Fried Bread

 

Just one look at this and I don't have to tell you it is not healthy.  Deep fried bread covered in butter and powdered sugar. Fried bread is something that my husband introduced me to.  My mom would make scones that were like sopapillas and we would eat them maybe once a year if we had a lot of people over.  We would drizzle honey on them or use jelly.  I make fried bread often.  When I make it I usually do it on a Sunday.  I don't know why...I guess it could just be the structure of the day.  It is easy to get up and put the dough together.  It will rise while we are at church and when I come home all I have to do is fry it up.  It makes for a fast delicious meal after church.  It's not very healthy.  I suppose it would be healthier if I made Navajo tacos out of them.  We will just have to save that for another day!  We eat the fried bread plain, with butter and powdered sugar, with jelly, with peanut butter and maple syrup and I also like Jalapeno jelly on mine if I have it.  It's about the only time I will eat jalapeno jelly. 

 

 Where we live we have a food truck that goes to the fair, to Corn Fest, Fleming Fall Festival, Sugar Beet Days, and all the other events that take place locally.  It also sometimes parks in the Home Depot parking lot.  It is called Grebble.  They make funnel cakes, deep fried Twinkies and a few other things.  Of course they make Grebble.  It is like a fried bread but is a little more puffy than dense.  Not really a doughnut but very addictive.  They will cover the Grebble in cinnamon sugar or plain white sugar.  Today I took some of the fried bread dough and coated it in plain white sugar.  It was pretty good.  Not exactly like Grebble but definitely much cheaper....and you could stand in line for an hour to get Grebble. That's how popular it is around here.

Here is my fried bread in plain white sugar.

You can use any regular bread recipe.  I will give you a couple later in this post.  All you do is deep fry the bread dough.  Shape it however you would like.  I keep a small bowl of oil to dip my hands into while shaping the dough.  This keeps it from sticking to me.  I will also give you a recipe for a puffy fried bread similar to a scone or sopapilla which you can make if you don't have time to allow your dough to rise.  It is a non yeast dough and you can cook it immediately. 

Once your dough is ready to fry shape it however you like it.  I lay mine out all over my counter while I am making it like this.

I put it in my pan in batches and fry it up.

We end up with a big bowl of fried bread that we snack on the rest of the day and my husband likes to take it for breakfast in the morning.

To make a puffy fried bread (not pictured) mix 4C. Flour, 2 T. Oil, 2 T. Sugar, 2 T. Baking Soda, 1 1/2 tsp. Salt, 1 3/4 C. Warm Water.  This will not rise since there is no yeast in the recipe.  Just combine it together and fry it up right away.  It will puff in the hot oil as it is cooking.  I got this recipe from a girl scout troop cook book my niece made when she was little. Troop 1902 submitted by Darcie Sherlock.

 

The recipe I used today came from my Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book.  Heat 2 1/4 C, milk for 2 minutes in the microwave.  Mix 1 T. Yeast, 2 T. Sugar and 1 T. soft Margarine.  Add warm milk and whisk together.  Add 6 C. Flour and 1 tsp. Salt.   Stir together with a fork as much as you can then get your hands in there and mix it all together and knead slightly in the bowl.  Spray the lid for the bowl or some saran wrap with oil and cover.  Let it sit until double or do what I do and go to Church or run some errands and when you come back

 it will be ready to go.

 

My husband prefers this recipe.  It came from Ann Marie Lovin in the "What's Cookin' in the Greeley Colorado Stake" church cook book that I have.  She calls it Pot Luck Pan Rolls.  This is the recipe I usually make for fried bread.  I didn't use it today because I need new powdered milk, but it is the one I usually use and for some reason it is the one my husband prefers.  Mix 1 T. Yeast, 1/3 C. Sugar, 2 Eggs, 1/4 C. Powdered Milk and 1/2 C. soft margarine in a bowl. Add 1 1/2 C. Warm Water and whisk together.  Add 6 C. Flour and 1 1/4 tsp. Salt and stir together with a fork as much as you can.  Just as above get your hands in there and mix it all together kneading a little in the bowl. Spray the lid for the bowl or some saran wrap with oil and cover.  Now let that rise just like above and you are good to go.   

 

Whatever recipe you use weather it is yours or mine your family will love fried bread. Eat it plain or dress it up either way is yummy.  In fact my husband is eating a piece right now with some leftover chili.