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... :)

Comments

  1. that looks very delicious. I too have the starter. but still not decided on what to make. that is my next homework:)

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  2. That looks so colorful and I am sure you thoroughly enjoyed baking this frenship bread. Thanks for sending me the starter, I will now have to start researching on what to bake..

    Nice entry, Laavanya!

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  3. Looks like colorful Cinnamon buns, yummy!))
    I like the name Salara.

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  4. hey, the postman has not sensed my excitement yet!! it has suddenly turned pretty hot here, hope the starter does not go bad sitting on my doorstep!
    salara looks so beautiful, giving me ideas ;)

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  5. Laavanya!! those look awesome girl..how yummy :)

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  6. wow they simply look gorgeous!!!

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  7. Beautiful!! Salara! what a different and quaint name!

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  8. Wonderful job you have done, Laavanya. The filling looks so colourful.

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  9. Great job! Salara looks wonderful!:)

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  10. You are the best! What an amazing job you did and I like the idea of adding some raisins! I wish I were nearby to have a slice.

    You make me smile :)

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  11. Hi Laavanya! bread looks colorful and yum...nice post too.

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  12. cynthia totally rocks!!! your bread turned out beautifully.

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  13. How beautiful is that! You have done such a fab job with the starter.The pics are lovely too:-)
    My favorite smells are almost the same as yours especially no.1- when onion, ginger-garlic hits the hot oil.
    Another fav smell(not in the kitchen though) is that of Vicks vaporub(don't ask me why!)
    I also looooove the smell of the soil after the first rain.

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  14. all of cynthia's recipes are meant to be bookmarked :) - beautiful buns

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  15. Thank you Sharmi. Am sure you'll bake something fundoo!

    Padma, I hope you have fun with this. You are welcome.

    Asha, I couldn't get it as red as Cynthia.. i added 3 drops of red food coloring and got pink...

    Richa, The batter needs to be in a warm place.. you'll be fine. Thank you.

    Hey Rajitha & Dee, Thanks.

    Thanks Manasi... We must ask Cynthia about the origin.

    Thank you Suganya and Tee.

    Cynthia, Thanks to you for inspiring me to try this. I liked the raisins.. you ought to add them next time.

    Thank you Jyothi & Bee

    TBC, are you sure the photos are good.. i wasn't happy at all. Coffee wanted fave smells in the kitchen or my list would totally match yours! :) At one point I could sleep only if I rubbed some vicks on my forehead (even when i had no cold)! I love the smell after the first rain too and somehow it was more prevalent when i was in india than here.

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  16. Yummy! This is so fab...loved it.

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  17. What a delicious post, and such a novel way of using the starter! The roll looks completely tempting.
    I agree with all your favorite kitchen aromas...they are indeed divine!

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  18. I wish some one sends me a package too!:) It it only for bloggers in the US?
    Lovely recipe laavanya!

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  19. Your salara looks equally gorgeous...very nice entry :)

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  20. Thank you Pooja.

    Nupur, Thank you so much... Nice to know you love the same aromas :)

    Latha maami, I wish I could send the starter to you. Not sure if it will reach India in time though. I understand that there are ways to make this starter ourselves - that's what a search on google showed me.

    Thank you Sunita.. that's very kind of you.

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  21. It looks lovely and interesting. A Good try Laavanya. Viji

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  22. Oh man, absolutely wonderful.
    Shows your interest lavanya.
    I am too lazy in these stuffs.

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  23. the salara looks great laavanya..Thanks for letting me know..will try it sometime for sure..

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  24. Laavanya,
    this is such a colorful roll, I love it. Thanks a lot for the entry, this is going to be an awesome round-up.

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  25. laavanya..thats one lovely bread!

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  26. Hi! I just made this bread, but I made "cinnamon bun" style rolls instead of a loaf. They are so pretty! Thanks for the recipe.

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  27. Hi Laavanya!

    I would love to use your variation of Amish Friendship Bread on our group page: www.facebook.com/fbkitchen. I'll credit the recipe to you with a link back to the post. Can you let me know if this would be of interest to you? Thank you!

    best,
    Mia

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  28. I am living in Grenada caribbean island but originally i am from GUYANA SA I never knew that SALARA is an Amish friendship bread but i absolutely love it. Back home in Guyana they make it so good but here in Grenada they doesn't i so i can't wait to try it on my own for the 1st time. coming back to tell u how it was.

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