Tidbits of Happy

Easy Homemade: Flour Tortillas

28 Sep 2010 1 Comment

by Trina in food traditions, recipe Tags: flour tortillas, recipe

According to my husband, there likely is nothing better than a homemade flour tortilla … preferrably made by his mother. 

Unfortunately, she’s the type that doesn’t measure, and I need measurements for baking (are tortillas baking? hmm) – especially for a new recipe.  So, the next best option for me to conquer the recipe was to turn to my sister-in-law, Lidia (the other daughter-in-law).  Her flour tortillas rival our mother-in-law’s.  She’ll make a few dozen on a Saturday morning, and they’ll all be eaten up before breakfast is over.  I spent several sessions with Lidia, getting the recipe just right.

And so, armed with the recipe below, I set out to rid our house of packaged flour tortillas.

A few notes about making the tortillas, first.  If your water is too warm, the tortillas turn out hard and leathery.  You can use lard in place of the shortening, but Lidia and I both agree that the vegetable shortening gives a much lighter-tasting tortilla.  Finally, you can adjust the salt in the recipe slightly, by about half a teaspoon up or down, for your taste.

Ingredients:

• 6 cups all purpose flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 750 grams manteca (vegetable shortening)
• 2 cups warm water

Directions:

1. (All by hand) Mix together the flour, salt and baking powder.  Then, cut in the shortening until well blended.  Add the water and mix thoroughly. 
2. Knead the dough until smooth.  Let sit for several minutes (up to 15).
3. Make small (golf-ball size) balls of dough.  (I usually get about 2 dozen tortillas from this).
4. Roll out the dough into thin circles, or as close to a circle as possible.
5. Heat a griddle to medium-high, and cook the tortillas on the griddle.  Allow bubbles to form over most of the surface before flipping to finish cooking the other side.  When you flip the tortilla, it will like puff up – this is good.  Flip once more to finish off for a few seconds and remove from the heat.
6. Keep warm by wrapping a clean kitchen towel. 
7. These are best served immediately or at room temperature.  Reheating on the griddle or in the microwave tends to make them tough and chewy.