Flour Tortillas

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE tortillas. I'm a flour girl (yeah, they're worse for you, whatever - they're GOOD!), & I like 'em thick. I cannot stand Mission tortillas. Heaven help the Mexican restaurant that dares to bring me Mission brand (yes, I hate them enough that I can tell!). I can taste the preservatives in them. blech.

So, now I just whip up my own tortillas when I'm in the mood. It really doesn't take long at all, I promise.

You need:
1.5 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

3 tbsp shortening (or lard, if you keep it handy)

3/4 cup of HOT water

Dump everything but the water in a bowl.

Mix it up (just use you hands, you can always wash them), until the shortening is well incorporated. You'll have a coarse meal.
Add the HOT water. If you can't handle the heat, use a fork to mix it in, until it cools, then dig your hands in.
Once you've got the water fully mixed in, split the dough into 8 equally sized balls. (If you like thinner tortillas you can probably get 12-15 tortillas out of this dough.)
Call me a cheater... or a tortilla junkie, but I use a tortilla press. They're actually really cheap if you become a tortilla junkie like me. Since I'll assume most of you don't have a tortilla press, you can either use 2 plates & set the dough on the first & use the second to smoosh it (similar to a tortilla press), or you can roll the tortillas out with a rolling pin. If I want big tortillas, I still use a rolling pin. By the way, who cares if they aren't perfectly round (trust me, when I roll them mine aren't), it just adds to the home-cooked-ness.

(If you use a press, putting Saran Wrap on the press can help with the sticking, but it's not something you "have" to do. I do it about the half the time.)

From dough ball to tortilla, just like that. Best $15 I ever spent. ;)

I actually press all the balls, let each rest, then press them a second time. After the second press, I let them rest again, until they feel slightly dry to the touch.

Then, I throw them on a flat skillet that I pre-heated over medium-high heat.

(Sometimes I mix shortening & butter (half & half, the shortening helps keep the butter from burning), sometimes I just cook 'em straight on the pan. Depends on whether or not I want a butter flavor.) If your heat is right, it takes about 30 second - 1 minute per side to cook the tortillas (depending on how thick you make them).

Once you've cooked them all, dig in! Yum!

When you make your own tortillas, the sky is the limit on flavors. You can add some garlic powder to the mix, or some chili powder/taco seasoning, or go the other way & add cinnamon sugar.