Homemade Tortillas

WARNING. Once you make these – you will not buy tortillas at the grocery store.

My cooking skills are limited at best, but I shine in the homemade tortilla category.

It is a simple recipe, but it’s all about the process. We follow the Thin and Tender Flour Tortilla Recipe from Serious Eats. We’ve made a few adjustments in the Ingredients and process to help you along the way.

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon of kosher (or sea) salt
1/4 cup cold Shortening – Spectrum Non-Hydrogenated All Vegetable Shortening or Crisco
3/4 cup Cold Water (maybe a little more)

Process:

• Getting ingredients ready. If using Crisco, you can easily measure out 1/4 of a cup. If using Spectrum Non-Hydrogenated All Vegetable Shorting, you’re going to need to use a spoon to break it up.
• Mix the flour and salt into a large bowl.
• Add the Vegetable Shortening into the bowl.
• Using your fingers, mash up the Shortening and mash it in with the flour to remove all chunks. This will take 5-10 minutes. The goal is not feel any chunks of shortening before mixing water.
• Slowly pour water into the bowl and need together. Continue pouring and needing until the dough doesn’t stick to you when needing. You may need to add more water and/or flour in order to get the right consistency.
• Wrap the dough ball up in a clean dish towel and set it on on the counter. Let is sit for at least 30 minutes – 2 hours before rolling out tortillas. They tend to get better the longer they sit, so I’ve been making then at lunch to use for dinner.

Rolling out Tortillas:

• Flatten the ball and cut it into 8 similar size balls. (I prefer 8 because we like our tortillas a little bigger, the recipe actually calls for 10)
• Roll each individual cut into a ball, then flatten it a little bit – you’re starting to make the shape of the tortilla.
• Flour your surface, roll the tortillas out by using a rolling pin. Thickness will depend on preference, we like ours really thin.

Baking:

• Use a cast iron skillet and get this guy hot
• Place one tortilla on the skillet and wait for it to start bubbling. Once the tortilla bubble sup a large amount, flip them. Keep doing this until you like the color, browning on the end product.
• To keep them warm before serving, wrap them up in a towel. We use a towel inside of a tortilla warmer (yes, like you’d find at a Mexican restaurant)
  
  Storing Leftovers: We rarely have leftovers, but throw them in a plastic bag and put them in the fridge. When time to reheat, throw them in the Microwave for :15 seconds and they should be good to go .