Aunt Sharleens Flour Tortilla Receipe 2 Recipes

FLOUR TORTILLAS

Steps:

• 1. In a large bowl, add the flour, baking powder, salt, and shortening. Combine well with fingers.
• 2. Knead well with your hands. Add in the water a little at a time until the dough comes together. It should not be wet but should not be flakey dry. Knead the dough for about 90 seconds, until elastic.
• 3. Cover dough with damp kitchen towel and let sit for @ 30 minutes. Knead the dough just a little, again. It should be smooth.
• 4. Form the dough into small balls (@2" diameter). Lay out on flat surface and cover with damp cloth.
• 5. Heat up your griddle or Comal to a very high heat.
• 6. Using a rolling pin, roll out the patties into tortillas, as thin and round as possible (this takes a lot of practice!). Roll one tortilla at a time...while one is cooking, you can be rolling out the next one. Keep the remaining dough balls under the damp cloth until you are ready to roll them.
• 7. Place tortilla on the hot griddle.
• 8. Cook the tortilla @ 30 seconds on each side, flipping twice. The tortilla should puff up. Press down with spatula.
• 9. Take tortilla off the griddle and place in a clean towel to keep warm.
• 10. Continue with the remaining dough.
• 11. I wrap the tortillas in the clean towel and then put them in an airtight container.

AUNT EDNA'S HOMEMADE FLOUR TORTILLAS

Steps:

• In a large mixing bowl, place the flour, salt, and baking powder. Whisk together until well blended. Add the shortening and use your fingers or a pastry blender to cut it into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
• Slowly add the water, mixing it in with your fingers a little at a time. Turn the dough out onto a surface and knead until soft, 3 to 4 minutes. Place the dough in a clean, large bowl, cover with a towel, and let rest for 20 minutes.
• Divide the dough into equal portions and roll each portion into a ball. Place the balls on a baking sheet or platter, cover with a towel, and let rest 20 minutes.
• On a lightly floured surface, use a rolling pin (palota) to roll one ball at a time into an evenly thick round; roll it to about 1/8 inch thick for thick, chewy tortillas or as thin as you like. It is more important that the round be evenly thick than a perfect circle, but there is a good method to getting a good, round shape: Place the ball on the lightly floured surface in front of you and flatten it slightly with your palm or the rolling pin. Place your rolling pin at the center of the round and roll once straight up and then straight down. Do not allow your rolling pin to roll right off the edges; just roll up to the edges, not off them. Lift the round and give it a quarter turn. Repeat the rolling and quarter turning until the round is the desired size and thickness. Place the rolled-out tortilla on a baking sheet or large platter and cover with a damp cloth while you roll out the remaining tortillas. Once you have the hang of it, you'll be able to roll and cook at the same time.
• Heat a comal over medium heat until hot. Place a tortilla on the comal and cook until the underside is brown in spots, the tortilla has risen slightly, and the surface is dotted with air bubbles, 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. Flip the tortilla and cook until that side is browned in spots (usually where the bubbles were), 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. For best results, do not flip the tortilla more than once. Transfer the tortilla to a tortilla warmer or place on a platter and cover with a cloth napkin while you cook the remaining tortillas. Serve warm.
• Try to flip flour and corn tortillas (page 174) only once; flipping them back and forth makes the tortillas tough. Wrapped tightly, flour tortillas can be stored for several days in the refrigerator. Reheat them on the comal just before serving.
• A tortilla press is essential for making Corn Tortillas (page 174) and Tostones (page 34). It is made from two round, heavy plates. One sits solidly on the counter and the other, attached to the first by a hinge, is pushed down over the first using the leverage of the handle. It's a beautifully simple design that hasn't been improved by the introduction of new technologies or materials. Buy the heaviest one you can find; I like cast iron. The weight helps do the pressing for you. Don't buy nonstick or electric presses. Be sure to line both sides of the press with wax paper or plastic wrap or the tortilla will stick to it. Tortilla presses can not only be found at kitchen supply retailers, department stores, and online, but they can also often be found for half the price in grocery stores catering to a Latin clientele.
• A comal is a flat, heavy griddle-again, I prefer cast iron-crucial for cooking tortillas. They are widely available at big box and department stores and well worth their very reasonable price. They're sturdy enough to last decades and are great for searing meat and making quesadillas, panini, and grilled cheese.
• Unlike the tortilla press and comal, a lidded tortilla warmer is not crucial for producing the most successful tortillas possible. You can certainly place cooked, warm tortillas on a platter and cover them with a clean, cloth napkin or pretty kitchen towel. But tortilla warmers are fun and often beautiful. I love to collect them, in fact, and have a large assortment of warmers made from cloth, ceramic, terra-cotta, and porcelain. I love to present everything I serve in an attractive way, and tortilla warmers look lovely on the table while actually doing the useful job of keeping my fresh tortillas moist and warm!

AUNT SHARLEEN'S FLOUR TORTILLA RECEIPE# 1

Steps:

• In a bowl, sift flour, salt, and baking powder cut in shortening until it resembles fine meal.
• Add water, a little at a time, to flour mixture and kneed until liquid is incorporated (water amount will very with different flour type and type of day i.e. if the days is cold and wet you will use less water).
• Form dough into a ball and kneed on a floured surface until dough is smooth and elastic. Divide, and make 12 smaller balls. Cover and let stand at least 30 minutes.
• Roll each ball of dough on a floured surface to make 6 or 7 inch size tortillas.
• Place on a pre-heated griddle or cast iron skillet or a regular skillet and cook till medium golden on both sides.
• Stack between towels or wax paper. Do not use any oil in skillet while cooking the tortillas the skillet needs to be dry. You might need to wipe the skillet from time to time to get rid of any extra flour. You will be tempted to eat one or two because of the delicious smell, it's ok you're supposed to. :-).

AUNT SHARLEEN'S FLOUR TORTILLA RECEIPE# 2

Steps:

• Mix the flour and salt together "I use a sifter" in a bowl then cut in the lard or shortening until the mixture resembles bread crumbs.
• Gradually add the water to form a soft pliable dough "you might need more or less water depending on the type of day."
• Knead the dough on a well-floured surface until smooth and no longer sticky.
• Divide the dough into 12 pieces, keep the dough that is not being worked covered to prevent it from drying out.
• Knead each piece into a ball, then roll out each piece into a very thin circle, using a 10-inch plate as a guide.
• Stack the tortillas as you make them, flouring each one well to prevent them from sticking together. Cover with a clean cloth. " I use wax paper between each layer to prevent from sticking. Once you get the hang of it while one is cooking you can roll out the next one.
• Heat a heavy-base griddle or skillet until evenly hot, carefully add a tortilla. Cook for about 10 seconds per side. "the tortilla will rise up that's ok cook each side until very lightly brown.
• Stack and cover each with wax paper so they do not stick. Do not use any oil in skillet while cooking the tortillas the skillet needs to be dry. You might need to wipe the skillet from time to time to get rid of any extra flour.