Fry Bread/Bannock (Fry Bread Tacos Included)

 


Ingredients

  • 4 cups flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 & 1/2 tbsp baking powder
  • 1 & 1/2 cups warm water
  • Cooking oil (enough for 2 inches standing in sauce pan)
Source: The Stay at Home Chef: https://thestayathomechef.com/authentic-indian-fry-bread/

Yield: Whatever's in the picture. Seven pieces I guess

Instructions:
  1. In a large bowl, mix together 4 cups flour, 1 tsp salt, 1 & 1/2 tbsp baking powder
  2. Slowly add warm water, mix/knead together
  3. Pull off golf ball sized hunks and flatten into disk shapes, as thin as possible without tearing
  4. Heat up sauce pan and add enough oil to fry the pieces, roughly 2 inches in depth
  5. One at a time, cook each piece in the oil until it's golden brown on either side
Description:

Fry bread is very popular in many contemporary Native communities throughout North America. It isn't supposed to be something that you really need a recipe for. Instead, you should grow an understanding of how it's made as you grow, peripherally observing others preparing it and subconsciously developing your own take on it. I have had the privilege of being near a number of Native communities, and it seems that everyone has their own twist on the otherwise simple bread product. However, I'm white, so I need a recipe, and this is probably as close to the most basic take on it that you can get.
    
When I was in Chisasibi, it was referred to as bannock, which is another popular term for it. It's actually a Scottish recipe that has become popular in Native cuisine. Chisasibi's bannock usually had raisins mixed into the dough, which is something I'd like to try again.
    
If you'd like to make it a fuller meal, you can fry up some ground meat with taco seasoning, garlic and onion, then put it on top of the fry bread pieces with grated cheese and sour cream. Maybe salsa too, if you're into that.
 
It doesn't keep too great. It tastes best fresh from the pan. It doesn't taste good cold, but you can reheat it to get back a bit of its charm.

This might sound gross, but if you put some peanutbutter on it while it's still warm from the pan, the peanutbutter melts on it, and it tastes so good it almost feels unfair. Lee-Anne suggested putting garlic butter on it might be good. That sounds logical, but as I'm writing this, I've yet to try it.

In the sourced recipe, it says that you need to let it rest for two hours after mixing together the flour, salt and baking powder. I don't know why you would need to do this when it's not a risen dough. The recipe doesn't explain and I didn't see any other recipes asking for this, so I wouldn't bother with that step. I never do.

The recipe says to add hot water. Mayber it's just because I'm used to working with yeast, and if the water is too hot, you risk killing your yeast, but I never like to go scalding hot. I don't know if you can kill baking powder. Probably not, because you don't have to let it rise, but I use water that is hot to the touch but not unbearable.

I probably don't need to say this, but this is not a healthy recipe. These are like deep fried savory cakes. I only mention this because when everyone was into COVID Baking during the first wave, and the yeast industry was hit hard, I briefly considered replacing my homemade bread with fry bread, because while I had no yeast, I had baking powder. Would've killed me.

Fry Bread Tacos



If you want to make fry bread tacos, basically just top your fry bread with whatever you'd like to have in a taco. In the photo above, I fried a pound of ground chicken along with 1 diced onion, 1 bell pepper, some garlic, and seasoned with 2 tbsp chili powder, 2 tbsp cumin, and 1 tbsp paprika. I also grated some cheddar. On assembly, I put the grated cheese on the bottom so it would melt, topped with the meat/onion/pepper mixture, then sour cream and green onions. Other people might add some shredded lettuce and diced tomatoes/salsa. I've never been the biggest salsa guy, though.

Have fun with it.

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