#146 We made our own Flour tortilla

Since the day I started making breads, I have been dying to make my own flour tortilla. I am so glad I found this recipe.  Because of our food allergies, we cannot buy food from her school's cafeteria, so cooking in the morning and packing lunch is an absolute must for me. We like to pack tortilla and quesadilla, and we  buy flour tortillas from the grocery stores to make it. Well, after I learned how easy it is to make a home made tortilla using organic flour, I will not be buying for a long long time, or maybe, even never! :) This recipe does not require lard nor shortening, which is a great plus, it is very quick and easy to make, soft, really good for quesadilla. 

Yield: 12 medium sized tortillas

FLOUR TORTILLA

Ingredients:

4 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups warm water ( not HOT) 

Directions: 

1.  Mix the dry ingredients. 
2. Add oil and mix with hands. 
3. Mixing with your hands, add water a little at a time, until you get a soft dough. 
4. You should be able to mix in all the dry ingredients, but the dough shouldn't be sticky. 
5. (You can add in more flour if you add too much water.) On a floured surface, knead the dough for 2- 4 minutes, adding flour if the dough is sticky. 
6. Form dough into a ball, cover with towel and place upside down bowl over dough. 
7. Let the dough rest for 15-20 minutes. NOTE: the dough will not rise, this just rests the gluten. 
8. Heat ungreased griddle to medium-high. 
9. Break off golf-ball sized pieces of dough and flatten into 5 inch circles. 
10. On a floured surface roll out tortillas using a back and forth motion, turning the tortilla 1/4 turn after each roll. 
11. Flip the tortilla at least once. 
12. Place tortilla on hot griddle and cook till bubbles rise (20-25 seconds). 
13. Flip and cook on the other side 20-25 seconds. 
14. Finished tortillas will be speckled with brown. 
15. Place cooked tortilla in a bowl covered and lined with a towels.

Recipe adapted from Stacy Diaz featured on an article in San Jose Mercury News

A tortilla (or flour tortilla to differentiate it from other uses of the word "tortilla") is a type of thin flatbread made from finely ground wheat flour. It originated in Mexico and  has been a staple food of the Mexican region since pre-Columbian times. Read more from our source.

I learned that wheat flour tortillas have been used on many American spaceflights since 1985 as an easy solution to the problems of handling food in microgravity and preventing bread crumbs from escaping into delicate instruments.

Below is hilarious line from the funny and smart movie I recently watched: One Day; in the movie, Emma (Anne Hathaway), who was working in a  restaurant in London, educates a customer:
"A tortilla is either corn or wheat. But a corn tortilla folded and filled is a taco, whereas a filled wheat tortilla is a burrito. Deep fry a burrito, it's a chimichanga.Toast a tortilla, it's a tostada. Roll it, it's an enchilada." :)