Starter shared for Amish cinnamon bread

  Amish cinnamon bread is kind of like a chain letter you can eat.

  A friend gives you a sourdough starter in a plastic zip bag that you simply mush for several days and watch while the ingredients bubble and ferment.

 On day six, you add ingredients, then mush it again for the next few days. On the 10th day, you empty the contents into a bowl, add more ingredients, then measure out four one-cup starters in Ziploc bags with that day's date on it.

  One starter is for you to keep, the others are for you to give away to friends. Meanwhile, you have a small amount of the sourdough starter left in the bowl. To that, you add more ingredients to create a bread batter to bake that day.

  One batch yields two to three loaves of moist, sweet cinnamon bread that warms the house and fills it with a rich aroma.

  “I like the way it makes the house smell,” said Marge Dallabetta, a beloved figure in her neighborhood, where people up and down the street bake Amish cinnamon bread from her sourdough starters.

  It's a wonder the retired elementary school teacher who's racked up more than 5,000 hours volunteering at the Yuma Regional Medical Center gift shop for over a decade has time to bake.

  But she has been baking the delicious bread every 10 days and passing on the starters for the past year. Though she can't recall exactly where she got the first starter, she does remember recently giving some away.

  “I took three starters to church with me, and I caught three ladies afterward that wanted them and the directions. And I was really happy that I could get rid of it because I had the one here. It gets overwhelming when you get more than one.”

  Though she enjoys the process of maintaining the sourdough starter and baking the bread, she admits pouring the contents of the plastic zip bag into a bowl and later measuring out one cup each into four new bags is messy work.

  “It's sticky and wants to cling to the sides,” she said, as she squeezed the bag to empty all its contents into the bowl.

  But it's fun to bake and tastes so good. “I like to see how it comes out. And I really like it. Some people eat it for breakfast, or with a meal. But I don't; I eat it for a snack.”

  She sometimes adds chopped nuts to the bread batter. “The other day, I put in a few Craisins in one of the loaves, and it turned out to be really, really good. You could also add raisins.”

  Though the recipe calls for two loaf pans, she prefers to bake three from one batch of batter. “I don't like the loaves so big and so tall, and it's easier to handle. I just like the smaller slices.”

  According to the recipe that is passed on with each starter, only the Amish know how to make the starter. So if a person stops baking the bread and maintaining the starter for a while, they have to wait until someone gives them one back, the directions say.

  However, recipes for Amish sourdough bread starters can be found online. One follows this article, along with the cinnamon bread recipe Dallabetta gives away with her starters.

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AMISH FRIENDSHIP
BREAD STARTER

1 .25-ounce package active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
3 cups all-purpose flour, divided
3 cups white sugar, divided
3 cups milk

  In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Let stand 10 minutes. In a 2-quart container - glass, plastic or ceramic - combine 1 cup flour and 1 cup sugar. Mix thoroughly or flour will lump when milk is added. Slowly stir in 1 cup milk and dissolved yeast mixture.

  Cover loosely and let stand until bubbly. Consider this day one of the 10 day cycle. Leave loosely covered at room temperature.

  On days two through four, stir starter with a spoon. Day five: stir in 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk. Days six through nine: stir only.

  Day 10; stir in 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk. Remove 1 cup to make your first bread, give 2 cups to friends along with this recipe. Store the remaining 1 cup starter in a container in the refrigerator, or begin the 10-day process over again (beginning with step 2).

  NOTE: Once you have made the starter, you will consider it Day One, and thus ignore step 1 in this recipe and proceed with step 2. You can also freeze this starter in 1 cup measures for later use. Frozen starter will take at least 3 hours at room temperature to thaw before using.

- Source: www.allrecipes.com

Amish cinnamon bread recipe Important notes:
• Do not use any type of metal spoons or bowl for mixing.
• Do not refrigerate.
• If air gets into the bag, let it out.
• It is normal for the batter to rise, ferment and bubble.

Day 1: Do nothing. (This is the date written on the bag.)
Day 2: Mush the bag.
Day 3: Mush the bag.
Day 4: Mush the bag.
Day 5: Mush the bag.
Day 6: Add to the bag: 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk, then mush the bag.
Day 7: Mush the bag.
Day 8: Mush the bag.
Day 9: Mush the bag.
Day 10: Follow the instructions below:

Pour the entire contents of the bag into a nonmetal bowl. Add 1-1/2 cups of flour and 1-1/2 cups of milk. Mix. Measure out four separate batters of one cup each into four one-gallon plastic zip bags. Write today's date on each bag. Keep a starter for yourself and give the other three to friends, along with a copy of this recipe.

To your remaining batter in the bowl, add:

3 eggs
1 cup oil, or 1/2 cup oil and 1/2 cup applesauce
1 cup milk
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 cups flour
1 large box instant vanilla pudding

  Grease two large loaf pans. Then mix additional half cup sugar and half teaspoon cinnamon together. Dust greased pans with half the mixture. (One-fourth of this mixture goes into each pan.) Pour the batter evenly into the two loaf pans and sprinkle the remaining half sugar mixture over the top of each.

  Bake at 325 degrees for one hour. Cool until bread loosens evenly from the pan (approximately 10 minutes). Turn out onto serving dish. Serve warm or cold.

  If you keep a starter for yourself, you will be baking every 10 days. The bread is good and makes a great gift.

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Nancy Gilkey can be reached at
nancygilkey@q.com or 261-9144.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Story updated Jan. 7, 2008. Recipe calls for a .25-ounce package of active dry yeast.