He Paraaoa Parai - Fry Bread
This is a special, time-honoured family recipe from Maria Kewene-Edwards (Ngaati Hikairo, Ngāt Hauā) of Dunedin.
- prepare
- cook
- 4-5 servings
- Moderate
Bread holds a special place in our family’s history. Our uncle Ken, a master baker, played a significant role in creating Princess Anne’s christening cake early in his career. Our parents also showed their love through bread-making, which was seen as a staple and a way to bond as a family.
Sundays were particularly special, as bread would be a featured item. We would walk to the dairy to buy a loaf of bread, which somehow always made it home still warm and ready to be enjoyed with our favourite toppings.
Our mother would create bread from simple ingredients like flour and water, sometimes trying different kinds to feed our family of four on a tight budget. Our father would make doughboys to accompany slow-cooked stews over a coal range, showing how bread was at the heart of our family’s provision and care for their children.
This story serves as an introduction to why I now make my own bread. While the recipe I use isn’t necessarily a traditional one passed down through generations, the reason for making bread remains the same: to nourish both the body and the soul, just as it did for our family.
I make my fry bread with simple ingredients, no set measurements, just by eye and cold water. You need to handle the dough lightly and touch it as little as possible.
I make my fry bread for happy or sad occasions, for love, friendship, or just because. It has become a part of who I am and carries on our family’s bread-making tradition.
Ingredients
- 3-4 cups self-raising flour
- Cold water
- Oil for frying
- Light hands, warm heart and thoughts
Instructions
- Prepare the dough: Place the self-rising flour into a large bowl.
- Add enough cold water to bring it together to form a soft dough. Add more cold water as required.
- Turn the mixture on to a lightly flour surface and lightly flatten into an oblong shape. Try not to handle the dough too much and do this quickly.
- Place a fry pan with enough oil to be safe and be able to shallow fry your bread. Heat the oil.
- While the oil is heating up, cut your dough into even size pieces and watch them begin to rise.
- Test the oil and when it is ready, place 4-5 pieces (depending on their size) into the oil. Keep an eye on how high you have the oil as you want to keep at an even temperature and not to be smoking.
- Watch your fry bread as they may turn on their own but if they don’t you will need to turn them. I look at their colour and decide on when to turn and when to take them out. Continue this with the remaining dough
- When ready, take the bread out of the oil and drain on some paper towels. Once drained of oil place them into your selected bowl.
