German Friendship Bread and Starter

posted by Maree 06-11-98 6:08 AM 


German Friendship Bread 

This recipe comes from "The Bread Book: A Step-by-Step- Guide to Making 
over 130 Delicious Breads" by Collister , L & Blake A. 1993, Published by
Conran Octopus, London., ISBN # 1 85 029 532 8.  

Makes 1 large loaf: 

Starter:
280g/ 10oz unbleached plain flour 
15g / (1/2 oz) fresh yeast 

For day 1 and 5: 
200g (7oz) sugar 
140 g (5oz) unbleached plain flour 
230ml (~8fl. oz) milk) 

For finishing loaf:
200g (7 oz) sugar 
85g /(3oz) sultanas- use raisins/ currants if necessary 
280g (10 oz) unbleached plain flour 
110ml / 4 fl. oz veg. Oil 
60g/2 oz walnut halves/ pecans - chopped 
1/2 teaspn. salt 
2 teasp. ground cinnamon 
2 teaspns baking powder 
few (to taste) drops vanilla essence 
2 med. Eggs, beaten 
2 cooking (eg Bramley/ Granny Smith) apples, cored, peeled and diced 

Topping: 
100g / 3 1/2 oz light muscovado sugar (light brown sugar will do at a pinch) 
110g/ ~3 1/2 oz melted butter -melted and cooled 


Method: 
To make the starter, put the flour in a large non-metallic mixing bowl and
make a well in the centre. Crumble yeast into the well, then pour in 455ml
/16g=fl. oz. water and stir, using a wooden spoon until the liquid is smooth.
Stir in the flour to make a sticky batter. 

Cover with damp teatowel and leave until batter absorbs yeast naturally 
present in the air. Stir once a day for the next 3 days, re-dampening the 
towel each day.The starter will then be ready to use. 

To make the dough, stir the starter you've made (or that you've been given)
Proceed as follows: 

Day 1: Add sugar, flour, milk to starter. Stir well, cover with a damp tea 
towel and leave over night 

Day 2: Stir well and re-cover with damp teatowel 

Days 3 & 4:Do nothing but re-dampen the teatowel daily 

Day 5: Stir well and add the same quantities of sugar, flour and milk as 
for Day 1. Stir well again, cover with a damp tea cloth and leave overnight
 
Day 6: Stir well and re-cover with a damp teatowel 

DAYS 7, 8, & 9: Do nothing except for the daily re-dampening of the tea-towel 

Day 10: Stir well and divide the mixture into four (4) portions. Give 2 
portions to friends with the instructions, keep 1 portion for your next 
batch (see below) and use one portion to make the loaf. 

To make the loaf, preheat oven to 180C/350G. Put your portion of starter 
in a large mixing bowl. Add vanilla, veg, oil, nuts, salt, cinnamon, baking
powder, vanilla essence, eggs, apples. Thoroughly combine. Put into the 
tin and level the surface. Sprinkle over the muscovado sugar , then drizzle
over the melted butter. 

Bake 30-40 mins until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Turn out and transfer to a wire wrack to cool completely. 

To keep the starter: Add 1 teaspn. Sugar to the portion of starter you are
going to keep for your next loaf. Stir well and store in a covered container
in the 'frifge for up to one week. To make a fresh loaf, begin at Day 1, 
using this starter. 

NB: The recipe says that these amounts of starter and ingreds. Fill 2 X 
455g (1lb) greased loaf tins or 2 X "American" 12-hole (sic) muffin trays.
I think this means 24 medium-sized. muffins). 

Variations: It is suggested by the authors to relace the sultanas and apples
with the equivalent weight/ volume in finely grated orange rind and chopped 
prune. 

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