I never had a fresh tortilla in my life until I was 19 years old. In fact, I don’t think I had real, authentic, fresh Mexican food until I was 19. No one had really introduced me to the magic of homemade salsa and guacamole, or the heartwarming goodness of classic enchiladas. Every tortilla I had in my childhood was of the sad, grocery store, pre-packaged variety. You know the kind. A little gummy, tasting of preservatives and chalk.
And then, Elaine and I moved down to Texas, where I met her (very extensive) Mexican family. One of my first memories from moving to Dallas was visiting Texas Rangers’ games for the first time, and being sent to the game with meat and potato tacos wrapped in foil made by Elaine’s grandma. At first, I didn’t think anything of it. I was happy that we had been given free food — as college kids often are. But I wasn’t prepared for just how good the tacos would be.
I’ve had a ton of tacos over the years since then (and many more Grammy tacos in particular). If you’re into Mexican and Tex-Mex, you couldn’t do much better than live where we live and take the chance to visit Austin and San Antonio. Even better than that, however, Elaine has recently spent some time working on her own homemade flour tortilla recipe. And let me tell you, these tortillas bring me back to my first few months in Texas. They’re light, airy, and soft. They are also perfect for everything from bean and rice tacos to a little late night butter and brown sugar snack.
I hope you enjoy these as much as we have. Here’s our recipe:
Weigh and combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Add the shortening and crumble with your fingers until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
Make a well in the center, then add the hot water a little at a time incorporating the flour mixture a little at a time. We use an electric kettle to heat the water and the temp is set to 208 °F The dough should be very warm to the touch so be careful! Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes, it should be very soft but not sticking to the counter.
Shape the dough into small balls, about 15-20 depending on how big you want your tortillas to be. Cover with a damp towel and let rest for 15 minutes in a warm place. While the dough rests heat a cast iron skillet on the stove on medium heat.
Flour your surface lightly and roll out the dough into a thin circle (mine never look circle, but that’s the shape you’re aiming for).
Place the raw tortilla in the skillet and cook for about 2 minutes checking occasionally to make sure the under side does not burn. When you see light brown spots on the bottom it’s time to flip. Grammy would say to use your fingers for flipping, but I find they taste just as good when you use tongs or a spatula and you don’t have to deal with burnt fingertips.
*Please note, our first tortilla of every batch is always terrible. I don’t know why, maybe he’s just getting the skillet ready for everyone else, but it literally always sucks. The tortilla in the photo is not the first one. Obviously.*
We usually have to adjust the heat several times throughout the process because we have an electric stove.
Lastly, try not to eat them all as soon as you cook them. But they are definitely best when eaten fresh with a nice slather of butter.
INGREDIENTS
3 cups all purpose flour (390 grams flour)
2 tsp baking powder (7.5 grams baking powder)
8 oz very hot water (236.59 ml water )
1/3 cup lard or shortening (73 grams) *use only 1/4 cup (59 ml) if using oil
1 tsp salt (5 grams salt)
And watch this video if you want to see a step by step.