Flour Tortillas

I got this recipe yesterday and tried it last night. This was our first time to make tortillas. It was not nearly as tough as I had anticipated. Plus, we all loved them! Maybe, you'll wanna try them for yourselves!

Since we never have lard or creamed shortening around the house, we elected to make the lowfat recipe which calls for margarine. Since we were out of margarine, we used butter. You decide for yourself which way you want to make yours. The lard actually makes it taste more like what you buy in the grocery store or from people who cook authentic Mexican food.

This recipe makes enough for 12 tortillas.

1 1/2 cups white flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons of lard, creamed shortening, margarine or butter
1 1/4 cup warm water

If using a bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients. Add the lard or whatever you choose. Cut it until it makes little beads. Now add your water. Stir well until well mixed. Break up into 12 balls. Allow to just sit for about 15 minutes or longer.

Bread machine instructions:

I cheated. I just poured all of the ingredients into my machine, set it for the DOUGH cycle and let it do its thing! Then, I made the balls.

After you have allowed your balls of dough to expand somewhat, sprinkle a little bit of flour on whatever surface you will be rolling them out. In my case, I used a wooden bread board. It worked just great! You can also use wooden or plastic cutting boards, countertops, etc. Sprinkle a little flour onto the top of the ball to keep it from sticking to your roller. Roll each ball out until it is fairly thin--not so thin that when you lift it off of the rolling surface that it forms holes. If that happens, roll it back into a ball and start re-rolling it. Roll each tortilla into a circle. If this is your first time to make tortillas, don't feel bad if they are not perfect circles. It's gonna take a bit of practice for that! In my case, I doubled the recipe. The more I made the tortillas, the better that I got.

You will need a cast-iron pan or griddle of some sort to fry your tortillas. Cast iron holds the best heat so it tends to work much better than other skillets, etc. Lay your tortilla onto the griddle. Use a fork or spatula to flip it over. Once brown (not black) speckles appear on both sides, your tortilla is finished. This only takes a couple of minutes. The longer that you fry the tortilla, the crisper it will become. So, if you plan on rolling it up, keep it soft.

If using this as a main dish, fill it with your taco meat, cheese, etc. If using this as a dessert, fill it with pie filling, fresh fruit, jam or jelly. Roll them up. You can also sprinkle cinnamon-sugar on the dessert tortillas for extra zing.

Place any extra tortillas in an air-tight container or plastic bag.

Enjoy!

VLE-B