No-Starter Amish Friendship Bread
With this recipe for No-Starter Amish Friendship Bread, there is all the flavor of a traditional Amish Friendship Bread but none of the wait!
A SIMPLER FRIENDSHIP BREAD RECIPE
If you aren’t familiar with Amish Friendship Bread then you are missing out on some of the yummiest sweet bread you’ve ever tasted. Growing up, this bread was popular among the Navy wives in our little base community. However, if you don’t have a starter, you generally couldn’t make this recipe. The starter is usually passed from friend to friend and you have to grow and nurture it for about 10 days before making the bread, then you could pass some of your starter to someone else. So I set about to create a recipe that would give you similar results without the starter!
WHAT IS A BREAD STARTER?
The starter is made with a mixture of flour, sugar and milk placed into a resealable bag.You knead the bag once a day for a few days And then you have to “feed” it a few days after that. After the tenth day, you can divide it all up into 10 resealable bags and pass them out to friends, hence the name, Friendship Bread). They can then make the bread by adding a few more ingredients to the starter or start the process all over again to make more starters. Bottom line, it takes a bit of time and dedication so I’m going to show you how to make a cheater version!
INGREDIENTS NEEDED: (FULL RECIPE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST)
- sugar
- cinnamon
- real buttermilk
- oil
- large eggs
- vanilla extract
- sugar
- ground cinnamon
- baking powder
- baking soda
- salt
- all-purpose flour
- instant vanilla pudding
- chopped walnuts (optional)
HOW TO MAKE AMISH FRIENDSHIP BREAD:
Preheat oven to 325f degrees. Spray two 9×5-inch bread loaf pans (or 8 mini loaf pans) with nonstick cooking spray. Sprinkle half of the cinnamon sugar mixture on the sides and bottom of loaf pans.
In a large bowl, stir together buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla. Stir in sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Then, slowly stir in flour and instant vanilla pudding. Finally, gently stir in chopped walnuts.
Pour batter evenly into prepared pans. Sprinkle the tops with rest of the sugar/cinnamon mixture.
Bake for 45 minutes (for mini loaves) and about an hour for full-size loaves. Allow to cool completely. Then gently remove the loaves and pack them into cellophane bags.
CRAVING MORE RECIPES?
- Cheesecake Stuffed Banana Bread
- Pumpkin Bread with Brown Sugar Glaze
- Air Fryer Banana Bread
- The Best Apple Bread
- Fresh Strawberry Bread
- The Best Banana Bread
- Bread Pudding
Originally published: September 2017
Updated photos & republished: December 2020
No-Starter Amish Friendship Bread
Ingredients
For the cinnamon sugar mixture:
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
For the bread:
- 3 cups real buttermilk
- 2 cups oil
- 6 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 ½ cups sugar
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 (3.4 ounce) boxes instant vanilla pudding
- 1 ½ cups chopped walnuts optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325f degrees. Spray two 9×5-inch bread loaf pans (or 8 mini loaf pans) with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a small bowl, mix together the sugar and cinnamon.
- Sprinkle half of the cinnamon sugar mixture on the sides and bottom of loaf pans.
- In a large bowl, stir together buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla.
- Stir in sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- Then, slowly stir in flour and instant vanilla pudding.
- Finally, gently stir in chopped walnuts.
- Pour batter evenly into prepared pans.
- Sprinkle the tops with rest of the cinnamon sugar mixture.
- Bake for 45 minutes (for mini loaves) and about an hour for full-size loaves.
- Allow to cool completely then slice.
Video
Notes
- A standard size bread loaf pan is 9×5-inches.
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
“The Country Cook” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
Recipe credit: Friendship Bread Kitchen
Can I make homemade vanilla pudding?
This is the only way I have made it and the only way I can tell you will work
Very good and so much easier than the kind that needs a starter!
just wondering if you could add chopped apples to this recipe for added flavour
If you try it, please let me know how it turns out! You never know until you experiment 🙂
This bread is absolutely delicious, perfectly sweet and delectable! I will be making this on the regular, thank you so much for sharing this quick and easy recipe, no more waiting weeks with a long list of steps and you would never know it by the taste!
Yay! Thanks so very much Sam! You are so kind to take the time to come back and comment.
This was so delicious and we thought it tasted just like the bread that needs a starter!
Very easy to make. I made 40 small loaves for favors. Everyone loved them. Will make again.
What a wonderful gift to give! Thanks so much for coming back to comment Terri!
This was so good and so easy! I made extra for friends and they absolutely loved it!
Just made this and wanted to point out that 2 8×4 pans are not sufficient for the volume of batter. Need at least 3 or maybe 9×5 pans.
