Tortilla's

I have posted about making enchiladas and although I made them again recently, hubby has always been saying that the tortillas are too thick and too 'heavy'.  So I went searching for a recipe for home made tortillas. Because Heaven knows fresh home made tortillas are Da Bomb!

Growing up we had a neighbor down the street who would make dozens of tortillas and sell them. She made dozens because we ordered dozens. We also slathered them with butter and ate them while waiting for the next round to come... Fresh, warm tortillas with butter on them- my mouth waters and I drool.

I found a few recipes online, here, there and everywhere, each one calling for some of the same things... Last night I gave it a shot. The first one had cornstarch and baking powder in it. They turned out ok, but would seem to be better used in making chips. Granny's Corn Flour Tortillas In the comments there are a few people saying to add a little more water, etc. They were good with honey and I actually made a couple into bowls for taco salads.

Since these were coming out too crisp to use later as taco shells, I flipped a couple of pages and found another recipe. Easy enough and all the ingredients were on hand... I would provide a link, but forgot the website I found it on. Here it is though and I highly recommend this one. Very light, fluffy and easy to roll into burritos, make chimichangas, or even flautas or taquitos depending on the size you make to use.

3 cups of flour
1tsp of salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup warm water

Combine flour & salt, mixing well, then add oil. Combine until it is crumbly and begin adding water. Mix by hand until it forms a nice dough. Turn it out on a non-floured (or lightly floured) surface and knead 3-5 minutes until it is consistent & smooth. Return to the bowl, cover with a damp cloth and let it sit for at least an hour.

*This is a good time to go do something else like grate cheese, cook some chicken or beef, chop lettuce.... Get your stuff ready for putting in the tortillas.

For standard tortillas, cut dough into 10-12 pieces. Roll each piece out into 10"-12" thin tortillas. Heat a non-greased flat pan over medium heat. Place the tortillas on the pan for 30 seconds each side. This part goes really quick. If you have someone helping you, they are flipping tortillas about as fast as you can roll them out. I will try to get pictures tonight of the few leftover tortillas from both batches. They were good for soft tacos or what ended up being burritos and the first batch were much like Sopapilla's which if you have ever had these- they are very good too. I have a recipe for them I will be posting soon. Enjoy!

Alterations-

If you will be making flautas or taquitos- you will get more tortillas as they will be smaller in size. For larger tortillas (for those wonderful football sized burritos)- obviously you will not get as many.

For Chimichangas and flautas, you can either fry the tortillas filled with cheese, chicken, steak, shredded beef, shrimp, ceveche or whatever you like- or for a healthier, easier, cleaner alternative- bake them in the oven on a cookie sheet at about 350 degrees about 20 minutes or until the tortilla browns and hardens like a shell. These can all be frozen for later or eaten when cooled.

I am going to be making a bunch of these to take with us for lunch this week.
Fast, cheap, easy and tasty- I love it!