Homemade Tortillas

I made my very own flour tortillas. And, curiously, making them gave me a lot of satisfaction. I was very pleased to discover that not only are tortillas easy to make, but that they taste great. So much better than store bought or even the heat your own kind from Costco. I got this recipe from my friend Corinne. Thanks Corinne! I used non-hydrogenated shortening (Spectrum brand) because I recently read In Defense of Food and it scared me (super scared me), especially the parts about trans fats. As I've been searching around on the internet I've discovered you can also use oil in the place of shortening. I'm might try that next time.


Homemade Tortillas

3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder (I'm going to cut this in half next time to make them less poofy)
1 teaspoon salt
4-6 tablespoons shortening or lard
1 1/4 cups hot tap water

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut in shortening with a pastry blender (I finished this by hand). Add water a little at a time, stirring with a spoon to bring dough together. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for a few minutes until dough is nice and smooth, adding dustings of flour as needed. Form dough into 12 small golf ball size balls. Cover dough balls with a kitchen towel and let rest for 10 minutes. Roll out dough balls on a floured surface into 8-10" rounds. Heat a frying pan and cook tortillas over medium high heat until browned (about 30 seconds), flip and cook until browned on the other side. Serve warm.