The Bakery Is Open

A friend of mine gave me something called "friendship bread" about 10 days ago. I had never heard about it, but I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, so I graciously accepted it.

It turns out that it is a type of bread starter that you are given. As the days go by, this starter grows, you add a few more ingredients as you go along, and the stuff continues to grow. 10 days later, you divide the starter that you have had for the last week and a half, toss some more ingredients in, mix it up, pop it in the oven and you've got bread! The parts that you have divided (the starters) are put into their own bags and sent on their merry way so that your friends can make some bread of their own. Hence the name "friendship bread". I'm sure there is some sort of heart-string tugging story that can go along with the origination of the bread and how it was some one's hope that through one little starter of bread, the whole world will one day be united (or something like that, but maybe not quite so cynical) but I don't know what it is- nor do I have the desire to discover the humble beginnings of this phenomenon right now.

Yesterday was day 10 of my friendship bread bag and therefore the day to divide and bake. When I got the bag of goo, I also was given the directions and a recipe. I used the recipe that was provided (with a little bit of tweaking since my family can be a bit particular) and it turned out deliciously. It is a wonderfully moist cinnamon bread that has proven to be just right as an accessory to my morning coffee, a great afternoon snack for just-up-from-nap kiddos, and the perfect treat for the late-night snack with a glass of chocolate milk.

Unlike some people that I know, I had never truly made bread until this point. The only bread making experiences I had were:
1) Open the box and follow the directions before pouring the batter into muffin tins
2) Open the box and follow the directions before pushing the start button on the bread machine

I had a very pleasant time making the bread and have decided to add my first "feature" to my blog. I have yet to come up with a catchy title for it, but I am going to keep on with this friendship bread thing and try all the different recipes for it that I can. I think it will help me to add some "focus" to my blogging and I think my family will enjoy tasting my experiments! So if you don't check back in before then, come see me in another 10 days and find out what the next bread is!

****UPDATE**** I did a bit of research and discovered that this is called "Amish Friendship Bread". There are about 5 zillion different variations of this bread, so stay tuned... I'll be baking bread from "Can 'til Can't". (A local phrase I learned recently... maybe I'll keep you updated on all those little gems as well!!)