The “Start” of Many Friendships
Alicia Hinds Ward is an Air National Guard Spouse, Key Spouse, mother of three boys and …oh, yeah, she’s the 2013 AFI® Military Spouse of the Year! When asked to submit a recipe for this article, there was no need to thumb through her recipe box. She knew the perfect recipe to share with other military spouses. She’s had lots of practice sharing this dish.
As with every great friendship, it all begins with a “start”. Then you send time cultivating it and adding experiences together to form wonderful friends. The same goes for Alicia’s Friendship Bread – you need a “starter” to begin, take care of and then share.
Alicia first shared her bread and it’s starter at a few bake goods socials at Joint Base Andrews. It was then that the full impact of military spouse friendships was realized. The results were life altering for Alicia because because she met so many women who became her “sisters” and apart of her military family to this day. She believes it makes a closer community when we can share “bread” together.
Alicia says she likes to make multiple loaves of this bread to share with her fellow spouses in the spirit of friendship and community. She believes this is how we show love. So, what can possibly be better than Friendship Bread to bring 1.1 million of us together?
Friend Bread Starter
Mix 1 cup of each of following
Milk
Flour
Sugar
Using a clean wooden spoon, place in glass container with cheesecloth draped over it. This is necessary because the ingredients can’t touch anything metal, and the air coming through the cheesecloth allows the mixture to “culture” – in other words ferment and become bubbly, gooey and alcohol based. Make sure to put this container in a warm spot of your kitchen.
Like good friendship, this starter takes a little extra effort. It takes 10 days for this process. Pay close attention, because it can be tricky.
- Every odd numbered day, you add 1 cup each of milk flour and sugar. Add in ingredients on days 3, 5, 7, and 9
- Every even numbered day: you stir with the clean wooden spoon on days 2, 4, 6, and 8 you stir.
- Day 10 you divvy it up your “starter” into 10 pieces to share with your military spouse friends. You give away 9 of them, because you are an amazing, generous and fantastic Military Spouse, and then start a new batch of starter.
Friendship Apple Coffee Cake
It’s time to bake! Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Get two medium loaf pans and spray with oil. Mix 1tablespoon of Sugar with 1 teaspoon of Cinnamon and sprinkle that on the bottoms of the pans. Then gather your ingredients in the following order putting them in a large bowl:
1 cup of starter
½ cup Vegetable Oil (this can be substituted)
½ cup Applesauce
¾ cup of Sugar
½ cup Milk
1 tsp Cinnamon
2 cups Flour
1 ½ tsp Baking Powder
½ tsp Salt
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
3 Eggs
1 Large box of Vanilla Pudding
Stir it all up until it looks smooth and any lumps are gone. Alicia likes to add apple slices (thinly sliced) in the bottom of the pans before adding the mixture on top. It gives the bread a slightly different taste and makes it apple pie bread. Then, pour it equally between both pans for even baking and brush with 1 tablespoon of melted butter.
Place on the top rack of the oven and bake for 55 -60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let it cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack. When cooled, slice and enjoy. It’s very versatile and great paired with coffee, tea, and wine.
