French Vanilla Pumpkin Amish Friendship Bread

It was a no-brainer for me to decide how to jazz up this weeks Amish Friendship Bread.  Of course I would do a loaf of pumpkin.  I would bet that most of you even saw this one coming.


For the Starter:


2 cups of all-purpose flour
2 cups of warm water
1 package of dry yeast (DO NOT SUBSTITUTE WITH A RAPID RISE DRY YEAST-IT WILL EXPLODE!)



Directions for Starter:

Make your starter right in a large one gallon-size double zipper zip-lock bag. Just dump in all three ingredients, seal and mush very well. Do Not Refrigerate it at any point. Just leave the bag/ bags out on your kitchen counter so you do not forget about them and - NEVER- use a metal spoon or bowl at any time (use plastic or wooden).

Day 1: (Day after the date on the bag) Do nothing
Day 2: Mush the bag
Day 3: Mush the bag
Day 4: Mush the bag
Day 5: Mush the bag
Day 6: Add 1 cup sugar, 1 cup flour and 1 cup milk right into the bag, reseal it and mush it all together.
Day 7: Mush the bag
Day 8: Mush the bag
Day 9: Mush the bag
Day 10: Follow the directions below

1. Pour the starter out of the bag into a non-metal bowl (remember you should be using a wooden or a plastic spoon too).
2. Stir in 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour, 1 1/2 cups of sugar and 1 1/2 cups of milk (I used 2%).
3. Using a 1 cup dry ingredient measuring cup, measure out 1 cup of the batter and place into another new 1 gallon-sized plastic double zip-lock bag; repeat 3 more times to end up with 4 new starters. You can hand them out with a copy of this recipe to family and friends or freeze them by placing them into another freezer zip-lock bag and into the freezer immediately (the yeast will stay active for up to 6 months-defrost on the counter and start off again on the schedule). Just make sure to keep one back for yourself so you can retreat your family with 2 more loaves of this amazing sweet bread in 10 days :)
4. Preheat your oven to 325*.
5. Then add the following ingredients into the bowl with the remaining batter:

3 eggs (at room temperature and beaten)
1 cup of canola oil
2 tsp. of ground cinnamon
1 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of milk (again I used 2%)
1/2 tsp. of real vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp. of baking powder
1/2 tsp. of baking soda
2 cups of all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. of salt
1 large package of INSTANT French Vanilla Pudding mix
1 cup of canned pumpkin
1 tsp. of pumpkin pie spice

6. Grease 2 loaf pans.
7. Sprinkle the inside of the pans with a nice coating of cinnamon and sugar.
8. Pour the batter equally into the 2 loaf pans.
9. Sprinkle the top of each loaf with more cinnamon and sugar.
10. Bake at 325* for about 1 hour. If you are using a dark pan, shorten the time to 60-65 minutes. Always check to see if they are done by inserting a wooden toothpick into the center of each loaf. If it comes out dry then they are done. One starter makes 2 loaves and 4 starters. Enjoy!