Flour Tortillas

Tortillas have become a common feature here as well. I too love  the whole wheat tortilla which has become a regular in my house. But the tortillas I see in supermarkets here are thin and obviously made of all purpose flour. So I too tried the thin flour tortilla at home and has adapted the excellent recipe from the Pioneer Woman and made them as thin as possible.

Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour: 2.5 cups

Baking Powder: 2.5 tsp

Salt: 1 tsp 

Vegetable shortening /Vanaspati:8-10 tbsp

Hot/Very Warm Water: 1 cup

Preparation:

In big bowl, mix together flour,baking powder and salt. Add spoonfuls of  shortening to the flour mixture and combine to get pea sized crumbs.You can start with 2 tbsp and then slowly add in the remaining 8 tbsp of shortening. 

Add in hot/very warm water and then knead to form a moist but non sticky dough.Cover the dough with a towel or plastic wrap and rest  for an hour atleast. 

Pinch handfuls of dough pieces and roll into small circular balls. Place them on a tray/baking sheet and let them rest for atleast 20 minutes.

Roll out each ball into a circle making it as thin as possible.Repeat the process with other dough balls.

Meanwhile heat a griddle/tawa/ comal (as it is called in Mexico) on medium-high and one by one cook cook the tortillas on it. Cook each side 20-30 seconds, making sure it is just browned and a bit soft. We do not want too crispy or too brown tortillas.

Stack the tortillas on on top of the other and cover with a tea towel when still warm.

Serve immediately with choice of accompaniment or cool and refrigerate /freeze. You can steam them when needed in a steamer or warm them in the oven wrapped in aluminium foil.

Simple and easy to make. You can turn these into tortilla chips or taco shells as well.