Post by haecklers on Dec 2, 2015 13:14:52 GMT -5
So many things I thought I had to buy, it turns out, are very easy to make at home! Like flour tortillas!
Don't go by the recipes online - they're all trying to "improve" the real thing by taking out most of the "unhealthy" ingredients (salt and lard)! What you need to do for really good, easy flour tortillas, is use enough lard. Assuming you have homemade lard or some your friend made. If you don't, I'd say use ghee or butter!
For every 4 tortillas you want to make use:
1 cup of flour,
1/4 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of baking powder
1 big tablespoon (ok maybe 2 if you make them level. Or more) of lard
enough milk or water to make a stiff, dry dough (this takes some practice - if they're too dry they're just harder to roll out, if it's too wet you can add more flour)
Put the first 4 ingredients in a bowl and you can cut in the lard with a pastry knife or just use an electric mixer to mix it in until it looks like crumbs. Then add your milk - it will take at least 1/3 cup, then add a tablespoon at a time until it makes a nice dough.
Knead it a few times so it's smooth and doesn't have any hard lumps then divide it into balls - 4 balls for each cup of flour. Flatten them into a disc shape and let them rest for at least 15 minutes. That relaxes the gluten so they can be rolled out very thin. If, while you're rolling them out they start to spring back too much just give them another minute or two to relax again.
Get a nice big frying pan and heat it up on medium heat. Meanwhile start rolling out your tortillas on a lightly floured surface. Don't make them bigger than the bottom of your frying pan or they won't cook evenly. As you get them rolled out, you can stack them to wait for their turn to get cooked. When the pan is hot enough that a drop of water bounces around and sizzles in it, put in one of your tortillas. You don't have to grease the pan. When it gets puffy bubbles all over, flip it to cook the other side. It only takes about a minute for each tortilla if the pan is hot enough. Remove the cooked ones onto a plate (you can stack them) to cool slowly. When they're room temperature you can put them in a bag until you're ready to use them, but they are best eaten when still warm.
Flour in the frying pan will start to burn and smell bad. If that happens, wipe it out with a paper towel. If that happens to you a lot, try using less flour to roll them out next time.
Don't go by the recipes online - they're all trying to "improve" the real thing by taking out most of the "unhealthy" ingredients (salt and lard)! What you need to do for really good, easy flour tortillas, is use enough lard. Assuming you have homemade lard or some your friend made. If you don't, I'd say use ghee or butter!
For every 4 tortillas you want to make use:
1 cup of flour,
1/4 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of baking powder
1 big tablespoon (ok maybe 2 if you make them level. Or more) of lard
enough milk or water to make a stiff, dry dough (this takes some practice - if they're too dry they're just harder to roll out, if it's too wet you can add more flour)
Put the first 4 ingredients in a bowl and you can cut in the lard with a pastry knife or just use an electric mixer to mix it in until it looks like crumbs. Then add your milk - it will take at least 1/3 cup, then add a tablespoon at a time until it makes a nice dough.
Knead it a few times so it's smooth and doesn't have any hard lumps then divide it into balls - 4 balls for each cup of flour. Flatten them into a disc shape and let them rest for at least 15 minutes. That relaxes the gluten so they can be rolled out very thin. If, while you're rolling them out they start to spring back too much just give them another minute or two to relax again.
Get a nice big frying pan and heat it up on medium heat. Meanwhile start rolling out your tortillas on a lightly floured surface. Don't make them bigger than the bottom of your frying pan or they won't cook evenly. As you get them rolled out, you can stack them to wait for their turn to get cooked. When the pan is hot enough that a drop of water bounces around and sizzles in it, put in one of your tortillas. You don't have to grease the pan. When it gets puffy bubbles all over, flip it to cook the other side. It only takes about a minute for each tortilla if the pan is hot enough. Remove the cooked ones onto a plate (you can stack them) to cool slowly. When they're room temperature you can put them in a bag until you're ready to use them, but they are best eaten when still warm.
Flour in the frying pan will start to burn and smell bad. If that happens, wipe it out with a paper towel. If that happens to you a lot, try using less flour to roll them out next time.
