Indian Fry Bread Recipe
Down here it’s most often called “fried bread”, though I have heard it called “fry bread”. No matter what you call it, it still tastes the same!
Down here, we call this “galette” (gah-let`) but we usually make it from a dough made with active yeast.
Mrs. Coach told a cute story while she was cooking the fried bread last week. The day before, they had taken a day trip to New Orleans, and of course they had to stop at Café du Monde and have café au lait and beignets. I’m not sure if it was her or one of her children, but after the first bite of the powdered-sugar coated delight, she noted that it was nothing more than fried bread cut into a square and topped with confectioners sugar.
When we make our fried bread on the bayou, it is typically for breakfast and we eat it with coffee. We dip it in cane syrup or honey or top it with powdered sugar. Not only did we make Indian tacos with Mrs. Coach’s fried bread, we ate it for dessert, drizzled with golden honey. Mmmmm, good!
Here’s the recipe from Mrs. Coach.
4 Cups All purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 Cups warm water
3 1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 T. shortening
Mix dry ingredients in large bowl and cut in shortening. Add water to make a soft ball. Pinch off palm size balls and flatten out on floured board. Flip dough over hand until desired size and thickness. Push out middle of circle before frying in 450-degree oil. She used vegetable oil .
This is the dough in soft ball form, ready to flip and press into desired shape and thickness.
In the foreground, on the left is a ball the size you want to pinch off. To the right is a piece that is shaped and ready for the frying pan. Mrs. Coach’s hand is pressing a piece flat before she “flips” it into shape.
Here, she is flipping the bread dough back and forth over her hand (sort of like a pizza baker does) and it amazingly forms into the right shape.
The indention in the middle forms a little pocket for the toppings.
Indian Taco Toppings:
Seasoned ground meat (buffalo is preferred but beef will suffice)
Shredded cheese
Diced tomatoes
Chopped lettuce
Salsa
Sour Cream
And there you have it, compliments of Mrs. Coach. If you want to go native, this is a good way to do it!
We really enjoyed the Indian tacos AND we enjoyed eating the fried bread with honey on top. We took home the leftovers and next morning, Termite reheated the fried bread in the microwave, wrapped in a lightly moist paper towel for about 15 seconds, and ate it topped with his favorite–powdered sugar.
Indian Fry Bread Recipe
- 4 Cups All purpose flour
- 1 tsp . salt
- 1 1/2 Cups warm water
- 3 1/2 tsp . baking powder
- 2 T . shortening
- Indian Taco Toppings:
- Seasoned ground meat
- Shredded cheese
- Diced tomatoes
- Chopped lettuce
- Salsa
- Sour Cream
- Mix dry ingredients in large bowl and cut in shortening.
- Add water to make a soft ball.
- Pinch off palm size balls and flatten out on floured board.
- Flip dough over hand until desired size and thickness.
- Push out middle of circle before frying in 450-degree oil.
- Drain on paper towels.
- Add desired toppings.
Bon apetit, mon ami!
BW
Wow! That is so neat, BW. I want to give this a try, although that flipping manuever looks like it will take practice.
Hey Sue, She made it look really easy. The dough is pressed on the floured board so that it’s not sticky, and you just flip your hand back and forth and the dough just does its thing! But I bet you’re right—it does take practice. I’m sure Mrs. Coach will chime in once she realizes her recipe is posted up! Good to hear from you!
Those just look so good. It’s that frying part that gives me pause – I’m trying so hard to change my eating habits and lose a few pounds in the process, so I’m trying to move away from such things. Of course, when I think about those pistolettes from Schmoopy’s, these look positively healthy in comparison!
Ah yes, those delectable seafood stuffed pistolettes at Schmoopy’s. Mrs. Coach did not try one of those juicy delights. She will just have to come back and partake of the sinfulness of which we speak. We are ALL trying to eat better and lose a few, but sometimes, we just have to give in a little to hang in for the long haul. Happy 4th, Linda! BW
You can make it with whole wheat flour to add to the nutrition of it and use canola oil for frying. Somewhere I have a healthy version recipe…
When I give them a try, I too will make sure I’m outside. The gas powered blower will make clean up go much faster. LOL! I KNOW I’ll make a BIG mess. AND…Hubby will have to do the clean up. He’s done something to the blower where only he can start the thing.
