Homemade Flour Tortillas

[Jenise]

My husband would give up his right hand for homemade flour tortillas, Larry. How do you make them? I've never done it.

My husband would give up his right hand for homemade flour tortillas, Larry. How do you make them? I've never done it.

It's simplicity itself.

FLOUR TORTILLAS

4 C flour
2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
4 Tbs shortening
1.5 C warm water, approx.

Combine dry ingredients.
Cut in shortening.
Add water a bit at a time, work mixture into a dough.
Knead dough until smooth, cover, set aside 10 min.
Form dough into egg-sized balls.
Roll each ball into thin circle (I use a French rolling pin).
Heat griddle or skillet on med-high heat.
Place each tortilla on griddle, cook for approx. 1 min. each side (time varies widely).
Tortillas should be lightly speckled (a few burned spots won't hurt anything).

I sometimes add a spoonful of wheat germ or bran to the flour for a little extra fiber. I personally use a round cast-iron griddle.

After a time or two, you'll get the hang of it. They're great, esp. with some honey and they help cut the heat of chile.

My husband would give up his right hand for homemade flour tortillas, Larry.

Wouldn't that chafe?

Kinda like when my doctor told me to give up Cheetohs.

Jenise,

It would be worth the search to acquire a cast iron tortilla press that can be placed directly over a burner. A lot easier to knock out a dozen or two fresh tortillas. Especially once you get it seasoned.

First attempts at hand rolling a "round" tortilla can be pretty comical. A lot of traditional restaurants don't even use a rolling pin...but just pat them out by hand.

Here is a good one

http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/pDetail.asp?p=434

Richard

Jenise,

It would be worth the search to acquire a cast iron tortilla press that can be placed directly over a burner. A lot easier to knock out a dozen or two fresh tortillas. Especially once you get it seasoned.

First attempts at hand rolling a "round" tortilla can be pretty comical. A lot of traditional restaurants don't even use a rolling pin...but just pat them out by hand.

Here is a good one

http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/pDetail.asp?p=434

Richard

The one pictured costs about half that at any Mexican market (I bought one for $7 at a discount store), but it won't work anyway. Tortilla presses are for corn tortillas, not flour tortillas.

Tortilla presses are for corn tortillas, not flour tortillas.

Larry,

It works just as well for any type of non-leavened flatbread...including flour tortillas or...pita, for that matter. My Mom has used one since I was a kid (50+ years).

Richard

Well, if it works, I guess it works.... I'm surprised your mother could get the flour tortillas thin enough.

Thin flour tortillas? Well, thats kind of a regional preference.

When we lived in deep South Texas the flour tortillas were thicker and larger. Up here in Houston, they are much thinner( so thin, that you can almost see thru them)..though thats probably because of the tortilla making machines that are so prevalent in the area.

When I lived out in West Texas, the best tortillas were handmade, thicker but smaller in diameter.

Personally I like a thicker tortilla that maintains its elasticity and doesn't split when you roll it. Something we ran into further south and into some of the mexican border towns.

Richard

Richard

I've always believed the following, as quoted from Gourmet Sleuth:

Flour Tortillas

Flour tortilla are a simple mixture of flour, fat (lard or vegetable shortening), salt and water. Despite what you may have read, flour tortillas are NOT made with a tortilla press. The dough is too soft and sticky and will not flatten without the assistance of skilled hands or (for the rest of us) a rolling pin (palote).

The best (and traditional) rolling pin (palote) is made of wood and is 14" - 18" long and about 1" in diameter.

Flour tortillas are made with wheat flour and in order for the tortilla to maintain its flattened shape the dough must be rolled until the gluten strands break down. Without rolling the ball of dough would just snap back into its prior shape.


I thought the gluten would spring back, making it difficult to flatten the dough. Does your mother have a different recipe that works well with a tortilla press?

[Jenise]

Actually, I have one of those presses, just haven't used it for anything.

Re thickness, I've seen them done both ways in Southern California. When El Torito decided to open it's experimental flagship Grill restaurant (it was terrific at first, very fresh and avant garde for Mexican food, but later went downhill when it turned into a chain and it became a rubber stamp copy of itself) they hired a little Mexican woman to handmake small diameter thicker flour tortillas in the lobby. A basket of four, warm off the grill, would arrive with your drinks along with a spicy compound butter and freshly made roast vegetable salsa. HEAVEN, those were.

Probably full of lard, too. Which do you use, Larry and Richard?

Jenise,

We've always used lard. And if it was available a touch of bacon grease. If not, then just lard.

