mexican flour tortillas, tortillas de harina de castilla
As far back as I can remember I can still see my grandmother making tortillas. This was a daily routine. She would be up early making the daily quota of tortillas for the day's meals. (4 or 5 dozen) She would have two comals going, (griddles) She was an expert. I have never seen anyone make tortillas as fast as my grandmother. To watch her was mesmerizing. She would roll and flip the tortilla in one magical movement and each time the tortilla hit the flat surface it would have turned a quarter turn. To this day I don't know how she would do it. The circumference was always perfect. They were soft, fragarant, pliable and delicious. She taught me how to make them and even though I consider myself an excellant tortilla maker, my tortillas are very good. I cannot begin to hold a candle to the tortillas my grandmother made. Here is her recipe. Enjoy
Ingredients For mexican flour tortillas, tortillas de harina de castilla
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3 call purpose flour, i use pillsbury, i get very good results
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1/2 ccanola or corn oil
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1 1/2 tspsalt
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1/4 tspbaking powder, do not use more than this. it will make your tortillas hard
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3/4 chot water, not real hot
How To Make mexican flour tortillas, tortillas de harina de castilla
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1Sift 3 cups flour into a large bowl, add salt and baking powder. Mix well with your hand. Next add the oil and with your hands mix in the oil with the flour really good.
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2Now take the hot water and pour in a little. Then mix, then pour a little more and mix again do this until you have made a soft elastic and pliable dough. The dough should come together and the bowl should be clean of all the flour. If the dough is to sticky add a little more flour. If it is too dry add a little more hot water but always in small increments. The dough should be soft and not sticking to your hands. Add more flour if it does this. Take dough and knead with the palms of your hand for about two minutes. Now put dough back into bowl cover with a clean cloth and let the doug rest for about 15 minutes. While the dough is resting; preheat your cast iron griddle or cast iron fry pan. Do not put any oil or grease on the griddle or pan. Tortillas bake on a dry griddle.
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3After 15 minutes have passed take dough out knead again for one minute and take pieces or dough and make little balls the size of a little larger than ping pong balls. Sprinkle a little flour on a flat surface and with a palote, "rolling pin" roll the dough ball, roll once and pick up and turn a quarter turn roll again and do another quarter turn continue the same until you have rolled out your tortilla about 8 inches across if you like a large tortilla or 6 inches across if you like them smaller. I prefer the 8 inch across. Once you have rolled out the tortilla place on the hot griddle lower the heat to medium. You do not want to scorch your tortillas. As soon as you see a few bubbles on the tortilla flip it over to the other side; cook the tortilla for about 2 minutes on each side. Watch them closely you can tell when one side is cooked. Have the butter ready and the salt. Yum. As you are making them put them into a large bowl that has a nice clean dish towel underneath. cover each time you place a nicely baked tortilla in you pile. I like to place in the microwave or the oven until we are ready to eat to keep them warm. Do not turn the microwave on. If you keeping in the oven you can turn oven onto the lowest setting to just keep them warm until dinner. Enjoy
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