Nice. I have been fighting the urge to make donuts all year.
I am still tweaking the flour tortilla pizzas but the are at least a bit healthy. Out to clean up the big kenmore in the 100 heat.
Ohhhhh yummy! Thanks for posting the recipe! I have got to try these. I love honey on hot bread (and rice, especially spanish rice) but, I have to be careful and not have too much or I have breathing problems. I did purchase some agave to use in/on things. Maybe it will work good too if I mix it with a bit of butter first.
OK, now what are seafood stuffed pistolettes??
Oh, Cammy, I don’t make the seafood pistolettes! We have to go to Schmoopy’s restaurant over on the next bayou for those. Do you know what a pistolette is? I don’t know if grocery stores in TX sell them. It’s a roll, of course. I don’t know how they do it, but they stuff it full of a shrimp and crabmeat mixture that tastes a lot like their seafood bisque, and then they deep fry it. No, not so healthy, but man they are delicious.
I like agave pretty neat stuff.
pistolettes abound on google search.
Thanks for the info. I looked it up and found some interesting recipes for the pistolettes. Some are baked instead of fried. Cooler weather will have to arrive first though. Not turning on an oven in 100º+ weather. Especially with only a window unit to cook this place.
I meant “cool” this place. See what the heat is doing to our brains???
Yeah, it’s cooking your brains!!!! Happy 4th, Cammy!
BW, I re-read Cammy’s post twice before reading your reply. I thought my brain had been fried!
I put it back like it was originally just now for you and others! My brain is fried, too. Working on my boat in this heat getting ready for tomorrow’s charter. Happy 4th!
Happy Jim Morrison Death Day. Mr Mojo Rising.
I see a contest guess the year BW brain fried?
I caught goggle eyes tonight on 2wt….
Uh, too much code for fried brain.
I must have done something wrong on this post, because Mrs. Coach never said a word about it! Hmmmm . . . . on a different note . . . . I just want y’all to know that my mock strawberry preserve recipe using figs is at the top of the list on Ask. com and this blog has averaged 1000 hits for the last few days—folks making fig preserves looking for a recipe are finding us here and using the family recipe for old fashioned fig preserves!!! Woo hoo!
Hey, that is great! The figs over here aren’t ready yet and if they ever do get ripe, they will be pre-cooked before we pick them.
Hubby got me a new bbq grill/smoker since the old one has a lot of holes burned into and even the JBweld is falling off. We put it together last night in front of the AC and rolled it out to storage for the night and today, I had to “season” it for tomorrows cooking. Lord have mercy but, it was hot out there! We saturated that thing with cooking oil, put a medium size pile of charcoal in it and fired it up. That was about 1:30pm and I checked it a few minutes ago at 11pm and that charcoal is still hot!! I put what I would normally start off with to smoke a large amount of meat with my regular charcoal too. That was some cheap stuff from WalMart and it burned hotter and longer than any I have ever tried. Got to get another bag of that stuff.
HAVE A HAPPY 4th EVERYONE AND STAY SAFE!
The post looks great! The kids got such a kick out of you taking pictures of the food. Im so glad you enjoyed the tacos, next time I will bring buffalo with me. I will also do the grape dumplings, I just couldnt wait to eat the crab and couldnt focus long enough to make them.
We did have the seafood things at Schmoopys…..to die for! I made gumbo yesterday, it wasnt as good as Schmoopys but it was still yummy! Im thinking today I will make fry bread and put the gumbo on top!
I finally got all 400 pictures developed.
uh oh one can buy a zoomy digital for price of that much film.
Let me know when y’all are coming back. I’m just a couple hours away. I haven’t had buffalo (burger)since 1991 and have never had grape dumplings.
Looks delicious! My papaw made something he called fry bread, but it was pretty much just cornmeal and hot water mixed to just the right consistency, then fried. He served it with a salad wilted in bacon grease.
Hey. Jess. We call what your pawpaw made “dog bread”. We eat it with fresh corn “off” the cob, purple-hull peas, fresh sliced tomatoes, and cantaloupe! That was our standard summer meal when I was growing up! I think I”ll cook that up next week!