Flour Tortillas

I haven't posted in a while because I went quite a while where I was reheating things from the freezer and using things from the pantry! I also made a few recipes that aren't worthy of sharing or that I still need to perfect. There are a few things I made though that I definitely DO want to share.

Let's start with tortillas! I always thought homemade flour tortillas would be hard to make, but they really aren't. It does take a while if you are making them by yourself because you have to make the dough, let it rest, roll it out, and cook each tortilla individually, but you can speed things up big time by having someone roll out the tortillas while the other cooks them. If you haven't made tortillas before, I really suggest you try it just once. They're SO good and significantly tastier than tortillas from the grocery store. We do still buy tortillas sometimes because it's much faster (and I don't want to waste beautiful homemade tortillas in a casserole or enchiladas or something), but have been happily making these guys for a couple of years now. I should also note that they freeze quite well when wrapped in foil.

The recipe is a slight variation of this one from AllRecipes.

Flour Tortillas

5 C flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
2 T shortening
about 1 1/2 C hot water

Stir together flour, baking powder and salt, then cut in the shortening until the mixture looks like coarse cornmeal. You can do this with your fingers, a pastry blender, or a stand mixer. Stir in about 1 cup of the hot water, then add more a little at a time until you have a nice, sturdy dough that isn't sticky at all. Form the dough into a ball and coat it lightly with oil, then cover the bowl with a towel and let it rest for 10 minutes.

To make the tortillas, cut off small balls of dough and roll them out. I have never needed to flour the rolling pin or the rolling surface. You can make the tortillas as big or small, as thin or fat as you want. My dough balls are usually slightly larger than a golf ball. Just keep in mind that they have baking powder in them so they'll be a bit thicker after they're cooked. I suggest you roll them out pretty thin to start with. And don't worry if they end up shaped like Africa, you're not alone! They'll still taste good. After rolling out each tortilla, f I'm working alone, I just stack them on a plate, but if you have a helper you can have them roll out the tortillas while you man the stove.

To cook the tortillas, heat a large, ungreased skillet over medium. Cook a tortilla on one side until it starts turning white around the edges and has lightly browned spots on the bottom, about 30 seconds. Flip and cook on the other side for a little less time, until it has light brown spots as well. Remove to a plate and cover with foil. Repeat with the rest of the tortillas, stacking them up on the plate as you go. The tortillas may seem pretty firm when they come out of the skillet, but after being stacked together and covered with foil, they soften quite a bit.

Enjoy!

Yield: about 20 5 inch tortillas.