Cultured queso fresco
Cultured buttermilk, pasteurized milk, vinegar and rennet make this soft, crumbly queso fresco by a New Mexico home method adapted from Washington’s Abuela Project.
Jemez-style bread (Navajo Grandma home-oven adaptation)
Jemez Pueblo Bread
A four-loaf, yeast-raised home-oven version that Navajo Grandma identifies as Jemez Pueblo bread. It is her published adaptation, not a single formula for Pueblo communities or a horno firing protocol.
A home-oven adaptation named for Jemez Pueblo
Navajo Grandma's 2023 video describes Jemez Pueblo Bread and separately presents a measured recipe for making bread at home. This page follows that creator's formula and conventional-oven method. It does not present the formula as a recipe supplied by Lyda Toya or as a standard shared by every Pueblo community.
Andi Murphy's reporting follows Lyda Toya, a Jemez baker who learned from her mother and aunties, and records her handling and shaping of dough. Murphy also describes distinct bread shapes and baking practices in other Pueblo communities. Her report gives no quantities for Lyda Toya's batch, so those observed practices are not used to fill gaps in the video's home recipe.
A separate 1972 Smithsonian excerpt reproduces a “Pueblo Bread” recipe from Phyllis Hughes's cookbook, an anthology covering 19 Pueblos. That entry is not attributed to a named Pueblo community and differs in ingredients from the modern video's recipe. It remains an archival lead and is not combined with this batch.
The home recipe specifies four round loaves, a 25-minute second rise and a 400°F conventional-oven bake for about 50 minutes. Its first rise is complete when the dough has doubled; the video gives no elapsed time. The source offers a hollow sound when tapped as a doneness cue, but that cue does not establish a food-safety endpoint.
History
Navajo Grandma's 2023 video names Jemez Pueblo bread and presents the formula as a way to make it in a home oven. Andi Murphy's reporting separately documents Jemez baker Lyda Toya's family practice and the community-specific variation among Pueblo breads. The measured formula is attributed only to the video creator; it is not presented as Lyda Toya's recipe or as a uniform Pueblo formula.
Ingredients
Yield 4 round loaves · Scaling: source batch only
Flour
2.13 L9 cup as recorded
The video gives no flour type or weight.2 packet
118 mL½ cup as recorded
For softening the yeast; no numerical temperature is given.9.9 mL2 tsp as recorded
9.9 mL2 tsp as recorded
Lard or shorteningmelted
59 mL4 tbsp as recorded
Choose one.473 mL2 cup as recorded
Added with the flour.Method
Risks and precautions · Standard risk
Raw flour dough
Uncooked flour can contain germs; tasting or eating the raw dough can cause illness.
Hazard sourceDo not taste or serve the uncooked dough. Bake the loaves following the recipe's oven temperature and time; the source gives no validated internal-temperature limit.
Control sourceWash hands, bowls, utensils and work surfaces after handling raw flour or dough.
The source's browned crust and hollow-sound cue describe its recipe endpoint; neither is a validated food-safety test.
- Soften the dry yeast in 1/2 cup warm water. The recipe gives no numerical temperature for the water.
- Melt the lard or shortening. In a large bowl, combine it with the salt, sugar and softened yeast.
- Add the remaining 2 cups water and flour gradually, mixing after each addition. Knead in the last of the flour until the dough is smooth.
- Shape the dough into a ball and put it in an oiled bowl. Cover with a damp cloth and leave in a warm place until doubled in size. The recipe gives no time for this first rise.
- Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface, press it down and knead for 5 minutes. Divide into four portions and shape each into a round loaf.
- Cover the loaves and let them rise for 25 minutes.
- Bake in a conventional oven preheated to 400°F (204°C) for about 50 minutes, until browned. The video's description also gives a hollow sound when tapped as its doneness cue. That cue is not a validated food-safety measure.
Conditions
Yield4 round loaves
Places
Jemez Pueblo
Modern adaptation · Locality evidenceNavajo Grandma names the video recipe Jemez Pueblo Bread and gives a home-oven version. Andi Murphy separately reports on Jemez family baking; this row does not claim community endorsement of the video formula.
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Community
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Sources
Navajo GrandmaMethod · History · Geography
How Jemez Pueblo Bread is made in an HornoThe creator says she shares how Jemez Pueblo Bread (Kiis'áanii Bi Bááh) is prepared, then identifies the measurements and steps below as a recipe to make Pueblo bread at home. Formula: 9 cups flour, 2 packets dry yeast, 1/2 cup warm water, 2 teaspoons sugar, 2 teaspoons salt, 4 tablespoons lard or shortening, 2 cups water; four loaves; second rise 25 minutes; conventional oven 400°F for 50 minutes, browned with a hollow sound when tapped.
The source attribution in the page is the video creator's named Jemez-style home adaptation; it does not claim that the recipe is a community-approved or universal Pueblo formula.
Cited in: A home-oven adaptation named for Jemez Pueblo
EaterHistory · Geography
The Wondrous Bread of the Pueblo NationsAndi Murphy reports directly on Jemez baker Lyda Toya and her daughter Dorell Toya-Upshaw, observing dough portioning, round loaves and cut-slitted flower shapes, and reports that Toya learned from her mother and aunties. It gives no measured formula and distinguishes Jemez bread from other Pueblo styles.
The article reports varied bread styles across Pueblo nations and describes the distinct Zuni Paywa family horno practice; those accounts are not combined into this recipe.
Cited in: A home-oven adaptation named for Jemez Pueblo
Centers for Disease Control and PreventionSafety
Raw Flour and DoughCDC warns that uncooked flour may contain harmful germs, advises not to eat raw dough, and says to wash hands, bowls, utensils and surfaces after handling flour or dough.
Smithsonian Institution, Festival of American FolklifeHistory
Samplings from “The Pueblo Indian Cookbook”This 1972 anthology excerpt covers recipes from 19 Pueblos and prints a separate unattributed “Pueblo Bread” formula. That older formula is not the measured formula in this page and does not identify a particular Pueblo community; it is retained only as the original archive lead, not merged into this adaptation.
Cited in: A home-oven adaptation named for Jemez Pueblo