Navajo Fry Bread #1

Before I start, I've decided to add koeksisters to my list of recipes to learn. Koeksisters are kind of like a South African donut, in that they are fried bread in syrup.

Navajo fry bread was one of the recipes I tried to perfect last summer and failed at, so I'm trying again. I've looked up several recipes on the internet, and all of them basically have the following ingredients list:

1 cup unbleached flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon powdered milk

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup water

Vegetable oil for frying (enough to fill a pot 1")

I'm a little hesitant to change anything, because I'm told there is some tradition behind these. From what I understand, in the mid 1800s, the Navajo were forced into camps that were crowded, and where provisions were very short. The government supplied them with basically the above ingredients, and fry bread was developed as a way of eating it. The original recipe (and history) was obtained from http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/NavajoFryBread.htm.

For attempt #1, I mixed the dry ingredients, and then poured in the water. I tried to mix it as little as possible, just until it came together. I then cut the above into 4 balls, and rolled them out really thin, and fried them for 40-60 seconds per side in deep frying oil.

My first attempt went decently. I live in Arizona, so usually I'm used to the air (and flour) being so dry that you need to add more water, although in this recipe it turned out just right. The dough was really sticky difficult to work with though, and often tore when I was rolling it out. In the end, it was really thin, and kind of crunchy in some places. Also, in the first two pieces I tried to fry, a giant bubble formed at the bottom of the frybread, lifting it out of the oil, so there were big white spots.

Next time, I'm going to try one of two things: either I'm going to really kneed the dough (so it becomes more ball like), or I am going to let the dough rest for several minutes, so that the flour can absorb the water and not be so sticky. Additionally, I think I'm going to try making only 3 balls, so that I don't feel like I need to roll them so thin to make them a good size.