toast. Mmmm!
This recipe can also be used to make rolls. Add more warm water to the recipe if the batter is too thick. Every kitchen is different so your rise time may vary. For Step 6, roll into balls and place in a greased rectangular casserole or cake pan. Let dough rise for an hour or until doubled, then bake in a preheated 375° F (190° C) oven for 25 minutes or until golden on top. Keep an eye on your dough and be careful not to let it overrise, otherwise you risk having your bread collapse once it’s in the oven.
Kelly Kaspar
Lots of people in the Friendship Bread Kitchen community have tried this recipe. Cheryl Olson’s loaves turned out beautifully (see above) but it didn’t happen right away. “My first attempt at baking the sourdough bread resulted in a loaf that didn’t rise (it ended up being made into bread crumbs), so I decided to start baking a day after feeding the starter, which is quite active the day after feeding. Second attempt was a winner.” Several people agree that making the bread within 24 hours of feeding the starter (or immediately after) resulted in a higher rise.
Kitchen Friend Brenda Halbardier also gave the recipe a try. “If the sugar is left out of the ingredients, the bread will be a little more tart,” she says. “Try letting the dough rise for 12 hours and then 8 hours for the second rise. To help the rise along, put a pan of hot water on the bottom rack of the oven. This bread has a really great texture.”
Brenda Halbardier
- 1 cup Amish Friendship Bread Starter
- 6 cups bread flour
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- ¼ cup sugar
- ½ cup corn oil
- 1½ cups very warm water
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Put all ingredients in a very large bowl (20-cup size) and mix until batter is stiff.
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Oil hands with corn oil and knead dough into a mound.
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Add extra oil to the bowl, cover and let rise over night or until the dough has risen to fill up the bowl.
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Remove dough from bowl and knead.
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Lightly oil 2 or 3 loaf pans.
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Cut dough into even pieces and place in the loaf pans.
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Let dough rise again all day or night.
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When ready to bake, preheat and bake at 325° F (165° C) until golden brown.
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ENJOY!
This recipe can also be used to make rolls. Add more warm water to the recipe if the starter is too thick.
For Step 6, roll into balls and place in a greased rectangular casserole or cake pan. Let dough rise for an hour or until doubled, then bake in a preheated 375° F (190° C) oven for 25 minutes or until golden on top.
Becky Lewis
>> Have a you tried this recipe? Share your best pic with us or leave a comment below and let us know how it worked for you!
my first sourdough bread came out great!!!
I just put another batch of dough in the bowl for its overnight rising and this time I omitted the sugar altogether hoping for more of a sourdough flavor
Can you substitute whole wheat flour in this instead of the bread flour?
I have used whole wheat flour in bread recipes and it doesn’t work quite right. There is, however, a whole wheat bread flour out there that works wonders! The bread flour has increased gluten, which works with the yeast to create the wonderful texture we love in homemade bread. Hope it works for you! (I bought mine at a Whole Foods Market)
I use this recipe to make dough for flatbread that I grill. I add a bit of rosemary to the dough then cut pieces off after rising the second time, roll out in rounds brush with olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt and cook on a high grill until lightly browned on both sides.
I love the way this bread came out. It is not as tart as regular sour dough, probably because of the way the starter is made. My first batch I let rise for about 14 hours the first time and 8 hours the second. I am going to check mine at about 10 hr for the first rise this time and see how it goes. I omitted the sugar the first go round, this time I added it to check the taste. I have included this recipe with the starter I give away!m7z
Does this come out sour? I’m seeing that some people are omitting the sugar…that the 1/4 cup sugar in the recipe, right? Because the starter already has so much sugar? Or are they omitting the sugar in the starter?
I have made this recipe 3 times now and it has quickly replaced store bought sandwich bread. Like other posters I omitted the additional sugar, it is not really a sour dough per se but it really is a tasty loaf. I have also found the loaf comes out best when I let it rise over night, then knead it the next morning and let it rise a whole day more, baking it the second morning. Voila! Warm bread for lunch that day!
I made it the same way as Liz, this bread is wonderful!! I omitted the sugar and let it rise 2 full days. The loaves were huge. I baked them for 45 minutes and they turned out perfect.
