Homemade Tortillas

For Emma's birthday lunch I made a pot of homemade refried beans and flour tortillas. The tortillas were very easy to make and also DELICIOUS! I kept being amazed that they were, "Just like real tortillas!" Here is the recipe...

2-2 1/4 c. flour
1/4 c. vegetable shortening or lard (I used vs)
1 t. salt
1 c. warm water

In a bowl combine 2 c. flour, the shortening and salt. Use fingers or a pastry knife to rub ingredients together until the mixture has the consistency of fine crumbs. Gradually add the warm water, stirring it in with a fork, and continue to mix until the ingred. come together to form a soft dough. Add the remaining 1/4 c. flour if the mixture is sticking to your fingers.

Gather up the dough, pat it into a ball and place in a bowl. Knead the dough inside the bowl until elastic, about 2 min. Cover with a kitchen towel and let stand at room temperature for 2 hours.

Break off small pieces of dough and, rolling each piece between your palms, form into balls. Experiment to see what size you want as you roll the ball out with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface. This recipe said it made 24 tortillas, but we wanted larger tortillas for burritos and only made 7! I am not talking enormous tortillas either. As you roll out the tortillas, turn them over a few times and add flour to the surface to prevent sticking. I rolled mine pretty thin.

Heat a dry, heavy frying pan or griddle over medium heat. Place a tortilla on the pan or griddle and cook until it looks dry and the underside begins to brown, about 30 sec. Turn the tortilla over and cook the second side until browned, about 30 seconds. Transfer the tortilla to a kitchen towel. As the tortillas are cooked, stack them and cover completely with the other half of the towel to keep them warm and moist until serving.

To store tortillas, let cool, seal in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2-3 days or freeze for several weeks.