Friendship Bread It's All About Relationship

Today I reflect on relationship and how it comes into play in so many areas of life.  My sister Kathi received a gift of some Amish Friendship Bread from someone in her life. Even though she is at a place in life where she does little cooking or baking she chooses to care for and share this bread starter... relationships will prompt us to take action. She shared this bread starter with me and I am planning to share this Amish Friendship Bread starter with some of my friends too as I have done with my Kombucha Scoby. 

This blog is about inspiration that originated from my Nana. One thing I learned at my Nana's house was that it's all about relationship. H-mmm you might say, why is that? Well when we went to my Nana's house it was not about "You kids just go outside and play", or "shoo, I've got a lot to do" or even "I'm too tired right now". All of those things were probably true as with so many of our lives but it never felt that way at my Nana's. Do I remember her lying down to rest, yes. Do I remember her life being full with church, friends, gardening, household tasks, projects, and more? Yes, that too. I remember my great Uncle Bobo driving quite a ways to pick us up even with their busy lives he was not too busy to do that. Thinking about this reminded me that we often exchange time to share in relationship. 

My friend Diane and her sweet husband Alan have been amazing examples of this. We did not know it at the time, but one evening in April of 2021 we said goodbye to Alan for the last time. He had been over at our home sharing relationship in the form of help to my sweetheart. They put up drywall for several hours after Alan had worked a busy day. We do not always know the impact of our actions, but this I know,"relationship counts". In hindsight his life was FULL of relationships that counted. 

So today is day 6 of the lifecycle of my Amish Friendship Bread starter so I am feeding the starter in preparation for more starter growth and eventually sharing. It reminds me that in life in order for us to have growth we must also care for our relationships consistently, keep it warm and happy, feed those relationships, then eventually we will have multiplied it and finally the sweet outcome is the ability to share it with others. Sometimes we share it fully mature like a loaf of this delicious bread...other times is is still in a stage where it requires much more maturity before it is ready to give and share. At each stage it is beautiful. 

I'm excited to create a delicious loaf of bread from this starter but even more excited to be able to share it again with another. 

I'm a Pinterest Food Fanatic

Today as I was surfing Pinterest I came across this very cool presentation for a basic bread dough. Sadly as often happens the site had been tagged as a spam site but I loved the idea so much I just had to share this so I added it to my blog. This blog was originally started in honor of my wonderful Nana, she was my best woman role model, and I loved spending time with her...especially in her kitchen! This recipe can be adapted to so many different things! Here are some ideas I am thinking about. Egg Salad, Shredded veggie, Mini Meatball Mozzarella with Marinara, Chicken Salad, Tuna Salad, oh my! I'm excited to whip up some variations!

Beautiful Bread Cones

Ingredients

Dough:

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup water

3 Tbs vegetable oil

1/4 cup sugar

1 beaten egg

1-1/2 tsp salt

2-1/4 tsp instant yeast

3-1/2 to 4 cups flour

Egg Wash:

1 egg

1 Tbs milk

Instructions

Heat water and milk in microwave to scalding (not quite boiling)

Pour into mixing bowl, and allow to cool slightly so you don’t kill the yeast.

Add oil, sugar, and salt. Mix until well blended.

Add in beaten egg and 2 cups of the flour, mixing well.

Add in instant yeast and mix well.

Allow to sit about 10 minutes uncovered.

Now, start to slowly add in more flour.

When dough starts to clear the sides of the bowl, allow it to mix for about 8 minutes. (or knead by hand at this point)

Add a tablespoon of oil to a clean bowl, tipping to coat bottom.

Place dough into bowl, flipping to coat both sides with oil.

Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest till double in bulk – about 1 hour.

Remove dough and knead a few times to release bubbles.

Cut the dough into 8 – 12 pieces (depending on the size you desire)

Allow to rest about 5 minutes.

Take each portion and roll into a rope from 24 – 36” long (depending on the size of your tubes)

Roll ropes around the greased cream horn tubes (or make your own form as shown), starting at the bottom as shown.

Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment (or silpat liner)

Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise for about 30 minutes.

Brush with egg wash, and sprinkle with sesame seeds and/or poppy seeds if desired.

Bake in a preheated 350° oven for between 18 to 22 minutes – watching closely for overbrowning.

Place on wire racks to cool completely before removing tubes.

Fill cooled bread cones with sandwich filling as desired.

Cobbler, Crisp, Crumble -- What's in a Name?

Cobbler, Crisp, Crumble -- What's in a Name?

 At a recent gathering of friends I made my favorite super easy Peach Crisp and of course as it always does we started talking about trying to define the difference between a fruit cobbler, fruit crisp and the many other names we had heard these delicious fruit desserts called. I was sure there was a specific way to tell what characteristics a dessert should have to be called a certain title and of course there is, now we all know, aren't you relieved!

Peach Crisp

Here is the main dessert category, which includes:
•Betty — a baked pudding made of layers of spiced and sugared fruit and buttered bread crumbs.
 •Clafoutis — a French cobbler, with fruit (usually cherries) on the bottom, custard, and a rough batter crust baked on top
 •Cobbler — a spoon pie (more like a fruit stew with dumplings), in which biscuit dough is dropped onto the fruit before baking. The consensus is that the dish got its name because the lumps of cooked dough resembled cobblestones.
 •Crisp — a deep-dish fruit dessert made with a crumb or streusel topping and baked.
 •Crumble — a British dessert in which raw fruit is topped with a crumbly pastry mixture and baked. One reference says a crumble is like a crisp, but not as rich.
 •Grunt — a spoon pie, with biscuit dough on top of stewed fruit, which is steamed, not baked
 •Pandowdy — a spoon pie, with fruit on the bottom and a rolled crust on top, which is broken up to allow the juices to come through
 •Slump — a spoon pie, including cooked or uncooked fruit topped with biscuit dough or piecrust, which can be baked or steamed, and can be made upside down

I was truely relieved to read this because it reassured me that my Peach Crisp was in fact REALLY a Peach Crisp. So the burning question for you is, was your dessert really a cobbler?