I was given a Amish Friendship Bread stater by my brother in eary December. I followed the recipe that came with it but found it waaaaay tooooo sweeeet. In searching for an alternative recipe to use for my multiplying starters as Christmas gifts I was thrilled to see your bread recipe. Instead of giving away the starters I baked them all up and shared them with family; what a treat, I forgot how much my brothers enjoy fresh bread. Went to visit my brother today and came home with two more bags of starter and a request for the “Christmas Bread Recipe” from my brother. I don’t think we will be buying bread anytime soon! Thank you!
You’re welcome, Karen! Thanks so much for stopping by and letting us know, and so glad you found a recipe that worked for you (and your family).
Thank you so much! I have never had bread turn out so good! I use whole wheat and brown sugar to feed my starter and used brown sugar in the recipe instead of white. Turned out great and not too sweet! Not sure how to post a picture but it looks beautiful too 🙂
I made this today, well, over the last three days. Turned out great in the end, but I didn’t knead it enough the first day. It barely rose the first night (like I couldn’t tell it had risen at all) but I kneaded it like crazy the next day and it rose well over the next 18 hours. One loaf wasn’t as pretty as the other, but it tasted great. It will make really good toasted sandwich bread (for paninis and such). And I left out the sugar.
I was just about to start my first batch of bread with my new starter (this is day 11 and it’s nice and bubbly after feeding it yesterday) but I am a bit confused by the directions. They say to use 1/2 c oil. Then mix all ingredients, I’m assuming this includes the oil? Only reason I’m asking is that it states further on that you need oil for kneading too.
I used the starter that was given to me. I didn’t grow it out, just used the starter for this recipe. It’s ok bread, but it takes way too long to make. I prefer to mix bread and bake the same day. I let it grow 24 hours in the bowl. shaped loaves and let it rise overnight. it was slow starting but I noticed it rises faster the 2nd and 3rd times. I reshaped the loaves and let rise 4 more hours. baked for 35 minutes. I won’t use this method for my weekly bread baking but it was an interesting experiment…..and I got rid of the Amish starter 🙂
Hi Star — you could always do that, of course! The charm with Amish Friendship Bread and its starter is that it’s passed along and shared. Here in the Kitchen, we love sharing different recipes for people to try if they’ve been gifted one cup of starter. Thanks for stopping by!
Hi Darlene! This recipe doesn’t use pudding mix. Were you referring to another recipe? And in general you can leave it out unless it’s obviously necessary for a flavor boost (i.e. pumpkin spice pudding for Amish Friendship Bread pumpkin spice bread). Hope this helps and let me know if you have any more questions!
I’ve nursed my starter for 9 days and I’m getting ready to make my sourdough loaf. I have a question, though. At what stage do you use the starter? Day 10, before feeding it or after? Thank you so much!!
Day 10 after feeding it (same day)! Whatever starter remains now goes through the cycle again and Day 10 becomes their Day 1. Make sense? 🙂
How much water do you use combined with the yeast to begin
the starter? Thanks so much!! I made this bread for a year with
starter given to me but want to be able to start it on my own.
Hi Elizabeth! ¼ cup warm water should do it! You can read more here: https://www.friendshipbreadkitchen.com/amish-friendship-bread-starter/. Good luck!
We really like this recipe, but without the sugar. The other sourdogh recipe just seems too sweet. Will probably share my next batch with relatives.
Oh, just to be clear, baked too early, after the three hour second rise. Curious as to how much the loaves should weigh? 9 inch pans.
Will this recipe still work if I only have all-purpose flour?
Hi Bailee — Yes, it should!
What starter? Friendship starter? Fully mature starter?
Hi John,
This uses an active Amish Friendship Bread starter that has gone through at least one 10-day feeding cycle. We’ve had good luck using the starter a day after feeding. 🙂
This was a disaster. It did not rise at all, and I gave it almost 24 hours in the bowl, then overnight in the baking pans. My kitchen is pretty warm. I baked the loaves and they were pretty on the outside but a floured gooey mess inside. I will not try it again.
