There’s something special about a family recipe. These flour tortillas are so nostalgic for me because for pretty much as long as I can remember my family makes a delicious Mexican brunch for Christmas morning. My grandma, who used to make the flour tortillas and chorizo, passed away a couple years ago and our Christmas mornings haven’t been the same since. While clearing out her belongings and reminiscing we stumbled upon true treasure, her recipes. These recipes were taught to her by her mother in law and passed down in the family. It’s amazing how something like food can make you feel so close to those that you’ve lost. This year I took over making the flour tortillas from my grandma‘s recipe and our Christmas brunch was back.
The most important thing I found to making these flour tortillas taste as similar to my grandmas as possible is by using Mexican all purpose flour. There are a couple of brands at my local Hispanic market that I have tried and my favorite is El Rosal. The recipe on the bag of flour tortillas is not too far off from my grandma‘s recipe but the slight differences make all the difference in the world. Now, when I found this recipe I’m not gonna lie- I was a little bit intimidated thinking that it was going to be more difficult than it really turned out to be, so I don’t want you to feel intimidated like I did. It is actually quite a simple recipe when you break it down step-by-step.
The first step is to mix your dough. If you’ve done any baking, specifically pie making, then you’ll have an idea of how to do this part already. I take my flour in a bowl and break up the shortening into small pieces. This would be very similar to the way you would make piecrust by hand breaking your butter into small pea-sized pieces. After that I add in my salt and warm water and mix by hand for just a few minutes until the dough forms. Next I take the dough and knead it on a floured work surface until it becomes a little smoother. Once your dough is made put it back in your bowl and cover and let it rest for about ten to fifteen minutes, this will make the flour tortillas easier to roll out. Once your dough is rested, cut it into eight equal pieces and form those into small balls. On a heavily floured work surface you will use a rolling pin to roll out the tortillas one at a time until they are nice and thin.
To make things a little quicker for myself I heat up my Cast Iron to cook the tortillas while I’m rolling them out. Cooking your tortillas is a very quick process but you will need a thick flat pan (Comal Griddle) or large cast-iron pan to make sure it gets hot enough and can hold heat. To cook the tortillas you simply drop your rolled out tortilla onto your hot, hot cast-iron pan until it starts to bubble up, once the bubbles are formed you can flip it either by hand if you can touch it or with a pair of tongs. Let the tortilla cook on the second side for about 10 to 15 seconds and you’re good to go! The whole cooking time for one tortilla should be between 45 seconds to one minute- it’s very quick. When your tortillas are cooked, place them on a plate or in a Tortilla Keeper that can be covered with some sort of lid. I personally use a dinner plate and a round bowl plate as my lid to keep the moisture in. Roll and cook all of your tortillas the same day and store any unused tortillas in a Ziploc bag in your refrigerator for up to five days. I’m so sentimental with these tortillas that I just eat them as is with nothing else on them but they make fantastic small hand burritos or even just with a little bit of butter. However you eat them, I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.
Homemade Flour Tortillas
Equipment
- Cast Iron Skillet
- Rolling Pin
Ingredients
- 2¼ cups flour preferably Mexican brand like El Rosal or Selecta
- 3 tbsp shortening
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 cup water lukewarm
Instructions
- Place dry ingredients into a mixing bowl.
- Break up shortening into small pea sized pieces into the dry ingredients.
- Massage the shortening into the flour a little bit until all pieces are covered in flour.
- Pour water into the dry mixture and knead until a dough ball forms. The mixture might be wet and sticky. Continue kneading until the flour absorbs the water and the dough is less sticky. You can add more flour a tablespoon at a time if the mixture is still too sticky.
- Let the dough rest for 10-15 minutes.
- separate the dough into 8 equal pieces and roll each out until a thin tortilla is formed.
- Heat a cast iron skillet on medium high heat until it is heated through and very hot.
- Cook one tortilla at a time on the hot cast iron skillet. When large bubbles appear on the tortilla, flip and cook the other side for an additional 15-30 seconds.
- Keep the tortillas warm for use or store in a ziplock bag for up to 5 days.
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