Pit Ovens and Steaming: Fry Bread

Fry bread, the most important of the foods of the pan-Indian movement and the symbol of intertribal unity, does not represent precontact indigenous foods or cooking style. The origins of this dish are apparently in the nineteenth century and reflect the ongoing cultural change that happens everywhere. Fry bread usually is made with a dough of wheat flour and milk or water. The dough is leavened with yeast or baking powder, kneaded, flattened into individual patties of varying sizes, and then deep fried. Fry bread is served with a variety of accompaniments, such as honey, maple syrup, and sugar, and sometimes is wrapped around a hot dog or other filling in place of a bun or tortilla. The Lakota today sometimes eat fry bread topped with pureed and sweetened fruit pudding. In a variation, popovers (stuffed fry bread) are made by piling raw bread dough with a mixture of cooked beef, chili, onion, tomato sauce, and taco seasoning and then folding and deep frying the result. This dish sometimes is likened to tacos. Whatever the combinations, fry bread has a central role at powwows.