Homemade Flour Tortillas

Directions:

1. In a large bowl combine the flour, salt and baking powder. Whisk together until well blended.
2. Add the shortening. Cut in with fingers or pastry blender until flour mixture resembles very fine crumbs. You can check if your flour mixture has the right shortening to flour ratio by grabbing a small amount and giving it a firm squeeze in the palm of your hand. Open your hand, if the dough crumbles it is too dry and needs a little more shortening. If the dough holds together without being sticky, you know you have the right consistency.
3. Add hot water a little at a time and mix into flour mixture with a fork, or your hand. You want to keep adding water until the dough forms a ball and has a nice consistency.
4. Knead dough for about 3 minutes and return to bowl.
5. Cover bowl with a damp cloth and let the dough rest for 15 minutes.
6. Pinch off portions of dough that are roughly the size of a small ping pong ball. Roll into smooth balls and place back in your work bowl; keep covered.
7. Once all of your balls have been formed, take one of the balls and form it into a flat disk. Using a rolling pin roll the dough into an oval, turn 45 degrees and roll again; continue rotating the dough and rolling until you have a thin circle.
8. Place the dough on a hot comal or cast iron skillet or griddle. When the tortilla begins to show small bubbles on the surface, quickly turn it over. The tortilla will begin to puff up, when it is lightly browned on one side, flip it over and cook on the other side (you have now turned it twice, cooking it on one side, then the other, then back to the first). You can lightly press down on the air pockets to help the tortilla brown more evenly. Be sure to watch the tortillas carefully because they can quickly go from browned to burnt. (If you happen to burn a tortilla, be sure to wipe your pan with a damp paper towel so that the rest of your tortillas do not pick up the burnt taste.)
9. Remove cooked tortillas and cover with a clean dish towel to keep warm. Repeat with remaining balls.

Notes: If you look at my tortillas you will notice that they are not perfectly round. My kids LOVE to make the tortillas themselves, but they are still working on their skills. If you have kids who want to help you make tortillas, or anything else, by all means LET them. We call the awkward ones our “ugly” tortillas, but they still taste great! My kitchen is a family kitchen, the kids are always welcome to come in and work with me – it’s not about perfection, it’s about spending quality time together and preparing great food for our family. Relax and enjoy the process!
 

If you want to make the process easier and have consistently great looking tortillas, consider buying a tortilla press. The important thing to remember when using a tortilla press is that you need to place a small piece of plastic wrap on both the bottom and the top plates, this allows you to press the tortilla in between the two sheets of plastic and will keep the tortilla from sticking to the press. To keep the plastic wrap in place, put a few drops of water on the press and spread it around a bit. The plastic wrap will be a lot easier to work with and won’t keep slipping off. Additionally, when you place your ball of dough in the press, you will want it to be more towards the back, rather than the middle. As the press flattens the dough ball, it will push the dough towards the front of the press.