Flour Tortillas

This will make eight 8-inch tortillas.

Combine your dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Cut in the shortening with a pastry cutter, a fork, or your fingers, until it’s combined. I use my fingers, because my pastry cutter is in storage. Add the water a splash at a time, loosely mixing it in. When all of the water has been added, you should be able to form the dough into a ball. If your ball won’t stay together, work in more warm water by the tablespoon, until the ball holds its shape. It shouldn’t be sticky, it should be just cohesive enough to not fall apart. Knead this ball 15 times, and then leave it to rest for 15 minutes.

While it’s resting, you can prepare your fillings! If you use a skillet to cook your fillings, when you’re done, simply wipe it clean and return it to the heat. You’ll want your pan to be just above medium heat when you place the tortillas on, and fully heated.

After the rest, divide your dough into 8 even pieces. You don’t have to be super exact, just break it in half, break your halves in half, then break those pieces in half, and you’ll have 8. Using a floured rolling pin and a floured surface, roll each ball into a rough circle. Or a perfect circle, if you’re talented or a perfectionist or both. The circles should be about 8 inches. I have a problem with circles, and I usually end up with ovals. Or quadrangles. But hey, that’s part of the charm of homemade tortillas, right?

You’ll cook one tortilla at a time in your heated ungreased pan. Place in the first tortilla, and wait about 30 seconds. It should puff a bit. Flip it over, wait about 20 seconds, then remove it from the pan. You can use this one as a guide for the rest. If you’d like the brown spots to be a bit browner, add 5-10 seconds to the cook time. If they’re too brown already, turn the heat down a little; it shouldn’t take less than 20 seconds per side to cook. If it looks to be a bit thick, quickly give the rest of the tortillas another roll or two with the pin.

Now you know just how long to cook the other 7 tortillas. Do so, one at a time. As they come off of the pan, I like to stack them on a plate with some foil thrown over it, to keep their heat in.

If you’d like to make them in advance, you should lay them out on their own little sheets of waxed paper until they cool completely. When they are room temperature, cover each one with another sheet of waxed paper, stack them all, and place them in a plastic freezer bag. They’ll keep well in the fridge for a week and in the freezer for a couple months.

To reheat, thaw them completely if they’re frozen. Take away the waxed paper and wrap the stack of tortillas in foil. Place them in a 350 F oven for 10 minutes. Alternately, reheat them individually in a medium temperature skillet for 20 seconds per side.