Flour Tortillas

My husband went out of town recently, and I decided to surprise him with a homecoming dinner when he came back. It wasn’t anything like filet mignon, but that’s not something that would necessarily thrill him. You’re probably thinking, what man doesn’t like filet mignon? While my husband likes him some steak, it’s really Tex-Mex food that makes him a happy man. Oh, and the spicier it is, the better. So, I made him some crazy spicy carnitas (recipe coming soon) with homemade flour tortillas.

When I mentioned to him that I was making homemade tortillas, I think he had his doubts. Heck, I had my doubts. When I started making these, I thought…surely, they couldn’t be that easy. I must have done something wrong, but y’all..they were seriously *that* easy and they really don’t take that much time at all to come together. They’re also way cheaper than buying a bag of tortillas at the store. I always hate paying $2-$4 for a dozen tortillas (yeah, y’all know I’m cheap), so from now on, unless I’m in a time crunch, it’s gonna be homemade all the way for us! By the way, if you’d like to make these whole wheat, just sub half of the all-purpose flour for whole wheat. 🙂

I came across this recipe on Homesick Texan, and for those of you who would prefer not to have lard in the house (which traditional tortillas call for), this recipe doesn’t call for it. The only problem that happened with these is that my first tortillas were kind of thick. You really need to roll these tortillas THIN. Get that arm work-out in! 🙂

Flour Tortillas
Source: Homesick Texan

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. of baking powder
• 1 tsp. of salt
• 2 tsp. of vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup of warm milk

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and vegetable oil. Slowly add the warm milk and stir until the ingredients are mixed and a loose, sticky ball of dough has formed. Remove the dough from the ball and knead on a well-floured surface for two minutes, until the dough has formed into a soft, but firm ball.
2. Place the dough back in the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and allow it to rest for 20 minutes.
3. Break the dough into 8 equal pieces, and form them into balls. Place the dough balls on a plate (where they aren’t touching), cover with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rest for 10 more minutes.
4. After the dough has rested, you’ll roll them into tortillas one at a time. First, flatten the dough into a circle with your hands until it’s 4 inches wide. Then, using a rolling pin, roll the dough until it’s 8 inches wide. The tortillas should be very thin at this point. Be careful not to over-work the dough, to prevent the tortillas from becoming stiff. Once the tortillas are rolled out, cover them until you are ready to cook them.
5. To cook the tortillas, heat a skillet on high heat, and cook each tortilla one at a time, for 30 seconds on each side. You’ll be able to tell that it’s finished cooking when the tortilla starts to puff in the skillet. Once the tortillas are cooked, cover them with a napkin until you’re ready to serve.