31 Days to Financial Freedom, Day 24: Tortillas

Homemade flour tortillas . . . if you are buying the stuff in a package at the grocery store, you just don't know what you're missing!  It's easy.  It's cheap.  And it's delicious.  The next Taco Tuesday, I dare you to make your own tortillas!

Ingredients:

3 and 1/2 c. AP flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
7 tbsp vegetable shortening or vegetable oil (I used shortening)
1 cup very hot water

Mix first four ingredients together into a bowl.  Pour the hot water slowly over the mixture while using your hand to mix it together.  Yes, this part hurt a little, but only for a second. 

Knead the mixture for three minutes in the bowl once the water has been added, forming into a giant ball. 

Cover the dough and let it sit for 15 minutes.  Once 15 minutes are up, separate the dough into small portions.  I started out using my cookie scoop, but switched to just grabbing small sections of a dough.  Roll them into balls and cover until ready to use them. 

At this point, I started browning the taco meat.  I add water to my taco meat once it's cooked to create a sauce, and I cooked the tortillas while I was waiting for the water to cook off.  See my taco recipe here!

Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out into the shape of an oval.  The first tortilla I made was too thick.  This will make between 15 and 20 tortillas, so use this opportunity to experiment with the thickness of the tortilla.  For us, it was the right thickness when we could see the pattern of our counter top through the dough.

To roll it out, first roll into an oval shape, turn the dough 45 degrees, and repeat until whatever shape you want it to be. 

Start rolling it into an oval . . .

Turn 45 degrees, and roll again.

Tortillas are not all supposed to be the same size and shape! I made three tortillas that were smaller for the kiddos.  Husband and I developed an assembly line for this part.  He would roll the tortilla, then I'd cook it while he was rolling another one.  I cooked one tortilla at a time in a hot non-stick skillet. 

Put your tortilla into your pan.  After about 5 to 7 seconds, air bubbles will start to form. 

Bubbles!  Bubbles!  My bubbles.

Flip the tortilla once you see the bubbles.  Once flipped, the tortilla will fill with air.  Use your spatula to flatten it as much as you can. 

 

After 10 seconds or so, check the bottom of your tortilla.  Are there brown marks on it?  Flip it over!  Cook for another couple of seconds to get brown spots on the other side, then remove it from the heat.  It took me less time to cook the tortilla than it did to roll out the next one to cook!

Mmmmm . . . delicious.

 

This made about 17 tortillas for us.  We ate seven tortillas for dinner, then my husband ate another taco that night as a midnight snack.  The tortillas have flavor, so you can use them for more than just tacos!  I had a wrap on one the next day, Piglet 1 had a "pizza shell" for lunch, and my husband put peanut butter and jelly on them the next day.  I don't think we'll ever go back to buying tortillas in the bag.  Seriously - sooooo good!  Try it!