Amish Cinnamon Bread

Have you ever been given a container of Amish Bread Starter?  You know the one - the container of soured milk, flour and sugar that is kept on your counter and you have to feed it new ingredients every few days? Then you have use it in a recipe every so often?  You are then encouraged to pass some of the mix onto a friend who would appreciate it and use it? You know the one I mean?

I remember my mother would receive this "starter" on a regular basis and it would be fun and delicious for a week or two, then it became like a 6th family member having to be fed and taken care of constantly. Eventually she would dump it in the compost bin and take a rest from its sour-dough needs.

Though this sour-dough starter was often a pain in the you-know-where, you could never argue  the fact that whatever was made out of it - biscuits, coffee cake, quick bread - was ALWAYS delicious.

So do you want a recipe that takes just like sour-dough, but you can make from scratch ever time you crave it?

Well here it is!

( This recipe makes 2 loaves. )

Ingredients:

Batter:

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 cups buttermilk (or 2 cups milk plus 2 tablespoons vinegar or lemon juice)

4 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

Cinnamon/sugar mixture:

2/3 cups sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon 

1. Cream together softened butter and sugar. Add in the eggs and stir until smooth.

2. Stir in buttermilk.  

**Did you know that you can turn regular milk into a buttermilk texture by stirring 2 tbsp of lemon juice/vinegar into the milk and letting it sit for for a few minutes??

3. Gradually add 4 cups of flour and baking soda.

4.  Spread 1/2 the batter into 2 greased (or lined with parchment paper) loaf pans (1/4 of the batter into each pan).

5. Stir together cinnamon and sugar to make topping.

6.  Sprinkle 1/2 of this mixture over batter in loaf pans.

7. Spread remaining batter over cinnamon topping.

8. Sprinkle remaining topping over the second layer of  batter.

9. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes, depending on your oven.

Cool in pan before removing.

I love how the cinnamon layer swirls and dips as it bakes between the layers of batter.  It looks very pretty when sliced.

Enjoy with a cup of tea and a few girlfriends.

That's how these loaves were devoured early last week!

I'd love to hear how this recipe works out for you.  Do you have any other favourite quick bread recipes that are favourites in your house??

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Bronwyn