Is the baking temperature right at 325? My bread definitely wasn’t done in one hour. Next time I will increase to 350 and see if that works. It tastes great, tho when fully baked!
I have made this recipe SO many times since you first shared it years ago. It was one of my favorite recipes to give to friends and family around the holidays. So delicious – thank you for sharing and for all the time you put into your posts. It is so very much appreciated for people like me who are visual learners.
Can this be frozen?
Yep it sure can!
What type of oil did you use?
Just vegetable oil 🙂
I made this bread last night and oh my goodness! Some of the best and most moist bread ever. I wish I could make all my bread varieties this texture. The flavor was so good.I searched your site for a plain banana bread and a plain zucchini bread using this recipe but couldn’t find one. Can you Please (I beg of you lol!) create a banana bread recip and a zucchine bread recipe based off this one. I would do it but don’t know how. I know the moisture would change because of the bananas or because of the zucchini and I don’t know how much that would change the amount of buttermilk. Thanks so much.
oh wow – that is amazing Barbra! You know what’s interesting is this particular recipe is one of my least viewed recipes. It doesn’t get any attention or appreciation at all so I’m surprised you found it while searching! I would definitely make more recipes with this base recipe if more people wanted but I’m not sure there is an interest there. I’ll definitely keep it in mind though and I’m absolutely thrilled you love it!!
This recipe brings back memories. I used to make Amish friendship bread a Lot. LOL! My best friend would not want anymore because then she had the starter too and so did her sister, etc.etc. I agree with Barbra. I would love to see a recipe for zucchini bread based on this recipe. I follow you and love your recipes, but I had never seen this one until you featured it today. Thanks, Loli
I love when a recipe brings back good memories!! Thank you for commenting! I’ll have to see what I can do about a zucchini version. 🙂
I loved it!!! Passed it on to family and friends. I too would love a recipe for Banana Bread and zucchini bread.
Thank you so much for your recipes.
You are greatly appreciated!!!!
I hope you will do the banana bread and zucchini bread based on this recipe soon.
Love this recipe. I added 3 large mashed bananas and 1.5 cups of chopped walnuts.Baked at 350 for 45 minutes. Turned out great.
This brings back memories! I’ll have to give it a try, especially since it’s a quicker process. I remember how my mom would tend to the starter dough for days, and she tried to make sure to have enough left to keep it going. I can almost smell the dough! Thanks!
At the top, the list says (2) 3.4 oz boxes of the pudding. But, in the recipe, it only calls for 1 box. Which should be used?
Sorry for the confusion – it’s two boxes. This recipe can be halved though (depending on how much you want to make)
I want to make this in a Bundt pan. Will it fit? And how long should it take in the oven?
Oh my goodness! This is excellent. So easy and I was successful! So yummy with Earle Grey or hazelnut coffee. Definitely at the top of my breakfast breads, tea breads and even desserts. Thank you ! Always look forward to your emails. ☺️
Can wheat flour be used in place of the All Purpose flour? Or maybe whole wheat white flour? My daughter says they eat wheat bread so I thought if the wheat flour could substitute for the All Purpose White Flour, it might be more appealing to her?
That seems like a huge amount of baking powder – 1 Tablespoon? Is this correct?
Do you have to use buttermilk? Can almond milk be used instead? I’ve read other recipes that use regular or nonfat milk.
Can you freeze the bread then thaw it when you want to use it? Will it taste okay after it thaws?
Can I use low fat butter milk?
May be a silly question, but when the recipe calls for the pudding – are you adding prepared pudding, or simply the powder from the box?
Powder from the box!
My husband is diabetic. Can I use 2 1/2 cups of Stevia in The Raw?
I live in a small community in NL Canada…is this product sold in Canada?
What are the actual measurements for the bread starter. I’d like to make that to pass out with this recipe.
Thank you!
this cake is not a product. Listed are all ingredient needed to make the bread. I am sure you can find everything in your local grocery store.
Happy baking!
Looks and sounds wonderful. Years ago I made “Friendship Bread”, used with a starter from a friend, but you added peaches, cherries and the nuts. Could this be added to yours or do you know of this recipe?
You stated you used regular sugar for the topping, but the recipe calls for Steviia for that. Which did you use?
It’s Sugar in the raw which is just raw/regular sugar. It’s the brand name ????
I do not use stevia what and how much can I supstitute that with?
It substitutes just like sugar – same measurements, same amount! 🙂
So if I don’t use the raw sugar, I will use 2 1/2 cups of regular sugar, correct?
Correct. If you want two loaves.
Looks beautiful!
Thanks so much Gloria! Hope you love it!