Homemade Flour Tortillas

After I realizing that I can't possibly live up to my "Summertime" Board on Pinterest...

I decided on 3 goals this summer,

1. Learn to make Flour Tortillas from scratch just like mi suegra (my mother-in-law)
2. Potty Train Jake
3. Maximize my Mornings

2 out of 3 isn't bad, right? 

I have been married for almost 12 years to a wonderful, hard working man, who just happens to be Mexican.  I have tried very hard for most of those 12 years to learn to cook food that my man loves to eat.  I started off simply enough with huevos rancheros (my style)...scrambled eggs with jalapenos, tomatoes and onions served with store bought flour tortillas and a sliced avocado on the side and graduated to more complicated dishes from Mole (from a jar) to Chile Colorado (not perfected just yet, but good none the less). 

But one recipe has always alluded me.  Try as I might, I could NOT make homemade flour tortillas to save my life.  They always ended up more crisp like a cracker than soft like a tortilla.  The flavor was good, but texture is EVERYTHING! 

So this summer, I decided to learn, or die trying!

Mi suegra was in town throughout the month of May, and I had a couple of opportunities to work with her to learn how to make these ellusive yummies.  Hers turn out great everytime (though I did see a couple of burnt edges...shhhhh). 

I tried my hand at it with my cousin helping out and they were... eh.  While they were MUCH better than any attempt I had made thus far, they weren't "quite right".  So, I called up mi querida cunada (my dear sister-in-law) and made a date to try again with her. 

She let me do all or the work while she started cooking lunch to go with our soon to be fresh tortillas.  She guided me throughout the process, tasting to see if there was enough salt, and encouraging me to add more water, even when I thought it was a big gloppy mess.  She showed me her technique for forming the small balls that will soon be worked into tortillas, and even her "rolling" method which differed from that of mi suegra.  "Everyone has their own techinque. You have to discover yours," she said, but much more beautifully in Spanish. 

There were no "real" measurements... There is a feel and a texture to the dough. 

I have made them several times since, all with slightly different results. Sometimes, they aren't as round as others, and sometimes the feel is a little off, but when MY MAN said, "this is just how I like them", well....

Flour Tortillas

1/2 bag of all purpose flour

2 heaping tablespoons baking powder (and I mean the ones you eat off of...we call them cereal spoons in our house, because my man likes to eat his cereal off of them)

salt to taste (a couple of teaspoons)

1/2 pound of lard

roughly 3 Cups of HOT, HOT water (I have to microwave mine, since my hot water heater is set to safe for the kiddies)

1. Mix dry ingredients well.

2. Cut in lard with your hands until the flour will hold a ball shape when squeezed (throughout the mixture).

3. Begin to add water (I add about 2 C to start, then add as I go to get the desired texture)...honestly this is where you call me and ask me to invite you over next time I make them, because I could not EVER get the texture down until I did it myself under instruction... SERIOUSLY!

4. Pull apart small handfulls of dough and form balls (There is a technique to this as well)..

5. Let them sit on the table while you form all balls, then starting with the first balls you formed, squish them out and start to roll with rolling pin. Push ever so slightly and (I) push up and back, then turn tortilla 1/8 of a turn and do it again, until tortilla is preferred diameter and thickness.  If they are smallish, you can make gorditas with them.  If they are thin, they make great burrito tortillas.  Worry not.

6. After rolling out all of the tortillas (if you are doing this on your own), heat skillet (I use my daughter's pancake griddle) to medium high heat.  Cook a couple of minutes or until lightly browned on both sides.  They will start to bubble up, kind of like pancakes.  Turn them over and cool a little longer on the other side. It helps to have a "plancha" or tortilla iron to weight it down. I have one that mi suegra brought me on one of her visits, but you can improvise (at my mom's house, we used a brick covered in foil and placed it inside of a foil pan for ease of handling).

7. Store wrapped in a clean cloth inside of a plastic bag at room temperature.  They keep for several days, but mine definitely start growing around day 6, so eat them up!  The kids love them with melted butter and cinnamon sugar. 

PROVECHO!