Don't Squeeze Me Today!

There's starter in my pocket.

That's right, there's Amish Friendship Starter in my coat pocket, a conglomeration of milk, sugar, and flour. Technically speaking, it is in a ziploc bag in my pocket. But you get the idea - squeezing me could be very dangerous.

Why am I running around Anchorage with Amish Friendship Starter (which by the way, looks basically like goo) in my pocket? I am taking the recipe's admonition against refrigeration to heart, and unfortunately, all of Anchorage is a giant refrigerator right now. I am aiming to deliver a batch of starter to an unsuspecting friend about to join the "Friendship Circle," but I had a series of errands today and left alone in a parked car, who knows what would have happened to the starter.

I shall not be responsible for the Death of Any Amish Friendship.

So I am doing the next logical thing - keeping it at room temperature in my pocket.

I am pleased to announce that by working hard to bake a total of four loaves in the last two days, I actually only have one starter to unload. The other one I will save for myself, get a sitter for it this weekend since I'm going away, and deal with next week. The last two loaves I tried a variation - chocolate pudding mix.

Having been cautioned by JaJa that the chocolate version isn't so chocolately, I substituted 3/4 c of sugar and 1/4 of unsweetened cocoa powder for 1 c of sugar. With the pudding mix, I felt as though the bread was sufficiently sweet already. I divided the batter into two loaves, and added 1/4 c chocolate chips to one of them just to kick up the chocolate factor. Various loaves were distributed yesterday and I am still waiting to hear the results of the public-at-large survey.

This morning I myself had a slice of the chocolate chocolate-chip loaf, and while decent, it doesn't seem to taste much different from the chocolate chocolate-chip muffins you can buy at Costco. Suffice it to say, that was not what I was aiming for. If the regular vanilla variety of Amish Friendship tastes like Sin and Redemption in One Bite, perhaps it can be said that the chocolate chocolate-chip loaf tastes like Just Cheap Sin In One Bite. It lacks the spiritual depth of its paler brother.

If the masses have a different opinion, you will be the soon to hear.

But for now, don't squeeze me today!