I am really not fair to the Mexican restaurants in the Cleveland, Ohio area where I live. Having grown up in southern California where Mexican food is plentiful, cheap and really, really good, it was tough to move to an area with a much more limited set of choices. I have been known to tell visitors to the area that we should not go out for Mexican as there is a restaurant with “Bell” in the name that is on the top 5 list of Mexican restaurants in the area.
To be fair, we have a few decent choices for a good Mexican meal, but it really is nowhere near as prevalent as in the Southwest. I love going into a hole-in-the-wall restaurant in Phoenix or San Antonio and having a home-made tortilla with well spiced meat and fresh peppers and onions. I will occasionally make Mexican food at home, but to date had never made tortillas. The other day I decided to rectify that.
The tortillas were pretty good. I used most of them for cooking, but did eat one by itself.
I actually had the lard sitting in my fridge from a previous recipe, so I was glad to use some of it up.
As with many things, tortillas were much easier to make than I would have guessed. I decided to make burrito sized tortillas, so I cut the dough into ten pieces instead of the quantity called for in the original recipe.
One of the keys to making a good tortilla Is getting the thickness right. Ideally you would use a tortilla press or have a set of rollers to put it through, but I had to rely on the old rolling pin.
The tortillas were good and while I won’t give up buying pre-made ones for much of my cooking, I won’t hesitate to make my own when I have time, and want to have a taste of the southwest.
Homemade Flour Tortillas
Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 45 min | Makes: 24
Ingredients:
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 tablespoons lard
- 1 1/2 cups water
Directions:
1. Whisk the flour, salt, and baking powder together in a mixing bowl. Mix in the lard with your fingers until the flour resembles cornmeal. Add the water and mix until the dough comes together; place on a lightly floured surface and knead a few minutes until smooth and elastic. Divide the dough into 24 equal pieces and roll each piece into a ball.
2. Preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Use a well-floured rolling pin to roll a dough ball into a thin, round tortilla. Place into the hot skillet, and cook until bubbly and golden; flip and continue cooking until golden on the other side. Place the cooked tortilla in a tortilla warmer; continue rolling and cooking the remaining dough.
Nutritional Info:
NutritionAmount Per Serving (24 total) Calories 86 cal 4% Fat 1.3 g 2% Carbs 16 g 5% Protein 2.2 g 4% Cholesterol 1 mg < 1% Sodium 138 mg 6% See More Based on a 2,000 calorie diet
Source: http://m.allrecipes.com/recipe/157642/recipehomemade-flour-tortillas
