Amish Cinnamon Bread

After making the Buttermilk Waffles, I had some leftover buttermilk. I didn't want to just throw it out but I also couldn't figure out what to do with it. So when my mom said we were going to have brunch at their house to celebrate Mother's Day, I figured I'd use it for that. After not fully liking what I had for hardcopy recipes, I went through Pinterest. While there were quite a few options for cake, two caught my eye that seemed a bit more appropriate for brunch: cinnamon coffee cake and amish cinnamon bread.

You remember the amish cinnamon bread, right? You get a starter batter and over the course of about 10 days, you knead the bag to get everything mixed and to activate the yeast. About halfway through add a few ingredients before kneading. Eventually, you divide the batter to give your friends their own starter batter and you use the rest for the bread itself (if you want to make your own starter, I found a good recipe on a website called Friendship Bread Kitchen, which has a ton of recipes that use the starter after the 10-day process).

For the sake of nostalgia, I decided to make the amish bread, completely forgetting about the 10-day mashing process. Turns out, that wasn't a problem: the recipe I found is a quick alternative recipe. No kneading, not waiting 10 days. Just combine the ingredients and bake like a normal recipe. The recipe comes from Redfly Creations.

Amish Cinnamon Bread (source)

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 (I had to do both as I only had 1 1/2 cups left in the buttermilk container)
• 4 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda

Cinnamon/sugar mixture:

• 2/3 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon 

Directions

1. Cream together butter, 2 cups of sugar, and eggs. Add milk, flour, and baking soda.
2. Put 1/2 of batter (or a little less) into greased loaf pans (1/4 in each pan). Mix in separate bowl the 2/3 c sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle 3/4 of cinnamon mixture on top of the 1/2 batter in each pan. Add remaining batter to pans; sprinkle with last of cinnamon topping. Swirl with a knife.
3. Bake at 350℉ for 45-50 min. or until toothpick tester come clean.  
4. Cool in pan for 20 minutes before removing from pan.

I brought one of the loaves to brunch. It was still a hit even though I had promised dessert and it obviously wasn't. My mom had a solution: top slices with the chocolate sauce that Kevin and Helen had brought to go with their fruit. I brought the other loaf into work. Was gone by lunch. I definitely like this recipe better than the 10-day one.