Tortilla Recipe

As I said in an earlier post, I have begun cooking lunch for all the summer student workers at the Kartause. The total number of people I cook for is between 15 and 20 a meal. Yesterday, I cooked Mexican food. Tortillas are 2.50 euro for a package of 8. Small ones. I couldn't really afford to buy enough for everyone on our budget, so I made some myself. They were a little time consuming (although making enough for a family meal wouldn't be so bad), but with Thomas strapped to my back, and Maria playing with the leftover scraps of dough, it was doable. And they were really easy, and really good. I made white tortillas, and whole wheat. The white ones were more like the tortillas I'm used to, but the wheat ones were tasty too, and seemed easier to roll out. Here's the recipe (I quadrupled it, and for the wheat ones, I used half white flour, half whole wheat):

Combine 3 cups flour, 2 tsp baking powder, and 1 tsp salt. Blend in 4-6 T butter, shortening or lard (I used butter) until mixture resembles coarse crumbles. Slowly stir in up to 1 cup warm water, until a soft, but not sticky, dough forms. Knead until smooth, just a few mintutes.

Separate dough into 12 equal sized balls. Cover and let rest at least 15 minutes, more is fine. Once rested, heat a griddle to high heat. Slighty flatten the balls to make disks (this will make rolling out into circles a little easier), then roll out into very flat circles.

As you can see in the picture below, not all my tortillas were perfectly round. They got better as I did more of them, but the odd shaped ones tasted just as good. Next, put on the griddle. Cook on each side until golden brown marks form. Cover cooked tortillas with a clean, damp towel. This makes them soft and bendable, instead of stiff and brittle.

The finished product:

For about 50 cents more than one package of 8 small ones, I made 48 hot, fresh, tasty tortillas. I realize they are not quite so expensive in the States, but give these a try. They're great!