That, my friends, is a bag of Friendship Bread starter. Have you ever been given one of these? My cousin T gave me some in mid May that I made into some delicious bread. With this particular recipe, you leave the bag out on the counter for 10 days. Most days you are to "mush the bag". On day 6 I believe, you add some milk, sugar and flour. There is yeast in the starter so over the 10 days it grows and ferments and you have to start letting the air out of the bag. The air it makes smells like fermenting beer, which to me, smells really good. Then on day 10 you add more ingredients, divide it into more "starters", then make a batch for yourself which makes two loaves. The bread is really good and for some reason, I really enjoy the process. I wouldn't mind keeping one going all the time if not for the fact that it multiplies and you have to keep making a million loaves of bread.
The problem with Friendship Bread is getting people to take the new starters. I ended up getting myself into a situation of being left with a bunch of starters that I felt obligated to continue with. It's not that I don't have friends, it's that I apparently don't have a lot of friends that like to bake. Anyway, after what seemed like 500 loaves of bread and three starters in my freezer later, I finally put an end to the vicious cycle of friendship bread.
Only to be given one from my daughter's friend's Mom two days ago. She however, has the right idea. Don't ask people to take starter - just give it out. I'm not sure what I'm going to do now that I'm on the Friendship Bread Train again, but in 8 more days my neighbors might be finding a little gift in their mailboxes...
The end.
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