Day 1: Do nothing.
Day 2-5: Mush the bag.
Day 6: Add to the bag: 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup milk. Mush the bag.
Day 7-9: Mush the bag.
Day 10: Follow the instructions below:
1) Put the entire contents of bag into a bowl.
2) Add 1.5 cup sugar and 1.5 cup milk. Mix well.
3) Measure 1 cup of batter into each of four 1-gallon ziplock bags. Label with the date. Keep a starter for yourself and give the other 3 bags to friends, along with a copy of the recipe. (HINT: You can also stick bag(s) of starter in the freezer. When you remove from freezer, treat that as Day 1 on the instructions). (ADDITIONAL HINT: You can remove one single cup of starter to keep for later and treat the rest as a double batch of starter so double the rest of the recipe, making 4 loaves instead of 2.)
4) Preheat oven to 325.
5) Add to remaining batter:
3 eggs
1 cup oil
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup milk
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 cups flour
1 large (or 2 small) package instant vanilla pudding
1/2 tsp. salt
6) Grease 2 large loaf pans.
7) In a small bowl, mix together 1/2 cup sugar and 1.5 tsp cinnamon. Dust the greased pan with half the mixture.
8) Pour the batter evenly into the 2 pans and sprinkle remaining sugar mixture over top.
9) Bake 1 hour. Cool bread until it loosens evenly from the pan (10-15 minutes).
**If you keep a fresh starter for yourself, you will be baking every 10 days.
*** This recipe is extremely forgiving with a few days of wiggle room. If you forget to add ingredients on day five, no big deal. Put them in on day six or seven instead and then wait 4-7 days before baking. Going to be out of town on day 10? Bake it on day 9 or day 11 instead.
Variations:
Lemon Poppy seed: Eliminate cinnamon from original recipe, add 3 Tbls. poppy seeds & 2 small packages of lemon instant pudding.
Chocolate Banana Version 1: Eliminate cinnamon from original recipe, add 1 small box chocolate & one small box banana instant pudding.
Chocolate Banana Version 2: Eliminate cinnamon from original recipe, add 2 small packages of banana instant pudding and 1/2 - 1 cup mini chocolate chips.
Pistachio: Eliminate cinnamon from original recipe, add 1/2-1 cup chopped pistachios & 2 small packages of pistachio instant pudding.