Hi Rita, that’s such a bummer! It’s so disappointing when a recipe doesn’t work out. I know that people have had success with this recipe but you need to have a thriving, healthy starter to start with. If your starter is not active (bubbles after feeding), it means the yeast may not be doing well and the starter wouldn’t be a good candidate for any recipe that requires a rise or two. Hopefully you’ll find another recipe on the site that works for you — thanks for being in the Kitchen with us!
DO YOU HAVE TO USE CORN OIL? OR CAN IT BE VEGETABLE OIL?
Hi Shannon, vegetable oil should be fine! Or olive oil (not extra virgin).
Hello FBK. I have never made bread before but was given a starter 9 days ago and I am so excited for my first attempt at bread making. I want to make this sourdough bread tomorrow (day 10) but I’m a bit confused. Do I add (per original instructions on day 10) the 1 1/2 cup flour, 1 1/2 cup sugar and 1 1/2 milk to the starter and then measure out and divide into four/five 1 cup starters? Would I then use one of those 1 cup starters for the sourdough recipe at which point I’d add to it the sourdough bread ingredients (6 cups bread flour, etc.) ?? OR do I skip the flour, sugar, and milk per original recipe instructions and instead divide the pre flour, sugar, milk mixture into four 1 cup bags and only then add the sourdough bread ingredients to one of them?
Thank you in advance!!!
Amanda 🙂
Hi Amanda! Welcome to the Kitchen! To answer your question, it would be after you did the Day 10 feeding, yes Feed the starter, divide it into 1 gallon bags of one cup each, and use one of those (or the remaining batter) to start your sourdough.. But since you’re a newbie to Amish Friendship Bread, I really wouldn’t recommend this recipe — I would go for something a little easier with a high success rate, such as any of the ones here: https://www.friendshipbreadkitchen.com/category/recipes/sweet-breads/. Making traditional loaves takes time and patience, and also a strong starter. Let me know if you have anymore questions! 🙂
Hello Darien Gee and thank you for your reply! I didn’t get your message until after I made the bread but ended up feeding, dividing, and using one of them to bake with just as you stated. The Bread Goddesses must’ve been with me that day because I even successfully made the sourdough recipe!! Aside from a few worries along the way and under baking just a tad, the bread was beautiful and delicious!! I’m all the more impressed with my wonder bread, lol, knowing now it’s not usually a beginners recipe. Beginners luck perhaps? I’ll take it, lol. THAnks again and happy baking, Amanda.
Oh my goodness, I just remembered that it was in fact the Amish White Bread I made and NOT the sourdough!! How embarrassing! Lol. I wasn’t sure which one I was going to bake that day but opted for the white bread recipe precisely because it seemed easier. It still had that sourdough taste to it and so I must’ve convinced myself it was sourdough and not white, lol. All in all, I still believe the Bread Goddesses were with me that day because bread making is no easy task and well, the bread still turned out wonderful, sourdough or not, lol.
does any one have the recipe how to make sourdough bread letting the dough stay to rise for three days in order to get rid of all the phytates and gluten ,by using mason jars with airlock lids
The bread turned out wonderful, I am very happy with this recipe . However I want to use the starter to make rolls. I do not want to over work the dough . I need advice and where in the instructions should I shape the dough into balls for the rolls ?
Hi Diane! I would time it so that at Step 6, you are forming the dough into balls and then letting it rise until it doubles in size or for sixty minutes, which ever comes first. Then bake at 350°F for about 25 minutes or until a light golden brown (be careful not to overtake).
How can I revive my starter. I neglected it and now when I feed it, it is not bubbling.
Hi, where is the yeast in this recipe?
Hi Helen, there is yeast in the Amish Friendship Bread Starter, which is a key ingredient in most of our recipes. If you’d like to look over the ingredients or make your own starter, you can check out our Amish Friendship Bread Starter recipe.
I saw this made over 20 yrs ago. I have been trying this off and on for over 15 years. I have yet to suceed! It will not rise! Very frustrated because i love the taste of this bread. What am i doing wrong? I follow the receipt however i do not have a dough hook and kneed this by hand and if the dough is too wet it forms a crust on the dough. I dont know if the dough needs to be wet or dry? Kneed with flour until stiff? If i put the dough to rise wet it dries out. Help!