Fry Breads

I learned about fry bread when I was around 12 years old. I went to a friends house after school and her great grandmother, was making fry bread.  Id never had it before, and fell in love with it.  I never knew fried dough could be so yummy. Since then Ive found that Fry bread recipes are as varied as people. There are traditional Navajo fry breads used for ceremonies, and for some it is a sacred tradition. It is the "state bread" of South Dakota.   You can use fry bread to make a variety of delicious treats. They are used to make Indian tacos.  Just like regular tacos, but you pile up all the goodies onto fry bread, instead of a shell. Fry bread is traditionally a flat dough fried in oil,  made with baking powder.  I use a yeast dough for mine. I fry them into small balls and we eat them with butter and Jam, or sprinkled with powdered sugar. I am going to post two different recipes and ways to make them today. Mine and the Navajo recipe. I have made both recipes a lot. I cant tell you which is better, they are both delicious!



Navajo Fry Bread Recipe - Indian Fry Bread Recipe
1 cup unbleached flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon powdered milk
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup water
Vegetable oil for frying

 

Sift together the flour, salt, powdered milk, and baking powder into a large bowl. Pour the water over the flour mixture all at once and stir the dough with a fork until it starts to form one big clump. 

Flour your hands. Using your hands, begin to mix the dough, trying to get all the flour into the mixture to form a ball.

 NOTE: You want to mix this well, but you do NOT want to knead it. Kneading it will make for a heavy Fry Bread when cooked. The inside of the dough ball should still be sticky after it is formed, while the outside will be well floured this is important so the dough doesn't become tough. 

Cut the dough into four (4) pieces. Using your floured hands, shape, stretch, pat, and form a disk of about 5 to 7 inches in diameter.  Dont worry about it being a perfect shape. 

Heat the vegetable oil to about 350 degrees F.Your oil should be about 1-inch deep in a large cast iron skillet, or a deep fryer. 

Take the formed dough and gently place it into the oil, being careful not to splatter the hot oil. Press down on the dough as it fries so the top is submersed into the hot oil. Fry until brown, and then flip to fry the other side. Each side will take about 3 to 4 minutes. ( credit: Whats cooking in America)

My Fry Bread Recipe


I  make bread doughs on the weekends on freeze into loaves and rolls.  But for this recipe you can use any frozen bread dough, that you find in the freezer section at the grocery store.  Otherwise here is a White Bread ( yeast) dough recipe.  The best I found are the pre-made frozen rolls.  Let sit in a well greased glass pan until dbl in size.  Place the frozen rolls, somewhere warm and cover with a dark cloth.

Juls Basic White Bread Recipe 

6 cups flour, more or less, divided

1 tablespoon sugar 

2 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 envelope active dry yeast

2 cups very warm water, about 120

2 tablespoons softened butter

Prep: 

In a large mixing bowl combine 2 cups flour, sugar, salt, and yeast. Beating at low speed, add the water and butter. Continue beating at high speed for 3 minutes. Add 1/2 cup flour and beat 4 minutes longer. Stir in 3 cups flour, or enough to make a soft dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead for about 8 to 10 minutes,, or until dough is smooth and elastic, adding a little more flour as necessary.

Place dough in a large buttered bowl, turning to butter top. Cover with a clean dark towel and let rise for about 1 hour in a warm place( until doubled in size) free of drafts.

Alternative: Put all ingredients into your bread machine and remove dough after first rise. 

Heat Oil to around 350. 

Tear off dough into small pieces, roll quickly( you must work quickly, so the dough doesn't get tough and chewy) into a ball and drop into hot oil.  Cook on each side for about 2 minutes. Or a nice golden brown.  Drain on paper towels. Continue  tearing off dough and cooking. Only tear off dough as you are using it.

Take some Powdered sugar and hold a small sieve over the cooked dough,( add about 1/3 cup of powdered sugar to the sieve)  and sprinkle them with powdered sugar while still hot.  Can serve with Honey, jam. butter.   Whatever u imagine.

I have also used  Pillsbury dough in a can to make fry bread. Dont use the kind that has layers.  Found out the hard way, that doesn't work very well. 

J