Amazing Warm Springs Fried Bread

A Native American fry bread tied to the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs in Oregon, where the recipe has passed through generations of cooks at powwows, family suppers, and trade gatherings. The dough is dead simple: flour, baking powder, salt, butter cut in cold, and warm milk to bring it together. No yeast, no long rise beyond a 30-to-45-minute rest under a buttered cover.

The trick is in the gluten development. The recipe says knead until smooth, soft, and elastic, but warns against using too much extra flour. Excess flour during kneading toughens the dough and the finished bread reads chewy in the wrong way, closer to a hard biscuit than the puffy, tender bread it is meant to be.

A hot lard fry sets the surface fast, traps the steam from the warm milk, and makes the dough balloon. The recipe specifies that the dough should rise immediately to the surface; if it sinks, the oil is too cold and the bread will absorb fat instead of frying clean.

Eat the bread hot, salted plain, drizzled with honey, or used as the base for Indian tacos: seasoned ground beef, beans, lettuce, tomato, and shredded cheese piled on top.

Pro Tips

• Pat the dough rounds, do not roll. A rolling pin compresses the dough and the bread will not puff up in the oil.
• Use an oil thermometer. Too cool and the bread absorbs fat; too hot and the outside burns before the inside cooks through.
• Do not pierce the crust during frying. Holes let oil in and steam out, deflating the puff.
• Fry one or two pieces at a time. Crowding drops the oil temperature and the bread turns greasy.

Variations

• Use shortening or canola oil if lard is not available, though traditional flavor really depends on lard.
• Add a tablespoon of sugar to the dough for a sweeter fry bread better suited to honey or jam.
• Pat the dough thinner for a crisper, more cracker-like flatbread.