There are plenty of recipes that use store-bought tortillas, but this post is about making your own flour tortillas. Many traditional recipes call for using lard, which is not the healthiest ingredient. This recipe uses olive oil, so you can enjoy your home-made tortillas knowing you're using ingredients that are healthier.
The process for making your own, fresh tortillas is easier and faster than making your own bread because the dough is easy to make, and they cook quickly (similar to making pancakes).
Here's the basic recipe to make about 16 tortillas:
INGREDIENTS:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 and 1/2 TSP baking powder (NOTE: This makes the tortillas fluffier. You can omit for flatter tortillas)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 and 1/2 TSP salt
1 cup warm water
DIRECTIONS:
Combine and mix the 3 dry ingredients in your EZ DOH mixer. Again, if you want your tortillas to be very thin, then you can eliminate the baking powder. Then add the warm (about 110 degrees F) water and olive oil, and hand crank your EZ DOH for about 4 minutes to mix and knead the dough. Sprinkle some flour onto your counter or work surface and transfer the dough from your bucket onto the flour. Cover with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let it rest for 45 minutes. This resting period will make it easier to roll out the dough into your tortilla shapes.
Next, you can divide your dough into about 16 pieces that will each be about the size of a ping-pong ball. To be precise, you can weigh each dough ball (mine weighed around 1 and 5/8 ounces).
Now it's time to roll those dough balls, remembering they don't need to be perfectly shaped. Flatten them by hand to start, and then roll them out as flat as you can, and they should measure about 6-8 inches across when you're done rolling.
You'll need a 'medium' heat on a dry skillet or pan, and expect the first few tortillas to be 'experimental' as you adjust the heat as needed so that the tortilla starts to bubble in ABOUT 40 seconds. Then you'll flip it and cook it for another 40 seconds and then start the next one.....like pancakes, once you get into a rhythm you'll find the process goes smoothly. As a rule, when you see bubbles forming, then the opposite side is starting to develop light brown spots.
You'll find that the thinner tortillas work best for tacos while the thicker ones can be turned into almost anything. This can be a fun family event, especially rolling the dough into balls. Since each tortilla cooks quickly (and cools quickly), you don't have to wait a long time for everything to be ready to eat.
