Do you have a craving for tortillas? Are you fond of Mexican dishes? If yes, you certainly have a good appetite. Well, who wouldn’t long for this Mexican flat bread? It can be eaten directly or used as a wrapper for tacos, burritos, quesadillas or enchiladas. It can also be cut into pieces and fried to make tortilla chips, just right for snacks while watching your favorite TV show. Or the whole tortilla can be deep-fried to make a tostada shell for salad and shared with family or friends. Won’t your family be impressed when they see you make these tasty morsels on your own?
Do you frequently buy tortillas? If yes, are you absolutely satisfied with those ready-to-eat yet soggy and leathery ones found in the grocery store? Why don’t you give it a try making your own? After all, the satisfaction you’ll get is priceless. While buying can save you time and energy, nothing beats the taste of fresh tortillas and you will save money and can avoid preservatives and unnecessary additives. Homemade tortillas are in fact much more delicious. It’s worth the effort. Making tortillas is really easy with basic kitchen skill and it’s a smarter choice doing this rather than simply purchasing from a grocery store if you can. Making your meals create impressive long lasting memories for years to come.
Here’s a simple step-by-step guide in making homemade tortillas. You don’t just have to use this recipe though, try different recipes or create your own to make your tortillas just the way you and your family like them! By the way, instead of lard or shortening, butter is used in this recipe and we feel the results will be far better than the usual paper thin kind found in the grocery store. What’s more, it has an awesome flavor that you will surely love, isn’t everything better with butter? Though you can play around with it and try whatever ingredients work for you or that you have on hand. Perhaps, making homemade tortillas will be your next hobby?
Ingredients:
- 3 cups of all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons of salt
- 2 teaspoons of baking powder
- ¾ cup of cold butter
- ¾ cup of hot water.
Directions:
To start with, put the 3 cups of all purpose flour in a medium bowl together with the 2 teaspoons of salt and 2 teaspoons of baking powder. Thoroughly mix the three ingredients until it looks even. Using a whisk will make this easier.
Cut the ¾ cup of cold butter into pieces and add these to the flour mixture. Cut in well until butter becomes powdery and there are no more crumbs larger than a pea, a fork can be used for this, a pastry blender, or a food processor is ideal.
Next, pour the ¾ cup of hot water into the mixture and mix until well combined. If using a food processor, pour the water in with the food processor running in a thin stream and let the dough come together, almost all of the flour should have been mixed in, then stop the food processor. The dough may still be a little sticky, that is alright.
Lightly flour a clean surface before turning the dough out and kneading until smooth. Roughly 12-14 folds. Sprinkle in a very small amount of flour if the dough is still too sticky but be very careful not to add too much flour at this point as it could change the texture of your tortillas. If you think the dough has been mixed well, has just one color and feels nice and smooth, that’s the time to form it into ball. Use plastic wrap or a kitchen towel to cover it and set aside for about 30 minutes to rise.
Then slice the dough into 12 equal portions roll the 12 portions into balls and let rest while your skillet heats up. Roll each slice to your desired thickness. Adjust the cooking time below to your thickness. Do not be upset if they are not perfectly round, just turn a quarter turn as you roll to keep them a bit more round but the shape does not have to be perfect. The bottom line here is the taste difference you will notice. The fact that not all of the tortillas will be exactly the same is part of the charm of making your own instead of store bought.
Meanwhile, start heating a skillet over medium to medium high heat around 450 degrees. You want droplets of water to dance before putting your tortillas on to cook. Traditionally a comal Is used to cook the tortillas but a cast iron skillet or heavy bottomed pan will work as well. Just be careful when cooking the tortilla, one by one in the hot skillet for less than a minute or until you see brown spots. Flip the tortilla so that the other side will be cooked too. Once cooking is done, place these tortillas in a tortilla warmer, kitchen towel, or paper towels and cover to keep them warm.
If you burn a tortillas, which can happen quickly since they cook so quickly, was the pan thoroughly before making any more tortillas as the burned taste will transfer to any subsequent tortillas and could ruin an entire batch.
As you can see, making homemade tortillas is probably much easier than you thought it was. You just have to be a little patient but it’s worth it. And even more importantly, you can serve good wholesome food to your friends and family. Food free of chemicals and additives. You can even make and use your own while grain flour if you want. You can make larger batches and freeze the dough for later use. It is better to freeze the dough than the completed tortillas because the texture of the tortillas will change with freezing.
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