Flour Tortillas
This recipe is from Good and Cheap.
Good and Cheap is a gorgeous cookbook for people with limited income, particularly on a $4/day food stamps budget. The PDF is free (ahora en Español!) and has been downloaded more than 15,000,000 times. I have more cookbooks, too!
I don’t know about you guys, but lately I have just been ALL about the tacos. One of my favorite things growing up was taco night. Yes, the tacos were delicious, but I also loved that my Mum would put out all the different toppings and fillings and we’d just make our own. Even as a kid I guess I was kind of a control freak and I just loved making up my own taco. I think my Dad’s favorite part was trying all the different hot sauces. Maybe also the sour cream. Anyway, I digress! My point is that simple taco night is made into extra awesome night if you make your own tortillas. Make a big batch and freeze some of them for next time.
- 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
- 2 1/2 tsps baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup butter or lard
- 1 cup hot water
- In a large bowl, whisk the dry ingredients. Add clarified butter or lard. Lard is more traditional, but I prefer butter. Using your fingers, squish the butter against the flour until the mixture looks like moist crumbs.
- Add the hot water—not boiling, just hot—and form into a dough with your hands. Leave the dough in the bowl for an hour, covered by plastic wrap or a moist towel.
- Roll the dough into 24 small balls. Keep them covered with the towel.
- Lightly flour your countertop. Gently flatten one dough ball with your palm, then roll it out with a rolling pin. Flip it over to make sure it doesn't stick to the counter; add more flour if it does stick. Once you have the ball rolled out nice and thin, set it aside under a moist towel.
- Once you've rolled out one or two tortillas, put a non-stick or cast iron pan on medium-high heat. Let it get nice and hot. Place a tortilla in the pan. Once it starts to dry up around the edges, flip it over with a spatula, then gently press it down to give it some color underneath. Once the tortilla has brown spots on both sides, remove it from the pan and continue with the next. Work quickly! As you wait for each tortilla to cook, roll out more. You'll get better at this part with practice.
- If you're serving the tortillas soon, place them in a warm oven to keep them pliable. If they're for later in the day, pile them under a cloth while you finish making them. Once you're done, wrap them in aluminum foil and put them in the fridge. Heat in the oven before serving.
