A Taste of Sicangu Culture
Frybread
Ingredients:
3-4 Cups of Flour
1 pkg of Yeast
1 Tbsp of Baking Powder
1/2 Cup of Sugar
Dash of Salt
1 Cup of Milk(powdered is ideal)
l Cup of Water (warm)
1/2 Cup of Raisins (optional)
2-3 Cups of Lard or Vegitable Oil
Preperations:
Mix/sift all dry ingredients (except the yeast) together in a bowl, making sure everything is evenly blended. Then, take the yeast, and cup of warm water and mix together seperately, and set aside for a few minutes (this gives the bacteria in the yeast a chance to start "growing"). A word of advice, its less messy to push as much dry stuff, to the sides of the bowl as you can, then add the water/yeast mix to the hollow of the dry ingredients. Mix together thouroughly. Its best to knead in optional ingredients like raisins or blueberries AFTER the dough is thoroughly mixed.
Some more advice; the consistency of the dough is key to good frybread, the thicker the dough, the longer it will take to cook, and the more chewey the bread; the more runny, the bread will turn out too crunchy, crumbly, and easily burnt. You want your dough thick enough, that a pinch will streatch 2-3 inches before it breaks. How much you knead the dough helps determine how soft the bread will be.
Let covered dough sit and rise for about 20min in a warm area, meanwhile, start heating the lard/oil. Then, dust a clean surface with flour. Roll your dough out onto the flour into desired shape until evenly coated. Another secret is this, the coating of the flour on the dough will determine how crunchy the first bite will be. How you shape your bread is up to you, but consider that the size will increase slightly.
Cooking:
Once the oil is hot enough to hear a gentle sizzle, place dough into oil. You want your dough to float in the grease. After 5min, or once UNDERSIDE is golden brown, turn and do the same to other side. Never leave hot grease unattended, not only might your bread get burned, but your little wakanyeja might get hurt, trying to sneak a piece while your not looking. Once brown on both sides, place in bowl or sheet lined with paper towls. Serve with honey dip, wojapi, or soup. Enjoy!
PS - This is a general idea to the recipie, and must be personalized by trial and error, so please, try to avoid the "My Unci said frybread was supposed to be made like this. . ." emails, I'm sure she makes the best frybread ever, but this recpie is for the folks who can't make it to Unci's house.
Wojapi (Traditional)
Ingredients:
5lb Wild Plumbs, Chokecherries, Currant, Raspberry, Buffalo-berry, wild Grape, or any combonation of these
Wild Corn Starch
3 Tbsp Honey
Preperations:
De-seed all the fruits, and place fruit in processor, or blender. Chop finely, but be sure not to puree.