making flour tortillas

Making home made flour tortillas is a great way to say THANK YOU with food :)

so here's the recipe:
first, turn on your comal* on medium-low heat and grease lightly with some cooking oil on a paper towel

*my comal or griddle, is a 10" round cast iron one

ingredients:
one handful of shortening [tradition calls for lard but i use crisco all vegetable - not the butter flavor]; about 1/2 cup

one cup, more or less, of very warm tap water [or you can heat some water up in the microwave like in do, in a coffee mug]

2 cups all purpose flour

medium pinch of baking soda

medium pinch of salt

directions:
mix dry ingredients thoroughly

add shortening and break it up as small as possible, mixing it into the masa [dough] well

make a 'hole' in the middle of the dry masa and add 1/2 of the water

mix well and add more water [or flour] as needed so that your dough is not too wet or too dry
[it should resemble bread dough]

knead your masa until it is nice and smooth, roll it into a ball, place back in mixing bowl and cover with a dish towel for 10 minutes or so

next, break off chunks of the dough and shape into spheres about an inch in diameter

prepare your rolling pin by spreading a thin layer of flour on it and dust your rolling surface; you can also sprinkle a bit of flour on your 'ball' of masa to prevent sticking

roll out your masa until flat but not too thin - rotate your tortilla one quarter of the way to keep your tortilla in a perfectly round shape [this is the hardest part for me - mine have been known to resemble different states LOL]

cook on your now well heated comal for about 2 minutes - turn your tortilla over when large bubbles appear and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes

ENJOY