Homemade Flour Tortillas
There is nothing like a freshly made Tortillas! Here are the simple ingredients you will need.
- 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 to 2 tsp. salt
- 4-8 Tbsp. vegetable shortening (or half shortening, half butter). Mom found 6 tablespoons of fat worked well, better than 4
- about 1 cup warm water
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Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Add vegetable shortening (and butter if using). Use your hands to mix, rubbing shortening into flour.
Add warm water a little at a time until your dough is soft and not sticky.
Knead the dough for a few minutes. Let rest 10 minutes.
Divide into pieces of dough to form 16 dough balls. Let them rest for at least 10 minutes, longer if you like, up to 20 minutes.
Heat a cast iron skillet or comal or griddle or your Cuisinart Griddler to somewhere around 450F. This is about medium high and with the Griddler this means as high as it goes.
Dust each ball with a little flour just before you roll them out. Roll from the center, turning often, and try to get as thin a round as you can (early attempts will definitely resemble amoebas - not to worry, you’ll get better with practice.) Work fast and roll one while the previous one cooks. If you aren’t a fast roller, bug a friend to help you.
Lay the tortilla on the pan or Griddler. It takes just a few seconds to cook, watch for puffy areas and light browning. This will take 30-60 seconds. Flip to the other side. When they are done it should have lots of nice brown speckles. Tuck inside a folded clean towel as they are done.They are ready at this point or let them cool completely in the towel then put in a gallon zipper bag and refrigerate.
