Monday, October 31, 2011

Home-made Flour Tortillas


Flour Tortillas



I’ve had a couple of requests lately for my recipe for home made flour tortillas, so I decided to post the recipe here to share! If you want a more flavourful tortilla, substitute the shortening with fresh lard. As some folks don’t have access to lard (like me, usually) the shortening works just fine as well, but does give it a slightly different taste. Enjoy!

Ingredients
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 3/4 cup shortening
  • 3/4 cup hot water

Directions
  1. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Either by hand or with a pastry cutter, cut in the shortening till the mixture is crumbly. If the mixture looks more floury than crumbly, be sure to add just one or two more tablespoons of shortening till it is crumbly. Add about 3/4 cup hot water to the mixture, or just enough to make the ingredients look moist.

  1. With your hand or a large fork, knead the mixture making sure to rub the dough against the sides of the large mixing bowl to gather any clinging dough. If the dough still sticks to the side of the bowl, add a couple more tablespoons of flour until the dough forms a soft round shape. The dough is ready to roll out now, but it is best to let it rest. Cover it with a dish towel, and let it sit for about an hour or so.

  1. Take the dough, and pull it apart into 10 to 12 balls. Lightly flour your rolling area, and roll each ball with a rolling pin to about 1/8 inch thickness.

  1. Place each tortilla on a medium hot cast iron skillet. Cook for about 1 to 2 minutes on each side, or until the tortilla does not look doughy, and begins to brown slightly.

There will be shrinkage when you cook the tortillas. This is normal. Just keep this in mind, and make the tortillas bigger than what you want/need.

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