Flour Tortillas
We have only one thing to say about flour tortillas: practice. Getting the
dough part right is not too hard. Below is the classic recipe Mexican women
trade, measured in kilos. We converted it to cups for you, but to get
consistent results, we would do it á la Mexicana and weigh the ingredients on
a scale.
The hardest thing about flour tortillas is to get a round tortilla. Flour tortillas are rolled out with a rolling pin, not pressed with a tortilla press. The thinner the tortilla gets, the worse the situation becomes, and you do want your tortillas as thin as possible. Frankly, the fact that you have undertaken the project of making homemade flour tortillas is admirable enough to outweigh any misshapen results. Make a game of it. Ask the kids what they imagine the shape of the tortilla to be, like looking for images in the clouds. You never know what you will see (Look Mom! It's Elvis!)
Flour Tortillas
Ingredients:
1 kilo flour (about 7 cups)
2 tsp. Baking powder
1 tbsp. Salt
¼ kilo vegetable shortening (about 1 1/3 cups)
2 cups hot water
In a large bowl, add the flour, baking powder, salt, and shortening. Knead well with your hands. Add in the water a little at a time until you have a smooth dough. Knead the dough for about 90 seconds, until elastic. Form the dough into 40 small patties. Return the patties to the mixing bowl, and allow to rest for 20 minutes.
Heat up your griddle. With a rolling pin, roll out the patties into tortillas, as thin and round as possible (this takes a lot of practice!). Place tortilla on the hot griddle.
Flip tortilla to cook on the other side after 45 seconds. Flip again after
45 seconds. Flip one more time. The tortilla should puff up. Take tortilla
off the griddle after 20 seconds and place in a clean towel to keep warm.
Continue with the remaining dough. Makes 40 tortillas
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