Flour Tortillas
- 2 cups white flour
- 1 teaspoon salt, level
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, or lard
- 1/2- 3/4 cup water
- Put flour in medium bowl, add salt and mix.
- Crumble the butter and mix into the flour with your fingers until butter bits are the size of pinheads and they are evenly distributed. Add the water slowly as you mix with a spoon.
- Knead dough for 10 minutes. Let dough rest another 10 minutes in the bowl, covered with a lid, plastic, or foil paper.
- Split dough in four equal parts. Then make three equal parts out of each fourth of your dough.
- Split dough by squeezing with your thumb and index finger.
- Once you have twelve equal parts of dough, lightly oil the palms of your hands and make the dough into balls. Oil hands again as needed.
- Let dough balls rest covered for another 10 minutes at room temperature before rolling out. You may refrigerate the dough at this point or even before you make the balls. It keeps reasonably well for a few hours, or even a day.
- Warm a griddle over medium flame; it's ready when a drop of water rolls a bit before boiling away.
- Meanwhile, roll each tortilla out with a lightly floured rolling pin over a lightly floured, smooth surface. Lay a tortilla on the griddle for a few seconds, just long enough for a trace of cooking to be seen (it looks as if the tortilla has freckles). Turn and cook until it gets air bubbles. Turn and cook more, pressing air bubbles out with a rolled-up kitchen towel.
- Remove the tortilla from heat.
- Regulate heat as needed so tortillas will be fully cooked but not burned.
- Note: Some cooks skip the first turn of the tortilla; some swear by it. Make up your own mind.
- You may use a spatula or just your hands to turn your tortillas.
- Cooking your tortillas as you roll them out takes some practice but you'll see optimum results.
- Other alternatives: 1) Roll all the tortillas out and place in a plastic bag and then cook. 2) Enlist the help of a friend so one rolls and one cooks. 3) Start rolling and cooking; turn grill off as needed if fire gets going faster than you are.
white flour, salt, butter, water
Taken from www.epicurious.com/recipes/member/views/flour-tortillas-50046490 (may not work)