Homemade Tortillas

This week I had the opportunity to demonstrate how to make homemade tortillas to our Relief Society!  I was really excited because I had two great recipes in mind, and kind of combined the two into my liking to share!  My Aunt DeAnne has a wonderful authentic recipe that she got from my uncles mother who is mexican.  The other recipe I have, I  found from Barefoot and Baking who's Grandmother is also mexican.  So I've got a great recipe here to share!

After you mix the dough, you shape them into balls about this size and let rest at least 15 min....

 Rolling them into a nice circle is the hardest part!!!

 Stick them on a griddle or a cast iron skillet....

 And wahla.... you have a yummy tortilla to go with any meal you choose!

 Then I also did a test, one with Crisco and one with Butter because I am not  a big fan of Crisco.  I choose not to cook with it.  But as you can see, Crisco wins this contest.  The one on the left is made with Crisco, and it it's light and fluffy and you get the bubbles that brown.  Where as the one on the right was made with butter, and it almost has the texture of flat bread instead of a tortilla.  Just heavy and not as pliable, so it breaks and cracks when you try and roll it.  So I guess I have one exception with Crisco when it comes to making tortillas....

Approximately 16 tortillas

4 Cups Flour
2 Tsp Salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 Cup Crisco
1 1/2 Cup Hot Water

Start with mixing your Flour, salt & baking powder.  Cut in your shortening until well combined.  It will still be flakey.  Slowly Add in your Hot water until you get a Play dough like texture.  It wont be sticky at all.  I usually only add about 1 1/4 cup water.  You will just have to watch it.  I then pull it out of my mixer and knead it a couple of times, then I pull apart small rounds of dough and roll them into little balls.  Keep them in a bowl and let rest at least 15 min but up to an hour is great.
Flour your surface area really well then take your ball and start rolling from the center each time.  That is the key to get the circle shape.  As much as I flour the rolling pin it still sticks to it and I just pull it off and rotate the dough, and roll again.  Then stick your tortilla on a heated griddle ( pretty hot) wait until it starts to bubble and the bubbles have browned on the bottom side.  Then flip and repeat.  Serve Warm.  You can freeze them in a freezer zip lock baggy if needed!  Enjoy!!!