I would like a simple recipe for making basic flour tortillas. Does anyone have one?
I don’t have one here right now, but if you’re someplace the sells Maseca brand dry corn masa, there are directions on the bag.
We’ve never gotten really good ones, though – I don’t know if it’s the Maseca or our technique. We get good tamales out of Maseca, though.
Buy a dozen roses and take them to the nearest nice cute girl (or guy if it suits your situation) who already knows how to make them. I got many a yummy tortilla that way.
http://www.dianaskitchen.com/page/bread/tortilla.htm
Flour Tortillas
Serving Size : 12
4 cups Unbleached all purpose flour
2 teaspoons Salt
4 teaspoons Baking powder
2 tablespoons Vegetable shortening
1 1/2 cups Warm water or more if needed
In a large bowl, stir together the flour, salt and baking powder. With a pastry blender, a fork or your hands, gradually work in the lard or shortening until it is all incorporated. Add enough warm water to make a soft but not sticky dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured board and knead for 5 minutes.
Divide the dough into 1/4 cup (3 oz) portions and form them into balls.
Roll each ball into a flat round about 6 inches in diameter and 1/8 inches thick.
Heat a large heavy skillet over medium high heat. Place the tortillas one at a time into the dry hot skillet; cook until brown on one side, then turn and brown the other side.
Remove from the skillet and keep warm in cloth towel.
Source: Southwest cookbook
Very cute, folks, but it doesn’t answer the question.
Here’s some background: I have food allergies. One of them is to corn. I can NOT eat anything with corn.
For years, I’ve been using wheat flour tortillas. This is fine, when they’re made with just wheat. Unfortunately, pure wheat products are getting harder and harder to find - they keep cutting the wheat with “malted barley flour”, which I am also allergic to. Therefore, I can no longer buy commercially made flour tortillas, at least none that are available in my area. Nor can I trust any random “cute guy or gal” as a means of obtaining them (not to mention the husband might object me giving roses to other folks).
Fortunately, it is still possible to obtain pure wheat flour.
So, I ask again - what is a recipe for making tortillas? Because if I can’t learn how to make them I may well never be able to eat them again in this life.
Fresh warm harinas. Yum. Can I come over? I’ll bring manteca and sugar.
Do you have any idea how rare it is for mexican folks to make tortillas at home nowadays? Kinda like homemade bread for us gringos.
Peace,
mangeorge
Thank you, drachillix - seems we simu-posted.
mangeorge, what’s “manteca”?
Butter.
And sometimes lard, I think.
Manteca is pork lard.
My recipe is about the same as yours, but this kneading thing is far too much work. You can also get good reults if you just let the dough sit for 15 minutes after working in the water.
If you don’t knead, they won’t have that very slight rubbery mouth feel so desirable in flour tortillas. Just don’t over do it.
Before I go; 
Vegetable shortning is fine. Fresh lard is traditional, and much tastier.
One heaping tablespoon/12 = very little.
Ok. That’s it.
Broomstick, you may wish to save yourself enormous amounts of time and energy by purchasing a tortilla press.
I was thinking of suggesting a tortilla press as well. I have an electric model that works beautifully. I’ve never been able to get the tortillas round and flat by rolling or patting them, but the press does the job.
Since this is about cooking, I’ll move this thread to Cafe Society.
bibliophage
moderator GQ
Tortilla presses work for corn tortillas but hand made flour tortillas are usually rolled out due to the elasticity of the dough. Corn * masa* will stay flat and hold it’s shape but the flour dough will tend to sort of spring back out of shape, it is more like making pizza crust.
Thanks, all -
Considering I used to bake 4-12 loaves of bread at a time, I doubt very much the amount of kneading and shaping called for in the recipe will be overwhelming.
I can’t believe someone actually wrote down the recipe.
My mom and every mom I’ve ever known just kind of knew how to make them.
She described it to me a few times "you get some warm water, almost hot but not too hot, some flour, about that much. You put some manteca, a little salt (the salt is measured by cupping your left hand tightly and pouring ‘just enough’ in it)…
then I stop paying attention then wait till she’s done a few so I can steal one (dodging the swatting hand) and put butter on it cause they smell soooo good.
I think writing down the recipe might be a sin or something, you should go to confession.
are tortillas necessarily catholic?
So I tried the recipe posted by drachillix for a little midnight snack last night. Tasty, but I’d recommend about half the salt. Also, even though I rolled them very thin, they kindof stretched back and turned out about twice the thickness of normal tortillas. Also, for the life of me I couldn’t make them actually round.
Tortilla presses were mentioned above, but I wondered if anyone else had any suggestions for manually making them.
I’ll bet you could use a pasta maker for making the flour tortillas. The flour tortilla tortilladoras are almost identical to the hand crank pasta makers,