Homemade Flour Tortillas (No Lard or Shortening)

I am planning on making some dish in the Mexican variety tonight. I'm really trying to cinch the budget this week, kind of for fun, kind of for real, so I didn't want to spend the money on tortillas. So I made them!

These aren't authentic flour torts. They don't have lard or shortening because, guess what? I don't have any on hand. I found this recipe and thought it looked good and easy. (recipe from homesicktexan.com) Turns out it was both!

She goes into a bit more detail regarding the style of tort here, which is a Texas tortilla, but I don't really care as I was just looking for one that didn't use lard.

Homemade Flour Tortillas (No Lard or Shortening)

Two cups of all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder

1 teaspoon of salt

2 teaspoons of vegetable oil (I used grapeseed oil)

3/4 cups of warm "milk" (I used 1/4 cup of heavy cream and 1/2 cup of 1% milk)

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Put the flour, baking powder, salt and oil into a mixing bowl. I used my stand mixer for this but you can surely use a bowl and spoon.

I nuked the milk/cream mixture for 40 seconds. It turned out perfectly "warm" as far as I could tell.

I turned the mixer to the 2nd lowest setting and slowly added the milk.

I let it go until it formed rough dough. No more than 30 seconds after the milk was in.

Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and sprinkle with a bit more. Be easy here.

Knead the dough for 2 minutes and roll in into a ball.

Put it in a covered bowl for 20 minutes to rest.

After it has rested, roll it into a log shape and cut it in half with a dough blade.

Cut those two in half, then cut those four in half for a total of 8 pieces.

  

I used a scale to get them closer to the same weight. Roll them into balls and set on a plate to rest again.

This time cover for 10 minutes.

Now we roll.

Flatten one out into a disc shape and place on the counter. UNFLOURED.

Roll it out until it's about 8 inces in diameter. 

Don't worry about the amoeba shapes you'll get if you think rolling is the most underrated skill in the kitchen like I do.

Place on a tea towel like so:

Fold up over the first two.

Fold over the second two.

I used a piece of wax paper on top for the last two.

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When you're ready to cook, get a 10" cast iron skillet (or other non-stick cookware) over high heat.

Place a tortilla on and get ready to flip. 30 seconds MAX. Don't walk away.

We want them to be cooked, but not too crispy. 

Bubbling is normal and expected.

Flip and cook another 30 seconds. 

Flip and look for a reasonably uniform color. You can smash them down with the spatula if you want, but you don't need to.

Continue for the rest and store in a ziplock bag until service if you made them ahead of time (reheat in the same pan or in the microwave like normal torts), but cooking these to order is probably best. 

They turn out a bit thicker and "doughier" than classic torts, but not quite what I'd call a gordita. 

Stand by for my yet-to-be-thought-of-Mexican-dish where these will be eaten.

Enjoy!