I remember growing up living next door to my best friend whos mom would cook a huge batch of tortillas once a year. They were seriously the best things in the entire world. I would scarf them down with out a care if I was being a pig or eating all of my friends food- just because they were that good. My friend’s mom would only make these glorious tortillas once a year so I had it in my head that they must be really hard to make. WRONG! I decide to finally make tortillas for myself and by the time they were done I thought, “Really- that’s it?” I don’t know if I will ever go back tot he store-bought kind.
Now of course this wouldn’t be a healthy food blog if I didn’t make wheat tortillas! Although I need to try white flour tortillas next time and try to recreate my friend’s moms recipe, but for now it’s all about wheat.
Homemade Wheat Tortillas
Ingredients:
- 2 3/4 cups of whole wheat flour, with extra for work surface
- 5 tablespoons of vegetable shortening
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup warm water
To Do:
– Mix the flour and 5 tablespoons of shortening together in a bowl until crumbly. I tired to keep my hands clean and use a spoon, but ended up using my hands after all. It’s the best way to mix it completely, in my opinion.
– Stir in the warm water, a little at a time until it resembles a large dough ball.
– Form it into a ball and cut it into 8 equal pieces for large tortillas or 16 pieces for taco sized tortillas.
– On a floured work surface, roll out each dough ball until it’s thin and round.
– Heat a cast iron skillet on the stove (do not add any oil) and heat the tortilla for about 45 seconds on each side.
– Keep the cooked ones warm in a tortilla container or get creative like I did and place them in between two glass plates. Serve as tacos or burritos!
These go great with my homemade pinto beans! (Pst! That’s my next recipe post- watch for it!)
I’ve seen tortilla recipes on different blogs that call for just flour and water. I like the idea of omitting the fat, but I was a little iffy on making it that way. (after all, I’ve mixed flour and water to make biscuits) I stuck with making it the (mostly) traditional way and it turned out good. I need to try it next time with out the Crisco. Have you ever make tortillas with out fat? How did it turn out- I’m really curious to know!