Amish Friendship bread

Amish Friendship Bread is a type of bread or cake made from a sourdough starter that is often shared in a manner similar to a chain letter.The starter is a substitute for baking yeast and can be used to make many kinds of yeast-based breads, shared with friends, or frozen for future use. The sweet, cake-like Amish Cinnamon Bread is a common bread that is made from this starter; it is a simple, stirred quickbread that has characteristics of both pound cake and coffee cake. There is no reason to think that the sweet, cinnamon-flavored bread has any connection to the Amish people, although the name is taken from them. Starter can easily be created from scratch with a package of regular baker's yeast and the ingredients that are used to maintain it. Although it is much more fun when you get a bag of starter from a friend. I have made a few variations and posted pictures!

Amish Bread Recipe
* Do not refrigerate
* If air gets inside bag, let it out
* It is normal for batter to rise & ferment
Day 1 - Do nothing
Day 2 - Mash Bag
Day 3 - Mash Bag
Day 4 - Mash Bag
Day 5 - Mash Bag
Day 6 - Add to bag: 1 cup plain flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup whole milk, Mash bag
Day 7 - Mash Bag
Day 8 - Mash Bag
Day 9 - Mash Bag
Day 10 - Follow direction below:
Pour entire contents into a large non-metal bowl
Add 1 1/2 cups sugar, 1 1/2 cups plain flour, 1 1/2 cups whole milk, mix well with wooden spoon
Measure out 4 separate batters of 1 cup each into 4 ziploc bags (gallon size). Keep one of these
starters for yourself & give the other 3 to friends with a copy of the recipe (note: if you keep a starter, you
you will be baking every 10 days). The bread is very good and makes a great gift. Should this recipe not be passed on to a friend on the first day, be certain to tell the friend which day the bag is when presented.
After you have removed the 4 starters, use the remaining batter to bake the bread according to the
following instruction:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Add to batter:
3 eggs
1 cup oil
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla (or almond extract)
2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 cups plain flour
1 large box instant vanilla pudding
Optional: 1 cup raisins and or chopped nuts
Alternatives: use chocolate pudding & chocolate chips (omit cinnamon)
stir with wire whisk till well blended. Grease 2 large loaf pans. In a bowl, mix an additional 1/3 sugar
and 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Dust the pans with half the mixture.
Pour the batter evenly into the 2 pans. Sprinkle remaining sugar/cinnamon mix over top and bake for an
hour (check in 40 mins to see if bread is done though).