5 from 26 votes

Prep Time : 20

Cook Time : 20

Native American-style Gluten Free Fry Bread is authentic tasting fried dough. Try serving it dusted with sugar, or pile it with taco toppings!

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Native American-style Gluten Free Fry Bread is authentic tasting fried dough. Try serving it dusted with sugar, or pile it with taco toppings!

Fry bread with powdered sugar on metal tray

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There is a particular conventional flour that is supposedly the secret to the perfectly authentic Native American Fry Bread. Clearly, we can't use that. But that doesn't mean we can't have Native American-Style Gluten Free Fry Bread.

Fry bread with powdered sugar being sifted on top on metal tray

My family and I ate this, the winningest recipe for gluten free fry bread among the versions that I made, with a light dusting of confectioners' sugar. Next time I think I'm going to make fry bread tacos. Fried until lightly golden, it won't crumble at all when you bite into it. Remember, it's fry bread—not a crispy taco. It almost reminds me of our gluten free chalupas.

Person holding fry bread over metal tray

My little 8-year-old hand model was all too happy to dig into some of it before her brother and sister. To the model … belong the spoils.

Fry bread dough and fry bread on brown surface

This dough happens to be super supple and surprisingly easy to work with. So easy, in fact, that I'm considering playing around with it to see what else it can do.

I prefer to deep fry these, rather than shallow fry them. Shallow frying makes for much more oily fried foods. Be sure the oil is hot enough (but not too hot—watch the temp on that candy/deep fry thermometer), so the dough seals on the outside in the very early moments of frying. For plenty of frying tips, see the directions in this post. If you have made fry bread before, though, and have your own favorite way of shallow frying it, do it your way!

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Native American-Style Gluten Free Fry Bread

Native American-style Gluten Free Fry Bread is authentic tasting fried dough. Try serving it dusted with sugar, or pile it with taco toppings!

Course: Bread

Cuisine: Native American

Prep Time: 20

Cook Time: 20

Resting and rising time: 45

Yield: 6 pieces fry bread

Author: Nicole Hunn

Ingredients

2 ⅝ cups (368 g) all purpose gluten free flour blend (I strongly recommend Better Batter; click thru for full info on appropriate blends)
1 ¼ teaspoons xanthan gum (omit if your blend already contains it)
6 tablespoons (64 g) Expandex modified tapioca starch (See Recipe Notes)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon (3 g) instant yeast
1 tablespoon (12 g) granulated sugar
1 ½ teaspoons (9 g) kosher salt
2 tablespoons (24 g) vegetable shortening melted and cooled
¾ cup (6 fluid ounces) warm milk (about 95° F)
⅜ cup (3 fluid ounces) warm water (about 95° F), plus more by the teaspoon as necessary
Oil for frying
Confectioners’ sugar for dusting

Instructions

In a large bowl, place the flour blend, xanthan gum, Expandex, baking powder, yeast and granulated sugar, and whisk to combine well.
Add the salt, and whisk again to combine.
Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients, add the melted shortening, milk and water and mix to combine until the dough comes together.
With clean hands, squeeze the dough together into a ball. It should hold together well, and not be so stiff that it is hard to knead.
If it is hard to knead, add more water by the teaspoonful, kneading it in after each addition, until the dough is pliable but still holds together very well.
Transfer the dough to a large piece of plastic wrap, and wrap tightly. Allow the wrapped dough to rest at room temperature for 15 minutes.
Unwrap the dough and divide it into 6 equal portions, each about 4 ounces.
On a large, flat surface, roll each piece of dough into a ball and, with a rolling pin, roll into a round about 6 inches in diameter and about 1/4-inch thick.
For perfectly uniform rounds, cut off the rough edges with a 6-inch cake cutter. The lid of a pot in the proper size should work, too.
Place the rounds in a single layer, about 2 inches apart from one another, on a flat surface covered in unbleached parchment paper.
Cover with lightly oiled plastic wrap, and allow to rise for 30 minutes or until beginning to puff.
While the dough is rising, place 2 inches of oil in a heavy-bottom saucepan.
Clip a candy/deep fry thermometer to the side of the saucepan, and bring the oil to 350°F.
Place the risen rounds of dough, one at a time, in the hot oil and fry until lightly golden brown on both sides (about 1 minute per side). The dough will bubble and puff.
Tongs are useful in flipping the dough from one side to the other, but take care not to pierce the dough with the tongs or oil will rush in to the dough and your bread will be quite oily.
Remove the dough from the oil, and place on paper towel-lined plates to drain.
Dust lightly with confectioners’ sugar and serve warm.

Notes

About Expandex modified tapioca starch.

I have not yet tested Ultratex 3 in this recipe, but it is generally 3 times as strong as Expandex. If you would like to try it here, I recommend using 1/3 the amount of Expandex called for in the recipe, and then making up the remaining 36 grams of weight in more all purpose gluten free flour. Here are the amounts:

404 grams all purpose gluten free flour blend
18 grams Ultratex 3

For similar, but not identical results, you can replace Expandex with an equal amount, by weight, of regular tapioca starch/flour.