Home

How to Make Flour Tortillas

|
|  Updated:  
2016-03-26 22:56:35
|   From The Book:  
No items found.
Personal Finance For Dummies
Explore Book
Buy On Amazon

In Mexico, tortillas are often made by hand before almost every meal. The taste of a good homemade flour tortilla adds an extra dimension to any Mexican dish. Make your own flour tortillas for the next Mexican feast you prepare:

  1. Place 3 1/2 cups of flour, 1/2 cup (plus 1 tablespoon) shortening, and 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt in a bowl.

    Lightly rub the ingredients together with your fingers to evenly mix the ingredients.

  2. Pour in 1 cup and 2 tablespoons warm water and mix with a wooden spoon.

    Stir until a smooth dough has formed.

  3. Divide the dough into 12 piece, then roll each piece into a ball and place them on a baking tray.

    Cover them with a towel and let them rest at room temperature for 15 minutes to an hour.

  4. On a lightly floured board, roll each ball into a 8-inch circle.

    Transfer each rolled-out ball to a square of parchment paper.

  5. Stack the dough, on the parchment paper, on a baking tray or platter.

    Refrigerate them until you’re ready to cook them.

  6. When you’re ready to cook, heat a dry skillet.

  7. Heat the skillet (or dry griddle) over medium heat.

  8. Peel the paper off of the top tortilla and place that tortilla in the heated skillet.

    Cook it until it’s puffy and slightly brown, about 40 seconds on each side.

  9. Remove the tortilla from the skillet and place it on a towel-lined platter.

    The tortilla needs to cool — how long is up to you.

  10. Cook each tortilla in the same fashion.

    After you cook them all, it’s time to eat!

About This Article

This article is from the book: 

No items found.

About the book author:

Mary Sue Milliken may be “a gringa from the Midwest,” but she fell deeply in love with Mexican food when first introduced to it more than 20 years ago. She and fellow chef Susan Feniger became friends in the late ’70s while working in the otherwise all-male kitchen of a prestigious French restaurant in Chicago called Le Perroquet. After honing their skills in fine restaurants in France and America, they opened their first restaurant, the highly celebrated City Café, in Los Angeles in 1981. These days, they divide their time between their three restaurants, Border Grills in Santa Monica and Las Vegas, and the upscale Ciudad in downtown Los Angeles. They also have authored five previous cookbooks, including Mexican Cooking For Dummies, host the popular Television Food Network series, Too Hot Tamales, and are heard regularly on Southern California radio.

Susan Feniger may be “ a gringa from the Midwest,” but she fell deeply in love with Mexican food when first introduced to it more than 20 years ago. She and fellow chef Mary Sue Milliken became friends in the late ’70s while working in the otherwise all-male kitchen of a prestigious French restaurant in Chicago called Le Perroquet. After honing their skills in fine restaurants in France and America, they opened their first restaurant, the highly celebrated City Café, in Los Angeles in 1981. These days, they divide their time between their three restaurants, Border Grills in Santa Monica and Las Vegas, and the upscale Ciudad in downtown Los Angeles. They also have authored five previous cookbooks, including Mexican Cooking For Dummies, host the popular Television Food Network series, Too Hot Tamales, and are heard regularly on Southern California radio.

Helene Siegel is the co-author of City Cuisine, Mesa Mexicana, Cooking with the Too Hot Tamales, and Mexican Cooking For Dummies. She also is the author of The Ethnic Kitchen series and 32 single subject cookbooks in the best-selling Totally Cookbook series. Her articles have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Times Syndicate, Fine Cooking, and on the Web at cuisinenet.com.