Richard

My husband would give up his right hand for homemade flour tortillas, Larry. How do you make them? I've never done it.

I thought you had a copy of Chef on Fire?

Does your mother have a different recipe that works well with a tortilla press?

I don't know Larry. Let me ask and I'll get back to you.

Richard

I generally use shortening, but on occasion I've used lard. I didn't particularly like the lard version after it got cold (like the next day) and I wanted to eat a tortilla with honey, but that's just me.

I asked a new friend of mine who grew up in Mexico making fresh tortillas every day to come over and give me and another friend a flour tortilla-making lesson. The ones I find in the grocery store lacked the--for lack of a better word--toothsomeness (kind of chewy, very pliant, and very thin) that I was after having had handmade versions in local restaurants.

She was a great teacher. Part of her process was to use one of the cast iron tortilla presses, but hers was electric. So it partially cooked the tortilla as you pressed it, then we followed up with the quick cooking in a hot skillet.

I tried making them without the press, and just cannot get the texture and thinness I want. And I cannot find a press like hers to save me -- even with the large Latino population here in Denver.

I can find it in an aluminum version (http://www.tortillacocina.com/catalog_tortillapress.htm), but I'm after a cast iron, electric version. The brand name of hers was Tortilladora. If anyone stumbles across a source, I'd love to know. Otherwise, I'm going to settle for this aluminum version.

But definitely she used this press for the flour version--they're not just for corn tortillas. I think the heat is what kept the dough from sticking, plus hers was well-seasoned after 20+ years of use.

Here's a site that has electric flour tortilla presses: http://www.tortillacocina.com/catalog_tortillapress.htm

I'll take a look around Albuquerque and see if there are any here and if you want one, perhaps the shipping would be less.

Perhaps all along, we were talking about two different things. I have never seen a cast iron flour tortilla press, much less an electric one. I've seen only the run-of-the-mill corn tortilla presses in the 6-7 inch sizes.

BTW, don't anyone consider the plastic press. It looks incredibly sturdy, but mine broke before I could finish the very first tortilla. I exchanged it for a metal one.

Yes, Larry. That's the site I had found that had them as well, but a friend of mine ordered one from them, and they carry the aluminum version -- not the true cast iron type that I have my heart set on. So by all means yes! If you find one locally there in Albuquerque, I'd be delighted!

You need solid shortening of some sort (lard or bacon grease, for example) in this recipe. Butter's got too much moisture. Ghee might work, though. Vegetable oil has too low a melting point. Given that trans fats are a no-no these days, I'd opt for lard rather than Crisco or some other partially-hydrogenated vegetable fat. This isn't an item for those seeking to avoid saturated fats.

-Paul W.

Crisco has a no trans-fat shortening, which I used.

And, Trudy, no promises, but I'll look in a couple of Mexican markets.

I've always believed the following, as quoted from Gourmet Sleuth:

Flour Tortillas

Flour tortilla are a simple mixture of flour, fat (lard or vegetable shortening), salt and water. Despite what you may have read, flour tortillas are NOT made with a tortilla press. The dough is too soft and sticky and will not flatten without the assistance of skilled hands or (for the rest of us) a rolling pin (palote).

The best (and traditional) rolling pin (palote) is made of wood and is 14" - 18" long and about 1" in diameter.

Flour tortillas are made with wheat flour and in order for the tortilla to maintain its flattened shape the dough must be rolled until the gluten strands break down. Without rolling the ball of dough would just snap back into its prior shape.


I thought the gluten would spring back, making it difficult to flatten the dough. Does your mother have a different recipe that works well with a tortilla press?

Larry, I make them with a rolling pin very much like the one you mention, but it is just the rolling pin I use all the time. I've always called it an "Italian" rolling pin.

As a matter of personal preference I add a little baking powder to my flour tortillas (I like the flakiness). I've been making them for about 25 years and have tried all kinds of ways, including the press, and prefer rolling them.

My French rolling pin is tapered. The traditional Mexican one is dowel-shaped. How is the Italian one shaped?

My French rolling pin is tapered. The traditional Mexican one is dowel-shaped. How is the Italian one shaped?

Like a broomstick. I keep it handy in case I need to fly away quickly.

Crisco has a no trans-fat shortening, which I used.

Interesting. I wonder how they manage that? The partial hydrogenation process (which is what makes Crisco solid shortening instead of blended vegetable oil) is what causes trans fats to form. Maybe they filter them out afterwards or something.

-Paul W.