I had my first experience making frybread last night and I have a feeling it's going to become a problem for me. In the past few days I noticed a few different frybread recipes pop up and they looked so good, I decided to try it for myself. Not only was it delicious, but it's technically a quickbread that requires no rise time, so I went from mixing to frying to eating in 15 minutes.
Frybread is the basis of some Native American dishes and is more common in Western states (my best friend from Durango, CO was excited that I was finally going to try the food her town is famous for), yet it's so simple and versatile to make with ingredients everyone has on hand (flour, salt, baking powder).
I'm usually timid about deep-frying at home because the work tends to outweigh the rewards, but the beauty of frybread, as with most bread products, is how well they freeze, so I made extras to use another time. Generally used in more savory applications, frybread easily takes the place of a tostada or, if it puffs up enough, can be split in half like a pita and stuffed.
And then of course, any leftovers can be covered in powdered sugar and honey and you can pretend you're at a town carnival minus the Tilt-A-Whirl. I followed the recipe for frybread tacos on Globetrotter Diaries, swapping their amazing-looking shredded beef out for some ground beef I had on hand and some corn salsa.
• Get the recipe: Fry Bread Tacos - At Globetrotter Diaries
The only bad thing about my new vice is that my poor tortillas are going to be living in the freezer for a while, because there's a new sheriff in town.
Liz Black is a freelance writer living in Brooklyn, NY.
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(Image: Jeff Kocan/Personal Archive)
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This is essentially an Indian puri bread! Sounds delish! If you try making them with whole wheat flour, they will have a slightly nutty taste... very good.
This has always been "bannock" to me. It's so weird to hear it called fry bread. That's just me, though!
Here we eat "fry bread" with watermelon and Rogers Golden Syrup. A super treat. It's cut and twisted differently than your picture but the principle is the same. I've never had it with savory things though. Interesting.
I was recently reminded of fry bread while watching a cooking show that takes place in Italy. The host was preparing pizza frita which was bits of pizza dough fried in olive oil. They were topped with sauce or drizzled with honey and sprinkled with powdered sugar.
My first experience with Indian fry bread was the real thing. On the Standing Rock Reservation in South Dakota with all the authentic ingredients: government flour, cheese, lard, beans, sugar.
oh, how i love frybread. i discovered a taco truck just this week that makes frybread tacos -- it was such a find!
Yummy "bannock"!
Try using it as a bun for burgers and it will be the best burger you will ever eat.
Had Navajo tacos at a American Indian Chamber of Commerce event a few years ago, and oh baby, I love me some fry bread. Kitchn, put a recipe for Navajo tacos! The ones on the internet seems to call for canned chili as the filling.
If you're ever in Central Phoenix, go to the Fry Bread House just north of Indian School on 7th Avenue. NAVAJO TACOS!
I just had vacation in Taos, NM and visited the Taos Pueblo reservation and had world class fry bread! I had been there two years ago and couldn't wait to go back for the food! Then there was the wonderful conversation of the inhabitants. If you go to Taos, ya gotta go there!! Beautiful food, beautiful handcrafted items at reasonable prices!
Bannock is baked, not fried.
I love frybread, I use milk instead of water when I make it, it keeps it from getting tough. My family makes it in small pieces with lots of complicated cutting and twisting, and they gave it a French name to cover up our Indian-ness.
I grew up on the Nez Perce reservation in Idaho. Fry bread was one of my favorite things about pow-wow weekends.
@lellow actually, English bannock is baked, much like a scone, however the bannock known in North America (or at least in my Canadian home) is fried.
Jacques Pepin in More Fast Food My Way makes Tibetan Flatbread - which is very much like this, without all the oil. Flipped! But instead of small portions, it is one loaf.
"actually, English bannock is baked, much like a scone, however the bannock known in North America (or at least in my Canadian home) is fried."
I'm aware of the history. I'm also Native and Canadian. We bake bannock, we fry bread.
You should be able to use this same recipe and cook the bread on the grill if you are too timid to grease-fry inside. We do this all the time during the summer. Being Navajo, this is a staple and it goes quickly--we never have leftovers to freeze.
When I put mine in the oil....Most of them blew up with air....Did I miss something? Is there a way to stop it? Were they maybe just too thick?
I've neve had anything like this before and didn't really have the right pan for making it. I used a cast-iron griddle pan to make the fry bread...and it's amazing! Looks a little different and is puffier but the taste is awesome!
This might be my new downfall, too!!!
@lellow I never said otherwise. I said I know this to be bannock. Bannock may be fried, baked, or roasted. I am also Native and Canadian and your "we" term is not quite appropriate, seeing as such. I was simply enlightening in a general sense. *shrug* Take of it what you may.
frybread. never heard of it. i do know of a similar fried bread made with corn meal rather than flour in the southeastern us. it is quite similar to an arepa, pupusa, and gordita shell. i like corn much better than flour but might try this one day.
Hmm. Looks suspiciously like a flat vetkoek.
Then again, vetkoek is just deep fried bread dough. Which has risen, unlike frybread.
But vetkoek is made into a ball so that once it's cooked you can slice it open and fill it with deliciousness.
We ate these all the time when I lived in New Mexico! I will definitely be trying this recipe.
Thanks for the compliment and I'm so thrilled you enjoyed the recipe! The corn salsa sounds and looks like a delicious addition to the tacos, YUM!
I am from Bemidji, MN, and we are smack dab in the center of three reservations... fry bread is a big deal here. I think the traditional recipe is a little different than what I've seen here. We usually use powdered milk and a bit of sugar (commod style). Also, they don't get so puffy if you poke two small holes in the center, it also let's the spirits out.
and you can't make it and eat it in 15 minutes... let those breads sit, just like making tortillas.