A Brief Respite
Today, aside from the midnight wake-up call from Baby, has been better. If I had remembered to give screaming, whining baby some Motrin before bed, he might not have woken me up, demanding pain medication. Duh. Mea culpa.
Anyway, today I have gone with the mantra that drugs are a Good Thing for teething. I also picked up some of the teething tablets recommended by Beth and also some Ambesol. Hopefully, that will make it all better. But for the love of Heaven, I want these teeth to break through soon.
I remind myself that this, too, shall pass. 
This weekend I made Amish Friendship Bread for the first time. My neighbor gave me the starter mix and I had the fun of squishing a Zip-Loc bag for ten days, keeping the fermentation going. It’s an amazingly moist bread, and the smell of cinnamon and sugar is to die for. I like texture in my breads, so I added a generous cup of chopped pecans and a mixture of dried cherries, blueberries, and cranberries. Here’s a link to a starter if you don’t have one. I kept my starter in a gallon bag, and it worked fine for mixing. Here’s a recipe for the bread from Cooks.com:
Note: DO NOT USE METAL BOWL OR SPOON - DO NOT REFRIGERATE.
DAY 1 - Do nothing. DAY 2 - Stir with a wooden spoon. DAY 3 - Stir with a wooden spoon. DAY 4 - Stir with a wooden spoon. DAY 5 - Add: 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup milk. DAY 6 - Stir with a wooden spoon. DAY 7 - Stir with a wooden spoon. DAY 8 - Stir with a wooden spoon. DAY 9 - Stir with a wooden spoon. DAY 10 - Add: 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup milk. On DAY 10 - make the Amish Friendship Bread.
First pour off three 1 cup starters. Save one for yourself and give the other to 2 friends.
Pour remaining batter into a large bowl and add the following ingredients:
1 c. oil
2 c. flour
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. milk
3 eggs
1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 c. nuts, chopped
1 lg. box instant vanilla pudding
**Michelle’s addition–one 5 oz bag of dried blueberries, cherries, and cranberries.
Pour into 2 well greased and sugared loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes (longer if glass) before removing from pans. This does real well in the freezer. Makes a delicious sweet bread.
STARTER:
1 c. flour
1 c. sugar
1 c. milk
Start instructions with day 1.
My instructions said to bake at 325 for an hour, but that wasn’t long enough. I think you have to use your judgment. Anyway, since the holidays are coming up, you might want to try this!
Michelle posted in Writing @ 5:20 pm | Viewed 1235 times
Lynellen Says:
Stacy Dawn Says:
Happy belated birthday!! Poor kid to get the teeth all at once…poor mama LOL.
The bread sounds really cool. Although, I remember my mom making something like that when I was a kid and she left it atop the refridgerator and it expanded out of the container and up and over EVERYTHING LOL.
Rene Says:
My kids didn’t suffer much from teething when they were babies. However, my 8 year old is chewing on everyting. All of a sudden she is losing teeth like mad and the new teeth are really bothering her. I’m going to get her a teething ring.
I forgot about Amish Friendship bread. That was a big thing with my circle a few years ago. Thanks for sharing.
Donna Alward Says:
My mum used to make a version of this, called Friendship Cake (because you give starter to friends). Our live-in hired man called it “Brew Cake”. I remember it popping the top off of mum’s covered tupperware bowl.
And when I was visiting someone last week, they were working on a starter, but had to use something other than a ziploc as it kept swelling wayyy too much!
D