Navajo Fry Bead/ Indian Tacos

Navajo Fry Bread Recipe

Fry bread is wonderfully lumpy (puffed here and there). It can be served as a dessert or used as a main dish bread.

1/4 teaspoon powdered milk
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup water
1 cup unbleached flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
vegatable 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.
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. NOTE: Don’t worry about it being round. As Grandma Felipa would say “it doesn’t roll into your mouth.”
Heat the vegetable oil to about 350 degrees F. NOTE: You can check by either dropping a small piece of dough in the hot oil and seeing if it begins to fry, or by dipping the end of a wooden spoon in and seeing if that bubbles. Your oil should be about 1-inch deep in a large or other large 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.
Indian Fry Bread can be kept warm in a 200 degree F. oven for up to 1 hour. They refrigerate well and can be reheated in a 350 degree F. oven for 10 to 15 minutes before serving.

Indian Taco Recipe
1 pound lean ground meat (beef, lamb, venison or pork)
1 cup diced onion
4 cooked Navajo Fry Breads
1 head iceberg lettuce, shredded
3 tomatoes diced
2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1 (3-ounce)green chilies can diced drained
Sour cream (optional)
In a large frying pan over medium-high heat, brown ground meat and onions until cooked; remove from heat.
Place Fry Bread, cupped side up, on separate plates. Layer ground meat, lettuce, tomatoes, Cheddar cheese, and green chiles onto top of each Fry Brad. top with sour cream, if desired, and either roll up or serve open-faced with a fork.
Makes 4 servings.

Flour Tortillas

3 cups unbleached flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

4-6 Tbsp. vegetable shortening or lardabout 1 1/4 cups warm water

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl.Add vegetable shortening or lard. Or use a combination of half lard, half shortening. Use a fork or a pastry cutter to cut in the shortening or just do it the old fashioned way and use your hands.Next add warm water a little at a time until your dough is soft and not sticky. You do not need very hot water.Knead the dough for a few minutes.Now you will pull off pieces of dough to form about 12 small dough balls. Let them rest for at least 10 minutes, longer if you like.This is a good time to heat up the comal. You will want to set it at medium to high heat. If it is too hot the tortillas will cook too fast.Now you can roll out the dough with your tortilla rolling pin or palote. It is a good idea to dust each ball with a little flour just before you roll them out. Lay the palote in the center of the dough ball and roll up, center and roll down. It is good to lift the dough and turn it. Again, rolling pin in the center and roll. Roll them out fairly thin.Lay your tortilla on the hot comal. It takes just a few seconds to cook. Flip to the other side. When they are done it should have lots of nice brown speckles. Place them in a towel. If you would like you can use a tortilla warmer to keep them warm longer.They are ready to be served!

recipe from Texas Rolling Pins

One Hour Buns

One Hour Buns

2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup warm water
1 tablespoon fast rising instant yeast
1 egg
1/4 cup oil
1 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 cups flour -- (3 1/2 to 4)
(I used half whole wheat and half white flour)

In a bowl mix together sugar, yeast and water. Add egg, salt and oil and mix together well. Add about 2 cups of flour and beat well. Add more flour until dough comes away from the sides of the bowl. Knead until smooth and elastic about 10 minutes. Form into 16 little buns or 8 large and place into a greased pan. Let rise until doubled, about 1 hour. Bake at 350* for 15 minutes or until browned.