Got Tortillas?

Well, we do! I made tortillas from scratch. It sounds a lot more intimidating & time consuming than it really is. My kids inhale just about anything as long as it is masquerading on a tortilla. Tortillas are expensive here. But the kids just can't stop eating tortillas. I had to find a solution! I knew my mother-in-law had some good 'from scratch' recipes. In her ward (church congregation), she is the reigning guru on food storage. But what good is a basement full of wheat, beans and dried goods if you don't know what to do with it? That's when she started making monthly handouts of recipes for your food storage. Which basically equates to making things from scratch. The handout that began it all was, "Got Milk?" and it had guidelines on keeping powered milk, how long it's good for, how to store it & how to use it. The series blossomed from there and encompasses a wide variety of foods & recipes. I was visiting her ward once and the handout du jour was 'Got Tortillas?'. Oooh, homemade something! I like the end result, but am I willing to put in the effort needed? Well, I never got around to making them before we moved. Once we got here and found the price of tortillas hard to swallow (haha), I emailed my mother-in-law for the recipes. I have made them twice, so far, and can tell they will become a common item in my fridge again.

TORTILLA RECIPE

Ingredients

• 5 cups all-purpose flour

• 2 tablespoons shortening

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1 1/2 cups boiling water

Directions

1. Mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt in large bowl. Cut in shortening to resemble cornmeal. Add water slowly, mixing with your hands to make a soft dough. You may not need all the water.

2. Knead a few minutes on floured surface until smooth and elastic. Lubricate top with oil, put back in bowl and let rest, covered for 10 minutes. {Don't over-knead! I did that the first time & rolling out those suckers was hard!}

3. Divide into small balls the size of golf balls and proceed to roll out into size and thickness you prefer. I just pinched off balls one at a time, you don't need to make them all before you start cooking.

Rolled out dough, ready for the skillet

4. Cook on top of stove over medium heat using a cast iron grill or heavy skillet until top is slightly bubbly then turning on opposite side for a minute or two. (I used a regular old fry pan, worked just fine)

See? Bubbles! It's the simple pleasures, really.

5. Keep stacked and warm inside a clean dish towel. And I kept flattened, skillet ready dough in between two moist paper towels, to keep them from drying out while they waited their turn on the skillet.

They are very firm when they first come off the skillet.

But they soften up.

The tortillas are a bit thicker than store bought, but they taste even better! Seriously, from measuring the flour to heaping on taco meat & cheese, it took me an hour. And I made 15 tortillas, which lasts about one & a half meals for my crew. I noticed corn meal at the grocery store the other day & I think I might try my hand at some corn tortillas! I feel empowered! Who knows, maybe I'll even start making cookies?

One recipe I saw described how they should be a bit crackly & shiny! Yipee, just like store-bought!

I made a 'fancy one', just for the pictures. Fancy meaning I rolled out a tortilla & cut it out with a bowl, thus eliminating those rough, uneven edges. I ordered a tortilla press from Amazon a few days ago. That will make the process go so much faster! (and it was really cheap, just $16)