Amish Friendship Bread - Salara

When Rajitha said that she has packaged some of that friendship starter to me I was so excited. I even told my husband (who is the one who retrieves our mail ) to keep a watch out for a package for me and to check the mailbox everyday, without fail. I guess the postman sensed the excitement and actually deposited the package right on my doorstep so I picked it up and immediately ripped open the package to see an off-white liquidy batter - The Amish Friendship Bread Starter. Yippee.

It came with a sheet of instructions and a few tips from Rajitha. It was day 4 when I received it so I didn't have to wait too long before adding more flour, sugar and milk on day 6. I also mashed it daily and watched the package puff into a balloon and would deflate it each time. I couldn't decide on what to bake.. there were too many options running through my mind. Till the last minute I was still contemplating on the different recipes. Since Cynthia's Salara has been on my mind for a while now, I decided on making that using the starter.

Update on May 27th 2008:
Zlamushka is hosting the Tried & Tasted event and this month's edition is Cynthia's Tastes Like Home Blog. I would like to submit this beautiful dish from Cynthia's blog as my entry for this event.

Here's Cynthia's recipe :

SALARA (Coconut Roll)

Ingredients:

DOUGH
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp active yeast
1 tsp sugar
¼ cup warm water
½ cup whole milk
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup margarine
1 tsp salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 egg white, lightly beaten

FILLING
2 cups finely grated coconut
Handful of raisins, chopped
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla essence
Red food colouring

METHOD
1) In a bowl, mix all the ingredients for the filling and set aside for 1 hour. I buy frozen grated coconut usually... so I ran that in the mixie for a few minutes to make it softer. I added a handful of chopped raisins to the coconut mixture since i remembered the coconut buns in India having some tutti-fruti.

2) In a separate bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water with 1 tsp sugar. Let proof for 10 minutes.

3) In a large bowl, mix flour, salt, sugar. Add yeast, lightly beaten egg, margarine and warm milk to flour mixture and knead to dough

4) Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover dough and let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size

5)Punch down dough, knead briefly and divide equally in half. On a well floured surface, roll each piece of dough into a 12 by 8 inch rectangle. Divide the filling in half and spread 1-half onto the rectangle-shaped dough, leaving 1 inch free around the edges.

6) Roll up the dough with mixture, lengthways, cover and let rise for 45 minutes

7) Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Brush rolls with egg-white egg wash and bake in oven for 20 – 30 minutes

8) Cool on a rack, slice and serve.
I adjusted the flour and milk in the recipe for the dough by reducing them to factor in the 1 cup of Amish Bread Starter that I used. Though my bread doesn't look as good as Cynthia's, it tasted very good. I loved the flavor of the coconut filling.

I am forwarding the Friendship Starter onto two wonderful bloggers : Richa and Padma
Hope they enjoy the baking experience as well.

I would also like to send this as an entry for Coffee's MBP-Bread.

My Favorite smells in the kitchen will have to be:

1) The aroma when you add coriander leaves while sauteeing onions, ginger and garlic.
2) The smell of a cake being baked and finally
3) Inhaling the vapours as I boil tea and ginger, just before I add the milk... very soothing.

Thanks to:
Rajitha for giving me the opportunity.
Cynthia for the wonderful Salara recipe
Coffee for organizing MBP and this month's lovely theme
Richa and Padma for carrying on the friendship bread tradition... :)