How to Make Handmade Flour Tortillas

Nothing satisfies like making something with your own two hands. Especially if this is the kind of food you normally buy pre-made at a grocer. Try making a stack of these for your next taco night.

Things You'll Need

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 Tbsp. lard or shortening
• 1 ¼ cup lukewarm water
• Cast iron pan
• Large bowl
• Large spatula
• Above ingredients
• Slightly damp towel

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and salt together.

2. Using a pastry cutter or 2 table knives, cut the lard into the flour mixture. Keep cutting the fat into the flour mixture until the dough starts to look like cornmeal crumbs. Make sure that the flour and fat are evenly distributed.

3. Add the water to the flour mixture in ¼-cup increments. Using a large wooden spoon or your hands, make sure to thoroughly incorporate the water after each addition.

4. When you have added all of the water, the dough should come together in a fairly stiff and smooth dough.

5. Once the dough is finished, cover the bowl with a slightly damp towel and let the dough rest for 30 minutes in a warm place.

6. Once the dough has rested, evenly sprinkle a small amount of flour onto your work space. Spread a small amount of flour onto your rolling pin as well.

7. Turn out the dough onto the work space and sprinkle a little more flour on top of the dough.

8. Knead the dough for approximately 2 minutes to make the dough smooth and pliable. The dough should not stick to your hands.

9. Form the dough into a roll shape. Divide the dough into 12 equal portions and roll each portion into a neat ball.

10. Line the balls on a floured sheet pan and cover the balls with a few slightly damp towels. Set the sheet pan in a warm place to let the dough rest for approximately 10 minutes.

11. Once the dough has rested, sprinkle more flour onto your work surface (if you need more flour to keep the dough from sticking to the surface) as you roll the balls out.

12. Take 1 ball of dough and roll it out to a thickness of 1/8-inch. When rolling the balls out, roll 2 to 3 times one way, then turn the dough a quarter turn and roll an additional 2 to 3 times. This ensures that the tortillas stay as round in shape as possible.

13. Once you have rolled one tortilla out, store it under a towel so that the dough doesn't dry out.

14. Heat a large cast iron pan or tortilla griddle over medium heat. Heat the pan for at least 5 minutes before cooking a tortilla on it. This ensures that the tortilla will cook evenly.

15. When the pan has been pre-heated, place a tortilla onto the dry heated pan. Almost immediately, the tortilla will develop bubbles on the surface. Once you see these bubbles, flip the tortilla over and press down with a large spatula.

16. After approximately 15 seconds of pressing, flip the tortilla again and press again. The bubbles on the underside should have started to brown.

17. Once both sides of the tortilla have browned bubbles (and this should not take longer than 1 minute), take the cooked tortilla off the pan and store it under a kitchen towel. The towel will absorb the steam from the tortilla, but will keep humidity near the tortilla which ensures that the tortilla will not dry out.

18. Continue cooking the remaining tortillas.

19. You can store the tortillas under a towel until it is time to serve them.

Tips & Warnings

• Depending on the age of the flour you have and the humidity of the day, you may not need all of the water. Only add as much water as you need to make the dough stiff and smooth.

• In order to make perfect tortillas, it's essential to use a cast iron pan or tortilla griddle because the cast iron will evenly cook the tortilla and keep an even heat through cooking all of the tortillas.

• You can purchase a tortilla griddle, called a comal, in a well-stocked kitchen supply store. A comal is made of cast iron and is essentially a cast iron pan without the sides.

• You also might want to purchase a tortilla press which will evenly press tortillas to the perfect thickness and eliminates the need for rolling the tortillas into perfect circles. You can also a purchase tortilla press at a well-stocked kitchen supply store.

• You can store the tortilla dough refrigerated for a week or frozen for a month. If you have frozen dough, let the dough thaw for at least a half hour before using it.

• You can store cooked tortillas in a resealable bag in the freezer for up to 3 months.

• You can also make the tortilla dough with a stand mixer.