Chain-Letter Cinnamon Bread

The bread that keeps on giving

About six weeks ago, we were gifted a so-called “Amish Cinnamon Bread” yeast starter in a zip-top bag that came along with a somewhat cryptic-sounding recipe. Due to my affinity for baking, I decided to take charge of the project. After waiting ten days and “mushing” the bag everyday, it eventually yielded what it promised – one deliciously moist cake, and four baggies of starter batter for friends.

I couldn’t help but begin to think of this adventure in baking as an edible chain letter, and low and behold, not long after that initial baking and gifting of starters on consenting friends and family, one came back to us last week. After another ten days of mushing and feeding, we had new yeasty, bready cakes to gift on unsuspecting friends. I chose to bake them into two smaller loaves this time, and they came out perfectly sized for holiday gifts.

So now we come to today, where I find myself incubating yet another four baggies of starter, and wondering whether this cake chain will ever end. This time I’ve opted to keep all four for now, and bake up a holiday extravaganza when they are ready. Who knows, I might even smuggle future starters across state lines to give out to my mother and grandmother around the new year.

It makes me wonder where the yeast starter in our original batch came from, and how many batches it had come from before that. How far will our starter’s progeny travel before someone finally gives up and bakes the whole thing? Will you, dear reader, receive one? Or have you already participated in such a “chain cake” before? Have you ever even heard of such a thing?

Edit: This recipe on Foodista is similar to the one we used, though not exactly the same.

One year ago: Spicy Peanut Butter Cookies