I will tell you that this recipe presented me with a little challenge. I’ve only had Amish Friendship Bread once before, when a friend gave me some starter and the instructions. I was nonplussed, as I’d never heard of the stuff and I wasn’t exactly sure how it would pan out, sitting on my counter for 10 days. But it made a lovely quick bread, and I did my duty and passed on the starter to three more friends. Since it was rather laborious for a quick bread recipe and I’d given away all my starter, I never made it again. What I remember was a very moist, VERY sweet bread with lots of cinnamon. When Eliza approached me about it, I initially thought it would be a snap. But then I thought about the starter. I obviously didn’t have any, and if I did, it wouldn’t be low carb or gluten free. And what was the point of the starter anyway? As far as I could tell, it was mostly a way to require friends to bake and pass it on, chain-letter style.
So I gave some thought to the purpose behind having a bag of milk, flour and sugar sitting on your counter for 10 days. Besides having to massage it daily, the milk would obviously sour and give a tangy sourdough flavour to the resulting loaf. Well, milk is going to sour when left that long no matter what it’s mixed with, so it could easily be made with low carb ingredients. I asked Eliza whether she cared whether she had starter left over to pass on, and she said she never did as she used all of her starter for loaves to give as gifts. That made my life easier! And in typical Carolyn fashion, waiting 10 days to make the bread didn’t appeal to me, so I decided to see if I could jump start the souring process with a little lemon juice. This helped me cut the counter-sitting time in half. I am hopeful this will suit Eliza as she wants to get a jump on making these for Christmas!
I didn’t make this in a way where you could pass on the starter to friends, because I really wanted to concentrate on getting the taste and texture right. Maybe someday, when I have huge amounts of time on my hands, I will figure out how to do that. In the meantime, this bread came out very moist and rich, with a cinnamon-y crust from the topping melting on during baking. My memory of eating the real thing is rather faint, so I can’t guarantee it’s exactly the same, but it was delicious and I hope Eliza will agree.
Amish Friendship Bread – Low Carb and Gluten-Free
Ingredients
Starter:
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 cup almond flour
- 1/2 cup Swerve Sweetener or granulated erythritol
Bread:
- 2 cups almond flour, divided
- 1 cup Swerve Sweetener or granulated erythritol, divided
- 1/2 cup oil, I used grapeseed
- 3 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 small box sugar-free vanilla pudding mix
- 1/3 cup unflavoured whey protein powder
- 1/4 cup coconut flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup chopped nuts
Topping:
- 1 tbsp Swerve Sweetener or granulated erythritol
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions
- For the starter, combine whole milk and lemon juice in a medium bowl and let thicken 10 minutes.
- Add almond flour and granulated erythritol and stir to combine.
- Transfer to a ziploc bag and remove as much air as possible. Then seal bag and allow to sit on counter for 3 days (see notes), massaging to mix ingredients 2 to 3 times a day.
- On the 4th day, preheat oven to 325F and grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan very well.
- Pour starter into a large bowl. Add one cup almond flour, 1/2 cup granulated erythritol, oil, eggs and vanilla extract and mix well. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together remaining 1 cup almond flour, remaining 1/2 cup granulated erythritol, vanilla pudding mix, whey protein powder, coconut flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
- Add dry ingredients to starter mixture and stir until fully combined. Pour into prepared loaf pan.
- For the topping, in a small bowl, whisk together granulated erythritol and cinnamon. Sprinkle over batter in pan.
- Bake 50-60 minutes or until loaf is cooked through and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. If you find that your loaf is browning too quickly, cover with foil for the last 15 to 20 minutes of baking.
- *Please note that you are trying to sour the milk in this recipe. If you have concerns regarding the safety of doing so, simply add 2 more tbsp of lemon juice and continue directly to next step. It may not be as "authentic" but it should still taste great.
Notes
Nutritional Disclaimer
Please note that I am not a medical or nutritional professional. I am simply recounting and sharing my own experiences on this blog. Nothing I express here should be taken as medical advice and you should consult with your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program. I provide nutritional information for my recipes simply as a courtesy to my readers. It is calculated using MacGourmet software and I remove erythritol from the final carb count and net carb count, as it does not affect my own blood glucose levels. I do my best to be as accurate as possible but you should independently calculate nutritional information on your own before relying on them. I expressly disclaim any and all liability of any kind with respect to any act or omission wholly or in part in reliance on anything contained in this website.
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I have never had Amish Friendship bread and noted Eliza’s enthusiastic comment so I think your bread has made you a new friend! And isn’t a new friend better than a bag of starter you can pass along? I think so. Lovely effort my friend.
What fun – I love seeing recipes adapted by you!
I would like to try this recipe with butter and my homemade dried cherries and pineapple for a fruit cake! I’m not sure about the cinnamon for that. Is the pudding mix the instant or cook kind? Thanks for the recipe!
Instant pudding! Go ahead and skip the cinnamon if it works for your fruitcake. Sounds delish.
This bread looks incredibly moist, warm, sweet, cozy… All I really want is a huge bite!
Amish bread has been on my list for a while but since no one around me bakes with yeast I never made it. I think I’m going to do as Eliza, bake all the breads and give them to friends instead of giving them a cup of starter
looks great, I just love amish friendship bread and the fact that when you make it you are baking for weeks and weeks 🙂
I remember th first time I saw a recipe for Amish Friendship Bread. It was a narrow, long strip to the side of the recipe section of our local newspaper. I cut it out and stil have it..albeit tattered. I love your GF, Low-Carb version of it, and I especially love the starter method in the zip-lock bag. Brilliant!
Hi Carolyn!
Thank you for doing this! I never would have thought of using grapeseed oil as a replacement. I love you for doing this and can’t wait to share this with my family. My husband is looking forward to this new version, as he always blames me for the extra 5 pounds over the holidays from snacking on the original recipe, each year 😉 When I told him that I had contacted you to convert to a low-carb version, he was on-board!
This meets everything that I was looking for! I can’t wait and thank you again!
Eliza
I really hope it meets with your expectations! I honestly can’t remember what the original tastes like, but this is a delicious cinnamon bread, with a cinnamon-y crust from the melted topping. We loved it, so in that regard, it was a success.
Hi Carolyn.
I see that I wasn’t the only one longing for this Amish bread to be converted 😉
Thank you again! I already started my Christmas gifts and I did start a starter without the lemon juice. I wanted to see what it would taste like if it fermented the whole 10 days, but using the almond flour and preparing as you have it.
I will let you know how it turns out 😉 You’ve inspired me, as always 🙂
Eliza
Hi. Injust noticed that these posts/replies are from seven years ago.. but I’m crossing my fingers that my question can still be answered.
Eliza mentioned trying to create a starter without using the lemon juice and doing the regular 10 day cycle to create starter. Did it ever work?
I have no issue making the bread without sharing the starter with friends.. but I rather like the idea of sharing it.
TIA (thanks in advance) for your reply. ????
I also hope everyone is healthy and staying safe!!
There just isn’t a way of doing that with keto ingredients. At least I don’t know of one but you can certainly try.
can i use ground flax seed in place of the whey protein?
No, that won’t help the bread at all.
Gorgeous photos!! Love that you made this vintage recipe. There are just some things that can’t be improved upon!
Love this! Friendship bread is a tradition in my extended family but I never have the patience to make it myself. I also don’t like how sweet it is. . .so this is perfect!
It’s not hard eating better with you on my side! On my to do list!
Wow!! Well done Carolyn!
I love friendship bread!! Can’t believe you made it low carb! Awesome!!
Brilliant!
This look so hearty and delightful!
Looks great to me! I need to get back into bread baking right away.