Fresh Flour Tortillas
There is nothing more divine to me than a warm and fresh tortilla. When I am in San Antonio, it is one of the things I look forward to most - stepping foot in a Las Palapas or Casa Rio and being served with a tortilla warmer full of steamy, perfectly pillowy flat breads to go with my carne guisada, migas, or fajitas.
That I spent years buying in-store tortillas for home use kind of depresses me, now that I know how easy they are to make. You don't need much: flour, lard, salt, water, and a food processor or your own two hands.
You might think I'm crazy to cook with lard, and before I'd read Robb Walsh's Tex-Mex cookbook, I might have agreed with you.
Cooking with lard is actually much better for you than say, margarine. It has absolutely no trans fats, and stacks up gram for gram equally on total fat to vegetable oil. And Crisco? It's got genetically modified soy bean oil in it. No thank you!
Besides all that, I am putting my hand on the Good Book here and telling you: You will only make a superior tortilla if you make it with lard.
I'm not asking you to cook with lard every day, and I'm certainly not asking you to make fresh tortillas every day of your life (though hey, if you want to join that party with me, it's kinda fun) - but for the good of your tortillas, I am asking you to pick up that box near the butter that says LARD on it.
I promise, if I see you in the grocery store, I'll give you a thumbs up. I will not judge. And if someone else starts giving you those judgy eyes? You send 'em my way. I'll set 'em straight.
Robb Walsh tells me in his book that San Antonio has superior tortillas because of the hardness of the water there. San Antonio water comes from the Edwards Aquifer, and I'm here to tell you, it's some of the best tasting water in the world. The Edwards Aquifer is an underground cavern made of limestone, filled with water. The limestone imparts minerals into the water that give it such a fresh perfect taste, and oh man.. I miss it now.
So if you ever make to San Antonio, you'll have to taste the water and the tortillas, and tell me what you think. In the meantime, make some tortillas of your own, and throw some carne guisada or breakfast taco fixins in it. It'll make your day, I promise.
Flour Tortillas
3 ½ to 4 cups of flour (the higher gluten your flour, the less of it you need. I used King Arthur AP flour, and needed just 3 ½ cups)
1 teaspoon salt
¼ c. lard
For puffier tortillas, add 1 teaspoon baking powder
Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl. Place dry ingredients and lard in a food processor. Add 1 cup of water and pulse until dough comes together. It should be pliable but not sticky. If it is sticky, add flour a tablespoon at a time and mix again until the dough is no longer sticky.
Remove food processor bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rest for 30 minutes to an hour.
Pinch dough into 8 even sized balls. Using either a tortilla press or rolling pin, roll each dough ball out until it's ⅛" to ¼" inch thick (to your preference). If using a tortilla press, I find flipping the dough over and pressing 2-3 times per side allows for the best results.
Heat a medium sized saute pan or a griddle if you have one. Make sure it's screaming hot, and then add one tortilla to the pan or as many will fit on the griddle. Allow to cook 60-90 seconds, until bottom side is peppered with darker brown spots to a color you like, and then flip with tongs or a spatula.
Cook on the opposite side and then remove tortilla to a tortilla warmer or wrap in a clean and dry kitchen towel.
Enjoy with a pat of butter, or fill with your favorite taco filling.
If you're feeling especially adventurous, instead of just griddling your tortillas for use in tacos, visit Bake at 350 - a blog started by my fellow Texan and dear friend, Bridget - where she teaches you how to french toast tortillas and FILL THEM WITH NUTELLA. Did I mention she's a freakin' genius?[wpurp-searchable-recipe]Fresh Flour Tortillas - - - [/wpurp-searchable-recipe]
Oh man, I'm totally drooling over the thought of these, nice and fresh, filled with breakfast taco fillings. YUM.
Seriously. They were lunch today, and OH so good.
My idea of homemade is warming up storebought ones...which never really satisfy. I can just taste these with butter, cinnamon and sugar; one of my fave things to do with tortillas.
I do that too, Barb. Sopapillas are pretty much my favorite Mexican dessert.
I have't tried this yet but will definetly boolmark this recipe! These look superb!
Maris, you just must do it. It's so simple, and you'll wonder what took you so long.
There's something so rewarding about homemade flour tortillas, and it's not just that they taste 10,000 times better than store-bought.
I completely agree, Shaina. I think a lot of people get that feeling from baking basic bread too.
I SO need to make these. I've got beans planned for tomorrow night. Hmmm, now I need to track down lard.
Yes, yes you do. Tortillas and beans are a match made in heaven!
I love homemade tortillas. They are so much better. In fact when we go to my favorite Mexican restaurant, I always order some to go. Thanks for the great post-I'm so trying this soon!
If we had a decent Mexican restaurant nearby, I'd have done the same thing, Naomi!
I absolutely LOVE flour tortillas. Warm, a slathering of butter, rolled up and quickly eaten. Living in between SA & Austin you could only imagine how hard my water is! Thanks to Edwards!
Oh man, Melissa, isn't that just the perfect snack? A buttery tortilla. You don't need anything else. No filling.. just butter and fresh tortilla. Pure heaven.
Gorgeous! I think that I see a tortilla press in my near future!
Yes'm. Amazon and eBay have great deals on them. And they're fun to do with the kids too.
I've only tried house-made tortillas once - we don't have a lot of authentic places where I live. But that one time - WOW! I could have eaten a whole stack of them. Now I can. Hee hee!
Jen, they're so scarily easy. It's going to turn into an addiction, I swear.
Just the thought of a stack of warm homemade tortillas is making me hungry!
Sylvie, I try not to think too hard about it, or I'll be in the kitchen whipping up a fresh batch every few days. It's just that easy!
I can't wait to try this recipe!!! These look gorgeous!
I look forward to hearing how they turn out for you, Robyn!
So do you use a tortilla press? I've been thinking about getting one... is it worth it?
I DO have a tortilla press, made of cast iron. I love it! I got it on eBay a while back, but Amazon has them too.
Oh my, this sounds heavenly. Talk about taking your meal to the next level with homemade goodness!! I think I could eat very happily at your house.
Would love to have you come visit to be sure, Brenda 🙂
When I was younger, I had a Mexican friend who's mom stayed in the kitchen cooking all day long. I had never seen anything like it!! And there was ALWAYS a stack of warm, homemade tortillas on the counter.
I still dream about that stack of tortillas.
And now I can make my own. WOO HOOOOO!!!
I had a friend like that too, Kristan. Her momma didn't speak a word of English, and it really forced me to learn some Spanish. Especially things like, "Arroz con Pollo, por favor!". LOL.
Oh dear...I think I need to re-bid on another tortilla press! These look so amazing!
I think it's definitely time to do that. You need a tortilla press in your life, darlin'.