Homemade Tortillas...yum!!!

This summer I have been working with Spanish speaking families in a KinderPrep program, going to their homes and working with children entering Kindergarten this upcoming school year. In our town, the majority of these families are Mexican. One of the moms would tell me about how her husband would ONLY eat homemade tortillas and that she made them 3-4 times a week. Another family had delicious food cooking one day and told me to skip breakfast before coming the next day so I could have some of their homemade tamales. Boy, were they good!

I have been thinking about the need to try my hand at homemade tortillas ever since. A couple nights ago I found a recipe I wanted to try and substituted half of the white flour for wheat flour. They turned out pretty good, but I decided I wanted to try white flour tortillas next. I scoured the internet for recipes and then decided to take some ideas from several, along with tips my daughter remembered from when a classmate and her mother made them for cooking class at school. (The main thing she mentioned was that the mom was kneading the dough a lot.)

Kneading is key. The first one I cooked tasted like a biscuit! Try it out...

Homemade Flour Tortillas

6 c. flour
2 t. salt
2 t. baking powder
2/3 c. vegetable oil
2 c. warm water

Mix dry ingredients and make a well in the center. Add oil and water and stir until ingredients are mixed thoroughly. (Do not worry about over-mixing the dough.) Once the dough has formed a ball, knead the dough for about a minute and let rest for a few minutes. Separate the dough into 1" to 2" balls.

Heat cast iron skillet over medium heat.

Prepare a surface for rolling out the tortillas with flour. Using the heel of your hand, knead a ball of dough 3-4 times before rolling out with a rolling pin or pvc pipe (the preferred tool of choice of my Mexican friend). Roll tortilla as thin as possible. I usually roll, then turn it as I flip it to make it as round as possible.

Place tortilla on hot skillet and cook until it bubbles up.

Once the whole tortilla is full of bubbles (about 30-45 seconds), turn and cook the other side for about the same amount of time. Remove from skillet.

I like to stack mine on a plate until they are all done. If you are planning to eat them soon, serve them directly from the plate. If you want to store them, allow them to cool (I leave them on the plate in a stack) and then place tortillas in a gallon zipper bag. I have no idea how long they can be stored, but I plan to keep them in the refrigerator for a few days. It's rare for something to last very long in my house though.

Yields approximately 36 tortillas.

Dinner tomorrow will be chicken fajitas with these bad boys! Can't wait.