Curse outweighs blessing!
- One of us got this stuff started at church. It reminds me of the "tribbles" problem in StarTrek ; you can't stop it from multiplying! We needed a "starter sitter" kind of like a pet sitter if we went out of town --- someone to come in to feed and stir! Soon everyone was bringing little bags to church and offering it to the unsuspecting few whose lives were not already infested with it. Then we would sneak it in and go out unnoticed and slip it into someones car as they were inside. It got to be a war! We finally called a friendly truce and had a party where we all tossed it at the same time. Now a friend of mine bakes me a loaf occasionally, and when I am tempted to ask for some starter, I pray for strength and keep my request to myself! I am almost an "empty nester" and have a 4 dogs and 2 cats to keep us busy. I don't need another "pet" to care for.
- —Guest Marilyn
Instead of giving starter
- Instead of trying to get people to take starter, I put one bag of starter in the freezer, to get out a year or two later :) (it still works). The others I make up in different flavors and either give some away or freeze the loaves, tightly wrapped, to enjoy later.
- —Guest alowry
Friendship bread
- While its a good idea, it did cause problems with myself and my mother. So those with food allergies should avoid this recipe.
- —Nivasi
forgot to mention
- I prefer the recipe without the vanilla pudding. I found that it had an artificial and unpleasant taste compared to the regular recipe.
- —blissfulbeader
what a blessing!
- I got my original friendship starter almost 20 years ago. I had to re-make it in 1993, from scratch, when I found a spider doing the backstroke in it though. I keep it on the counter in a large Rubbermaid container with a lid askew. I feed it 1/3c each of flour, sugar and buttermilk every 5 days and stir it daily. You do NOT have to wait to bake it on day 10. I use it anytime I want. Just keep it fed and stirred and use it when you want. If you google it, you'll find my recipes on line. We just made belgian waffles with it on sunday and they were like the pancakes...practically float off the plate with lightness ....and so delicious...and lower in fat than regular ones! I've made every kind of muffin or cake imaginable using it as a base and I gave mini-loaves of cranberry/apple with orange zest for Xmas. It's fantastic and you cannot mess it up!!! I wouldn't be without it!
- —Blissfulbeader
Love my Friendship Starter Bags
- You know I get so excited when someone shares their starter with me...as time goes I get sick of making it all the time and will discard the excess to get out from under it....being a mom for the last 30 yrs, my children have eaten all kinds and flavors of the bread...but sometimes I get so busy with work and family that I would forget about my baggie till it went bad or exploded....than was a fun mess...and then I would forget about it for a couple years at a time sometimes...until a family member, co-worker or friend brought it to me again with the recipe attaches....so you can either look at it as a blessing or just kindly decline so they can pass it on to another...
- —Guest dhomminga
Unwelcome Project
- I've received friendship bread starter a couple of times, but I felt like someone was giving me a project I didn't volunteer for. I threw it away, but I still appreciated the givers for thinking of me.
- —MarshaMaxwell
Friendship Bread
- Neither...not a blessing nor a curse.......just another recipe.
- —Guest Fran Dougherty
A good opportunity to... (ahem)
- This is the sort of thing I'd be tempted to take to school one day, when picking up Saughter C, and... slip to her classmates, telling them how cool it was and getting them raring to try it. I wonder if their moms would ever talk to me again? :-/
- —Guest Kyle
a sweet idea !
- Truly a blessing and a curse. my family loved it. however the work involved ,especially the 10 day steps were too easy to forget. the idea is nice , but quick bread sounds better. Carmela
- —Guest carmela notaro
What a Lovely Idea
- I have never heard of this? Amongst my foodie friends I think it would be a really lovely idea, non-foodies wouldn't be as open. Am going to ask around and report back.
- —ElaineLemm
I'd rather receive the finished product
- I haven't had this bread in years, but I remember thinking it was pretty tasty but not extraordinary, and maybe not worth a 10-day wait. Although the idea behind it is nice, I never liked feeling "forced" to find someone else to share it with. So I guess I would say that I would prefer my friends share the finished product (yum!) and I could then pass on the baking love with this or another recipe.
- —ELaBau
A Blessing Because It's Fun
- I haven't made this in years, but there was a time when my friends were always passing around the starter bags. I think the shared, combo giggle and groan when receiving a bag added to the amusement of this recipe. We knew what we were in for, but the camaraderie always made it fun. Plus, my family liked the end result.
- —ABENTRTAIN
Can it be both?!
- We've received those plastic bags from co-workers when our children were young. In a two-income family with kids, remembering to attend to the bag can be difficult. The resulting bread was delicious, though. The most difficult part is deciding who should receive the other bags... If you work in a small office and receive the bag from a co-worker, chances are that everybody in the office will run when they see you coming because they’ve already received one, or heard about it. So, who to give the bags to? Soccer team parents? PTA members? We actually had acquaintances hand the bags back to us saying that they weren’t cooks!
- —Lisa_and_Tony_Sierra
A Poolish Chain Letter
- I can start with flour and water - nothing else - and 8 days later have a far superior liquid poolish (native-yeast starter) than something coddled with sugar and milk. And once my starter is well-established I can ignore it for up to two weeks in the fridge before it requires any more attention. But of course if you don't pass on the starter you'll have seven years bad luck and your family will get the plague from bed-bugs, lice, and rats. Then a ladder will fall on your head. I kept a sourdough starter going for many years before finally deciding it was just too much trouble.
- —KDWeeks
Mixed emotions
- I have mixed emotions about friendship bread. It's a nice gesture but, for people who don't bake, it's a source of guilt (not being used and all). As you long as you choose your recipients wisely, it's a pretty cool thing!
- —Barb.Rolek
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