Flour Tortillas

We didn't grow up eating a lot of Mexican food at home. When we did, it always involved store-bought tortillas, usually the Mission brand or something similarly unauthentic, and without fail, Mom would always sniff disapprovingly: "These smell." And she's right. It's hard to get excited about Mexican food at home when you're dealing with an inadequate foundation, a dense white disc that smells like musty plastic, shaped in a creepily perfect circle.

These tortillas are none of those things, and they meet all the requirements of things we like to cook at home: namely, they have a small effort to satisfaction ratio (this is major), they taste better than what you'll find at the store, and they have a certain wow factor when you're hosting dinner. 

You whisk together flour and salt and crumble in some shortening. Then you pour over boiling water, mix, and quickly knead the hot dough into a tight ball. Let it cool for about half an hour. Pinch off pieces of dough which is easily rolled and stretched until satiny-smooth, and then lay the tortillas in a hot skillet. After a minute or so, you'll see air pockets rising up, and the bottom will begin to speckle with golden-brown spots. Flip and finish grilling the other side.

Soft and golden, with a gentle chew and an ever so faint sweetness, they are more tender than anything you'll find in a plastic bag, and yet more structurally sound. These rarely tear, which is important when you greedily fill them up with more pan-fried fish, black beans, and guacamole than is wise. 

(Concerning the store point -- I know most grocery stores now sell tortillas made locally, and those are very very good and yes, more authentic than these, but they're just not as fresh, which is really the silent, secret ingredient in this recipe.) 

Flour Tortillas, via Orangette

You may need to buy a rolling pin and shortening, but even if all you make with the pin are these tortillas, trust me, it is completely worth it. You will be tempted to use more water when you're trying to incorporate all these floury bits into a single ball -- don't. The dough hydrates as it cools, and if you use too much water, the dough will be sticky and very difficult to work with. You'll end up using more flour which leads to tough tortillas. Keep it strictly at 1 1/2 cups of water, be patient, and you'll be fine.

4 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 ¼ tsp salt
6 Tbs vegetable shortening 

1. Boil water, about 2 cups

2. In a large bowl, stir the flour and salt together with a whisk. Mix in the shortening with your fingers until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. Stir in 1 1/2 cups of boiling water with a spoon. Once the mixture has cooled just so you can handle it comfortably, knead the dough with your hands until smooth, 2-5 minutes. I usually do this directly in the bowl to prevent a messy counter. Do not overwork it. Form the dough into a ball, cover it with plastic wrap, and allow it to rest for 30 minutes.

3. Set a non-stick pan over medium heat. Place the ball of dough on a lightly floured surface, and cut it into 6 wedges. Cut each wedge into 3 smaller wedges, for a total of 18 wedges. Use a rolling pin to roll out a wedge into a very thin circle—as thin as you can make it. When the skillet is hot but not smoking, cook the tortilla until slightly puffed, about 20-30 seconds. Flip, then cook for 20-30 seconds more. Place on a cooling rack. Repeat the process with the other 17 wedges. Allow each tortilla to cool completely before stacking them.