Akin to an edible chain letter, Herman the German friendship cake apparently originates from the 1720's and the Amish people. They would make a type of sourdough bread which would be passed among the needy and sick. The Amish began to emigrate from Germany to America in the early C18, where they established settlements in Pennsylvania and Ohio, and they took the recipe with them. The basic premise is that you can either start your own 'Herman', or you may get given one. It’ll probably be given to you in a bowl looking something like this:
(This is the starter mix, which is a substitute for baking yeast) Whichever is the case, you ‘nurture’ your Herman for 10 days, following the instructions, and every few days adding sugar flour and milk. After the 10 days is up, just before baking, the growing mixture is separated into four portions. You bake the one portion (adding any extra ingredients you think would enhance the flavour) and pass the other three to friends to ‘nurture’ and continue the cycle...
With any luck, your baked Herman should end up looking more like this:
Find out much more about the origins of Herman, along with instructions, tips, advice and recipe ideas here
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