The Amazing Flour Tortilla

My time in the kitchen began sometime well before i won my first cooking contest with a culinary curiosity called "Cheezy Grits Bake" in 4H. That little number happened the better part of forty years ago while still in Elementary School. Since then, i have spent an obsessive amount of time and effort documenting and preserving the cuisine that defines the culture i come from. Talk about your fusions of ethnic foods, everything from the soul foods of northern Florida and southern Georgia all the way across to western Texas and northern Mexico. Add to that, the foods i have had in my travels, that i chose to add, to what i already had and you end up with something really ecclectic. The best part about growing up where i did was, we had Mexican food before Mexican food was cool. Sounds like a country song don't it?? It was just what we ate. Hell my friends and I were eating Fajitas before Bobby Flay ever disgraced a knife by picking it up. In case you missed the dig, i'm not one of his fans.

The two food items that are both central to our food and at the same time were the hardest for me to master were the Buttermilk Pie and the Tortilla.

The problem with the Buttermilk Pie was solved by being sloppier in its preparation. You could say that, for me to make my Grandmother's version of the pie, i had to make it the way she did and she just threw it together. However, the Tortilla came down to my own expectations.

Over the 4th of July weekend, i promised an old friend of mine that i would share my tortilla recipe with her. She told me that she had tried several recipes and that it must be something in the way she was preparing them that didn't produce a tortilla up to her expectations. Now, usually when i share a recipe with someone, i monkey with it a bit. You know, nothing that makes it not turn out, just something that isn't exactly as i do it. Well, today is a special occassion for me. Here is the actual recipe i use for Flour Tortillas. It doubles as a pie crust, pancake batter, drop dumplings, biscuits and a few other things with a few minor additions to the mix or in the liquid. Generally, i'll take a couple of Kilos of flour and make up the mix in bulk just to have on hand much the same way other people would use Bizquik or some other mix. I'm sorry that my recipe is in grams, but it's the only way to truly get the same results every time. Flour settles, you can over fill or under fill a measuring cup with liquid, but using a scale makes everything friendly every time.

Tortilla Mix

• 250g Flour
• 8g Salt
• 8g Baking Powder
• 68g Shortening (I have made them with Lard, Crikso, Veg Oil and even bacon fat) The results vary slightly. I probably prefer half Lard (when my wife lets me) and half veg oil. In the end, shortening is shortening as far as the gluten is concerned.
• 172g Warm Water

Bakers Formula: Flour 100, Salt 2, Baking Powder 2, Shortening 17, liquid 43.

The Bulk Mix i made this time was 2000g Flour, 40g each of Salt and Baking Powder, and 340g of regular old Crisco. For the recipe on the video i used, 300G of mix and 130g of warm water. The warmth isn't all that important. If it feels warm and not hot or cold, then it's a good temp.

Here's the Video.

I must apologize for some of the camera work, but my son is only fourteen and he's still learning. All in all, for as long as he's been doing it, he doesn't do too badly especially since this was his first video.

If you guys have any questions about making tortillas, feel free to ask. I field questions about cooking and sewing everyday and i don't mind at all.

I certainly hope you got from this what you needed. I know you can do it. Now, go forth and tortilla your brains out.

Until we get together again, Peace be with you, Dave