Food Made Fresh: Nothing beats any meal accompanied by warm flour tortilla
There are a few basic ways to make flour tortillas. It’s more of a technique than a recipe.
Flour tortillas are made by rolling the dough out with a rolling pin to achieve a thin tortilla. Due to the gluten in flour, they tend to “spring” back if pressed in a tortilla press the way corn tortillas are commonly made. However, just for kicks, I occasionally like to make fluffy flour tortillas, similar to a pita or gordita.
Cake flour has less gluten, so I substitute it for the all-purpose flour when I use the tortilla press. This alternate method is listed below.
Flour tortillas are used to make burritos and are an option to use for soft tacos. My family enjoys them rolled up to eat with just about any warm bowl of soup or chili. And when my son was little, he would eat just about anything, if I rolled it up in a tortilla.
Nothing beats any meal accompanied by warm flour tortilla.
Enjoy food made fresh!
Handmade Flour Tortillas
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons shortening
Approximately 3/4 cup hot water
In a medium-size mixing bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut in shortening with your hands. Start adding water a little at a time until you reach a smooth consistency, being cautious that the dough does not become too sticky.
Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead for 2 minutes. Let the dough rest for about 15 minutes. Divide dough into 8 balls. Let them rest for 4 or 5 minutes.
Preheat a griddle, comal, or cast-iron skillet over medium heat for 2 or 3 minutes.
Dust a rolling pin with flour. On a floured surface, roll out each ball to approximately 7 to 8 inches in diameter.
Over medium heat, cook each tortilla individually in the dry, preheated pan. When bubbles start to form, continue cooking for about 30 seconds. Flip and repeat. Continue with each tortilla and keep them warm in aluminum foil in an oven set at 200° F.
Serve warm. Store unused tortillas in plastic wrap or a plastic bag in the refrigerator for up to a week. Reheat in a dry skillet or heat in microwave for about 15 seconds per tortilla.
Tips: Depending on the altitude, if tortillas don’t begin to bubble while cooking, next time, try adding an additional ¼ to ½ teaspoon baking powder. Or if they tend to get tough after a couple of hours, next time add 1 additional tablespoon of shortening.
Alternate Method:
Substitute cake flour for the all-purpose flour.
Cut off two pieces of plastic wrap about the size of your tortilla press. (I like to cut zip-top freezer bags apart to use in place of plastic wrap.) Lay one piece of plastic onto the bottom plate of the press. Spray plastic lightly with non-stick cooking spray. Flatten dough ball into a disk between your palms. Place disk onto center (or a little higher) of press. Spray the other sheet of plastic with non-stick cooking spray and place it on top of the dough.
Close top plate over dough. Press handle to flatten dough. You will see it peek out of the edges of the press. Peel off the top sheet of plastic. Lift tortilla with bottom plastic attached and lay across your palm. Gently peel plastic back leaving the tortilla spread out over your other palm.
Continue cooking as directed above.
ANGELINA LARUE is a food writer, recipe developer and author of “The Whole Enchilada Fresh and Nutritious Southwestern Cuisine.”
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Food Made Fresh: Nothing beats any meal accompanied by warm flour tortilla
