Homemade Flour Tortillas! Very Easy.. :)

[Coleroo]

I consider myself a beginner cook. I just got married in '06 and never cooked anything before marriage. But now i love it! I had my menu planned for this week and next week...with burritos as part of one of the meals.

Well, wouldnt you know it - i went to the store yesterday and realized when i got home that i forgot to pick up my soft tortillas (i get the 12" kind). I love tortilla bread so i even use it for sandwhiches when tacos aren't planned. So needless to say, i was a little annoyed.

Thanks to Recipezaar.com (yay! i LOVE that site!) i found an easy (oh my gosh, VERY EASY) homemade flour tortilla recipe. It only took me 40 minutes from start to finish to whip up about 15 tortillas...and that was going slowly because i had to keep reading the directions and figure out what i was doing!


INGREDIENTS:

3 cups of flour (i used self rising)
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup warm water.


DIRECTIONS:

Cream the flour and shortening together (i just used my hands) in a bowl. The orginal recipe says you can add a bit more shortening if it looks "too floury", but since i didnt know what that meant (shoot, the whole thing looked floury to me!), i didnt bother to add more.

THEN, slowly pour in the warm water as you knead with your hands in the bowl. Continue kneading until you get a dough ball (it will be a little sticky). Cover with a cloth and let sit for 20 minutes (this helps the dough be more pliable for the next step).

NEXT... flour a surface and take out your rolling pin (or roller of choice). Break off a golfball sized chunk of dough (slightly bigger for bigger tortillas) and roll into a ball (cover ball with some flour if too sticky). Flatten on the surface and start rolling it out flat.... roll until your circle tortilla is the desired thickness and size. I found that dusting the tortilla with flour helps it not stick to the rolling pin. You can roll out all of your tortillas at once and just pile flat on a plate.

Then using a nonstick griddle, cast iron pan, or large greased frying pan, set at medium heat and fry your tortilla on each side for 1-2 minutes. Theres no exact science - just fry until it looks "done" (with the little browned spots on them and all).

Test your first one or two because i found that if the pan gets TOO hot or if you cook them too long your tortilla will be hard, more like tortilla chips and will break when you bend them.

Pile the cooked tortillas on a plate to cool, then place in a large ziplock bag to store (you can freeze them as well).

I made scrambled egg wraps for breakfast this morning with them and they were AWESOME! I dont think i'll ever spend 2-3 bucks on tortillas again. Shoot, how much does 3 cups of flour cost, shortening and water cost? not much at all and they taste sooo good!

[jodi]

Thanks for sharing. That's one thing I never thought to try from scratch. I'ts funny what you come to prefer once you make it yourself - I no longer buy pancake or waffle mix, or granola. I've even made yogurt myself.

Recipezaar is the BEST!

[JanH]

I love tortillas! Thanks for the recipe and the idea!

[Caoineag]

Oh my goodness, now I feel like an idiot. We have been slowly learning to make things from scratch (i.e. pitas and breads) but for whatever reason, it never even occurred to me to make these myself. Ugh. Thanks so much for a reminder that there are still things left to be made from scratch.

[PrincessPerky]

huh, DH was just complaining last night of the cost of whole wheat tortillas (not to mention having to go to the special store since the cheap grocer doesn't sell the right brand) maybe I should try it....

[LuxLiving]

Yum - I had homemade cinnamon/sugar tortilla bread this morning for breakfast. Just add some sug/cin mix - maybe 1 1/2 to 2 Tablespoons to your dough. Kids love these. I also prefer to do this rather than make traditional cinnamon toast. Some of the vitamins I take work better w/a little fat taken along with them. I use MUCH less butter on these than I would on traditional toast - however, the fat content does go up w/the lard in there, but we aren't talking about THAT!!!! Are we? No, I didn't think so! Anyway, I've also made this w/coconut oil and the cin/sug and it's really good that way as well.

[Coleroo]

glad you all enjoyed it!!!!!!! :-D Lux, that sounds yummy...it doesnt help that im really hungry right now..hehe.

Guess what else i did with them??? my hubby was complaining that he didnt didnt have any chips to go with the homemade salsa (something else i found at recipezaar.com!!) so i just used a pizza roller to slice my leftover tortilla bread flats into triangle chips, sprinkled on some salt and lemmon pepper, then popped in the oven at 375F for about 15 minutes.

Yummy! Homemade tostito chips... whoohoo! Im lovin' this made from scratch stuff (well, the easy recipes anyway!)