Strawberry Friendship Bread

I have a total and complete obsession with my friendship bread starter. For some reason, I want to experiment with recipes and try new things instead of sticking with the tried and true. Granted, making up recipes is a thing for me, but I often see one that looks perfect, like I did with the original Amish Friendship Bread. However, after trying some regular stuff, I was onto wanting to make wild creations. I decided to go with a completely normal Pistachio bread, using pistachio pudding instead of vanilla and some white chocolate chips, and then a slightly less conventional strawberry bread.

Unfortunately, I accidentally deleted a couple of the pictures that go along with this recipe, but I did save a picture of the batter and the finished product.

I know they had strawberry creme instant pudding mix at one time, but I didn’t see any when I went to the store, so I got a new idea. I know I’ve posted recipes that use cake mix, eggs, and a can of pie filling, instead of the oil and water that you would normally add. Amish Friendship Bread calls for 1 whole cup of oil, so I thought just maybe I would have some luck using pie filling in the bread recipe. I know anything with starter is definitely different than cake mix, but it was worth a try!

I began by putting my strawberry filling in a bowl and beating it with a mixer to get the chunks out. I try to be careful with this because they say not to use metal with AFB starter, but stainless steel is okay. I have heard that most things today are stainless steel, so it’s usually safe, but unless I’m completely sure, I try to use non-metal. That’s why I try to stir my starter in with a spatula and refrain from using a hand mixer after the starter is added.

Once the chunks in the pie filling were broken up, I followed the standard procedure of mixing my wet ingredients, and then mixing my dry in a separate bowl before I combined them.

I baked these in silicone loaf pans, and I absolutely love how easily the loaves come out. The silicone loaf pans also allow for flexibility in shape, which I don’t know if I like yet. These loaves with the pie filling “poofed” out quite a bit more, and they wouldn’t have been able to if they were in a traditional metal loaf pan.

I have also been using a method for keeping less starter on hand, and so far, I’m not sure if I like it. I don’t feel like it’s as yeasty as I remember it being when I had a starter for the first time, but I also don’t have enough friends to give away 3-4 bags every 10 days, and even with using starter for more things then just bread, my husband and I can’t use that much starter ourselves. Discarding it doesn’t sit well with me and I don’t want to freeze the excess because I simply don’t have the room or use for it. I’m going to try to stick with keeping this smaller amount since the starter is definitely still very good and see where it gets me. I am hoping it will taste better with time, just like my old one.

I tried another of my own variations with my starter over the weekend, and it is definitely not going to be on this blog! I had high hopes, but the Birthday Cake Waffles I made were so dry I decided to throw away the leftovers. They weren’t awful by any means, but they weren’t great, and I definitely won’t share anything that I don’t want to have again and again.

I am hoping that soon I can master the art of baking with starter, but for now, I have to take my successes where I can get them. I hope you enjoy the recipe for this strawberry bread and feel free to experiment with other pudding flavors and pie fillings!

Strawberry Friendship Bread Recipe

Wet ingredients:

• 1 can strawberry pie filling
• 3 eggs
• 1/3 c. milk
• 1 c. sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 c. Amish Friendship Bread starter
• 1 box white chocolate instant pudding mix

Dry ingredients:

• 2 c. all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2. tsp. salt
• 1 c. white chocolate chips, optional

NOTE: The instructions for baking with starter say not to use metal, but stainless steel is okay. If you know the beaters on your mixer are stainless steel, you will probably be fine, however, I use a mixer up until I add the starter, then I switch to a rubber spatula. That is why I listed the starter second to last with the wet ingredients.

Preheat oven to 325

In a large mixing bowl, add in the can of strawberry pie filling and beat it with a hand mixer until the big chunks are broken up. Don’t worry about it being smooth- just make sure there aren’t any whole pieces left.

Add in the rest of the wet ingredients and mix it together well.

In a separate bowl, add all your dry ingredients together and stir until thoroughly combined. If you decided to add the white chocolate chips, they will be less likely to sink to the bottom since you have coated them in the flour mixture.

Add the dry ingredients into the wet mixture and stir gently until thoroughly combined.

Grease two loaf pans and flour them, or use white sugar instead of flour.

Bake the loaves for 50 minutes to an hour, or until a toothpick comes out clean. It helps if you rotate your loaves halfway through the baking time. If your loaves need a bit more baking time, but they are looking brown and you fear they may burn, place a sheet of foil over them and bake them for an extra few minutes at a time until they are cooked through.