Homemade Flour Tortillas

I've wanted a tortilla press for quite some time. We adore Mexican food (I could eat it every day!) and I hate buying store bought tortillas. For Christmas, my in-laws gave me a beautiful cast iron model that I was just itching to break in.

There is definitely not a shortage of tortilla recipes out there. There was also a recipe on the tortilla press box and one on the flour package - but both of those were corn and I wanted flour tortillas to go with the Wild Mushroom Queso Fundido I was making (recipe to come!).

After searching through what seemed like hundreds of recipes, I came across this easy and straight forward recipe on allrecipes.com.  This recipe is wonderfully simple. The tortillas were delicious, fresh and I could not believe how easy it was to make them.  If I can help it, I will never buy another package of store bought ones again!

A few notes:
- This recipe can easily be halved, doubled etc. I had no problems halving this.
- For lard (I hate that word btw!!!) I used leftover bacon drippings from that morning.  The writer of the recipe specifically says not to use vegetable oil or shortening for the lard.
- If you have a tortilla press, use that instead of a rolling pin and continue to follow the recipe as written.
- Whether using a rolling pin or tortilla press, keep in mind your tortilla thickness preference. These were going with a ooey, gooey queso so I wanted and would suggest a thicker tortilla. Also think about the size. I went small this time, but I would definitely go larger to accommodate fajita filling, etc.
- I used all-purpose wheat flour that I purchased at the Latino Market.
- If you have a non-stick griddle, use it! It is perfect for making these tortillas.

Homemade Flour Tortillas

4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp lard
1 1/2 cups water

Whisk the flour, salt, and baking powder together in a mixing bowl. Mix in the lard with your fingers until the flour resembles cornmeal. Add the water and mix until the dough comes together; place on a lightly floured surface and knead a few minutes until smooth and elastic. Divide the dough into 24 equal pieces and roll each piece into a ball.

 

Preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Use a well-floured rolling pin to roll a dough ball into a thin, round tortilla. (You can also use a tortilla press instead of manually rolling with a pin.)

My tortilla press ready for action! 

Place into the hot skillet, and cook until bubbly and golden; flip and continue cooking until golden on the other side. Place the cooked tortilla in a tortilla warmer; continue rolling and cooking the remaining dough.