The Fresh Loaf

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Flour tortillas

Kjknits's picture
Kjknits

Flour tortillas

My family has recently embarked on a "less-is more" natural style of living. We're trying to do more things ourselves instead of relying on commercial offerings. We're also trying to get rid of the plastic in our house, which is easier said than done! But baking things I usually buy ready-made at the store, I can do.

One of the things I have switched over to making at home is flour tortillas. We love tacos and quesadillas, and flour tortillas seemed easy enough to make. I remembered seeing women make them in San Antonio when I was there several years ago. All they did was roll out a ball of dough and plop it onto a cast iron skillet for a few seconds on each side. Simple!

I found my keeper recipe at epicurious, which is one of my fave food sites. I haven't tried the wheat version yet, but the white flour tortillas are amazing.

flour tortillas

I follow the recipe pretty much exactly, but I use my stand mixer to mix and knead the dough. And I divide the dough into 16 portions, then roll them out paper thin. This makes tortillas like the ones I'm used to buying at the store, about 8" in diameter and nice and flexible and thin. I would divide them into even smaller portions for tacos, though, because 8" is more like a burrito size. Then I just cook them one by one on a preheated cast iron skillet, no oil or anything necessary (my skillet is super-seasoned, thanks to our summer favorite, fried okra). I place the cooked tortillas in a big lidded Pyrex dish while they wait for the rest to get finished.

Next item on the commercial product hit-list: corn tortillas! Good thing we have a big Hispanic influence where we live...masa harina is on every grocery store shelf.

Comments

Floydm's picture
Floydm

Those look great.

fancypantalons's picture
fancypantalons

What a great idea!  I had no idea they were so easy! :)  My wife and I love eating tacos (well, "tacos"... somehow I doubt what we have is terribly authentic :), and in the past we've simply used store-bought tortillas, and then inevitably threw out most of the bag after eating 4 or 5.  This would make a much cheaper, less wasteful alternative... and on the plus side, I could play around with mixing in herbs and other flavours.

Thanks for the recipe!

audra36274's picture
audra36274

at the Mexican market! My hats off to you!  I hope you enjoy them to their fullest extent! We will roll up anything in a tortilla! They are so versatile! Thanks for sharing those with us!

                                                                                     Audra

Kjknits's picture
Kjknits

Thanks!  Give them a try sometime--they're so easy.  It's easy to forget one on the skillet, though, so sometimes I have a tendency to burn them a bit.  But they're still good, even when slightly "blackened". =0)

Katie in SC