Home Made Tortillas (and links to other tortilla sites)

by **Raeja** Sat Apr 06, 2024 5:19 am

Home made Tortillas

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups All Purpose Flour plus extra to form tortillas.

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon baking powder

⅓ Cup shortening or Lard

1 cup hot water * See Note

Directions:

Making the Dough

In a large bowl, place the flour, baking powder, salt, and mix. With the help of a fork, pastry blender or your hands, incorporate the shortening or lard until it resembles a coarse meal.

Slowly add the hot water a little at the time until the dough holds together. Do not add all the water at once. See note above.

Turn dough onto a work surface, and knead for a couple of minutes until it is smooth.

Form the Dough Balls

Divide the dough into 10 equal portions, rolling every piece on your work surface with the palm of your hand to form a little disk.

Cover the dough balls “Testales de harina” with a damped clean kitchen towel, plastic wrap, or a piece of parchment paper and let the dough rest for 30-45 minutes.

Note 2: The resting period will develop the gluten, and forming the tortilla disks will be easier. Be sure to complete this step.

Rolling the Flour Tortillas

After the resting period, place an ungreased griddle/comal (this can be a pan or skillet) over medium heat.

Grab your Rolling Pin to form the tortillas on a lightly floured surface. If you add too much flour to the surface, your flour tortillas will be dry.

Now, place the dough ball onto the working area and press slightly with your hand; set the rolling pin at the center of the dough ball and press forward without making it to the edge and then press backwards towards yourself, stopping before the edge.

Turn the tortilla 45 degrees (like a half-turn) and repeat pressing forward and then towards you. Flip the tortilla and repeat the same process until you have a thin disk of about 10 inches. If you are new to rolling tortillas, be patient; it takes a little practice.

Cooking your Tortilla

Place the tortilla on your already hot Griddle or comal. This step is a really quick one: be careful with your timing.
During the first 20 to 30 seconds, the tortilla starts forming air bubbles, and light brown spots will show at the bottom side of the tortilla.

Turn the tortilla, and during the next 20 seconds, more air bubbles will continue to form.

Turn again; at this time the flour tortilla will puff up. This last step will take about 10 seconds. Remove the flour tortilla and wrap it with a kitchen towel. Keep making the rest of the tortillas until you have a whole stack.

Notes:

Add the water little by little to form the dough since in humid climates a slightly less amount of water will be needed.

Add the baking powder if you live at sea levels. You can still make the flour tortillas without the baking powder, maybe they won't puff to much, but they will still come out fine.

The resting period will develop the gluten and forming the tortilla disks will be easier. Do not skip this step.

*Your comal/griddle should be hot enough so that when cooking the tortillas the spots are light brown; if they are dark brown too soon then the heat is too high, and if the tortillas take longer to cook then the heat is too low.

* To store the tortillas place them in a plastic bag in the refrigerator.

* To reheat the tortillas, place them in a hot griddle/comal and warm them the same way you cook them, turning twice. The air bubbles will form again but not as big as when they were just cooking.

****This recipe sounds similar to the one I had many years ago, that was lost during the Jefferson St house fire we had in 2000. I have posted links to other ones that may be closer. I have not tried any of these yet, so please let us know what you think. DBR

https://www.mexicoinmykitchen.com/flour-tortillas-de-harina/#recipe

by **Raeja** Sat Apr 06, 2024 5:21 am

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Home Made Tortillas (and links to other tortilla sites)