Air Fryer Indian Fry Bread Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why is my Indian fry bread tough? ›

Don't over-knead—Be careful not to knead the dough too much because the bread will be hard and tough. More flour—The dough is sticky but easy to work with; keep your hands and work surface well-floured.

Ninja air fryers work great for baking bread. Many of them have a setting for proving dough too. Air fryers like the Ninja Flexidrawer have enough room for a large loaf or a panini.

Made with simple ingredients, generally wheat flour, water, salt, and sometimes baking powder, frybread can be eaten alone or with various toppings such as honey, jam, powdered sugar, venison, or beef. It is the base for Indian tacos.

If your starter is not active, the bread will be dense. Under-kneading: Kneading helps to develop the gluten in the dough, which gives it structure and allows it to trap air bubbles. If the dough is not kneaded enough, it will be weak and dense. Under-proofing: Proofing is the time when the dough is allowed to rise.

Fry bread can be eaten alone or as part of a meal, or can be dessert topped with butter, cinnamon and sugar or perhaps honey. Fry bread is tempting to most people because of the grease/lard/shortening ingredient and therein lies the problem. Not only is fry bread high in fat, it is also caloric.

In the oven: Preheat oven to 200° or Warm setting. Wrap the bread in a damp (not soaking) towel, place on a baking sheet, and pop it in the oven for 5-10 minutes. In the microwave: Wrap the bread in a damp (not soaking) towel, place it on a microwave-safe dish, and microwave on high for 10 seconds.

A good rule of thumb? Use a temperature about 25 degrees F lower than what you may might be accustomed to with a conventional oven: Baking in the air fryer is typically about 325 instead of 350 degrees F, roasting will be about 400 instead of 425 degrees, and so on.

As you can see, the cooking temperature is slightly lower for the air fryer, and the cooking time is reduced by about 20-25%.

ROBBINS: Fry bread is eaten alone, with beans or chili or as a dessert with honey or powdered sugar. Good as it may sound, nobody is pretending that it's healthy. Unidentified Woman #3: Look at all the oil you're use in there, and it's just a deep-fried white bread--is what it is. And so it's not good for you.

Can you reheat Indian fry bread? ›

To reheat fry bread.

Heat the oven to 350°F. Wrap each piece of fry bread in aluminum foil and bake until heated through about 15 minutes. If you're in a hurry, throw it in the microwave.

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.

The best way to brown and crisp your bread's bottom crust – as well as enhance its rise – is to bake it on a preheated pizza stone or baking steel. The stone or steel, super-hot from your oven's heat, delivers a jolt of that heat to the loaf, causing it to rise quickly.

Add Sugar

Adding sugar weakens the gluten structure, absorbs water, and eventually makes the bread lighter and softer. As a result, sugar improves the bread's taste, structure and texture. Yeast also eats up sugar to produce carbon dioxide, which raises the dough and makes bread fluffy.

While bread flour is the best option, it can sometimes be used if you don't have bread flour. “Check the protein content,” advises Chef Jürgen, since it can vary from brand to brand, and an all-purpose flour that contains protein on the higher end of the range, 12 to 13 percent, will produce a better outcome.

Toughness is usually the result of either too much gluten (which in turn comes from using a flour too high in protein), or not enough fat (or possibly adding the fat at the wrong time).

Tips & Techniques > How Starch Affects Batters for Frying

The developed gluten helps the batter cling to the food without producing an overly chewy or oily crust. However, if too much flour is used, the batter will produce a very tough crust; and, if too little is used, the crust will be very fragile.

Baking quick breads at too high temperatures can cause a hard outside crust. Most quick breads bake in a moderate oven (350°F to 375°F). Double check your recipe to see the temperature they recommend. Oven thermostats can vary over time, requiring adjustments by the baker or calibration by a professional.

Over-kneading has a tendency to result in chewy bread. Here's how to tell if you've kneaded enough. Another possibility—you used bread flour when all-purpose flour would do. If a recipe with bread flour turned out chewier than you like, try it with all-purpose and knead only as much as the recipe directs.