Native American-Style Gluten Free Fry Bread (2025)

FAQs

What is Native American fry bread made of? ›

There are many recipes for fry bread, varying with the region and tribe. It may be made with yeast and cornmeal, and some recipes add shortening, lard, or another fat, or include an egg. This recipe is made with all-purpose flour and baking powder, creating a very simple fry bread with no extra fat or eggs.

Although frybread is often associated with "traditional" Native American cuisine, some Native American chefs reject it as a symbol of colonialism. Indigenous chef Sean Sherman calls it "everything that isn't Native American food", writing that it represents "perseverance and pain, ingenuity and resilience".

If you are following a gluten-free diet, you will love the gluten-free South Indian rotis like akki roti (roti with rice flour), ragi roti (roti with finger millet flour) and bajra roti (roti with pearl millet flour). This roti is prepared with the corresponding gluten-free flours mixed with onion and assorted spices.

Credit is given to the Navajo people for creating fry bread after they were forced to make the “Long Walk” from Arizona to New Mexico. Hungry and far away from their traditional foods, they turned U.S. government rations of flour, salt, baking powder and lard into a filling bread that saved many from starvation.

Elephant ears can also be called fry bread, bunuelos, doughboys or Palmiers (although these are shaped a little differently). When the yeasted dough hits the hot oil, it bubbles and wrinkles and comes out looking somewhat like a big old elephant ear - hence the name.

The soft and squishy textures becomes reflective of its nutrient quality: flat, airy and dull. In other words it is is left with virtually NO nutrient value.

Breads made from rice, sorghum, teff, millet, cassava, buckwheat, amaranth, oat, almonds, and pure corn lack gluten. Hence, their flour can be incorporated into baking gluten-free breads. You can identify whether the bread is gluten-free by checking the ingredients on the product's label.

There is a common misconception that Indian food is automatically gluten-free. However, this is not always the case. While many traditional Indian dishes are naturally gluten-free, there are also a number of dishes that do contain gluten. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, rye and barley.

If you have coeliac disease, do not eat the following foods, unless they're labelled as gluten-free versions: bread.

Fry bread is a modern tradition found in many tribes in North America, and, in Cherokee, there is a wide variety of recipes. Each person typically has their own recipe and preparation tricks. To make fry bread, sections of the dough must be pressed flat, and a hole is made in the center.

Did the Sioux eat fry bread? ›

It is also popular with the Plains Indian tribes such as the Lakota Sioux, Osage, Comanche and Kiowa. The shape and size of the fry breads may vary with each tribe and cook.

Bannock was baked in an oven or over a fire while frybread was cooked in oil. I make both and have different recipes for each, my bannock recipe being more cake like and not suitable at all for frying. My frybread recipe is thinner and cooks well in oil.

Papadum is a very thin, North Indian flatbread with a satisfying shatter that's fully dried before getting a quick dunk in hot oil until blistered and golden. It is served as side dish or a standalone snack; Indian restaurants will often bring them out as an appetizer with an array of chutneys for dipping.

Combine 1 cup flour, 2 cups whole wheat, 1 cup rye, milk and salt. Add liquid mixture and yeast mixture. Beat for 2 minutes. Gradually add rest of flour till it pulls away from sides of bowl.

Before the introduction of flour, Pueblos and many tribes across the continent used ground nuts, corn, and beans to bind ingredients into simple breads and cakes.

What's the difference between fry bread and sopapillas? Mostly just the name. Fry bread doesn't have sugar in the dough and the name is used more in Arizona. In New Mexico they are called sopapillas and in the Pacific Northwest some people call them elephant ears.