The Cracker Project: Tortillas

Once upon a time--like September 2010, according to my kitchen journal--I decided that I needed to learn how to make tortillas.  Funny story: Eric has high blood pressure.  Oh, wait.  That's not very funny at all.  Well, it's genetic, and he's got it under control, and while we're not a very salty family, packaged tortillas have an ungodly amount of sodium per serving.

We can do much better than that, obviously.

So that's what started the trend.  Tortillas are actually fairly simple to make, and the fact that they take four ingredients--one of which is water--makes them even more awesome.  The recipe I was using had me baking them in a very hot oven for like three minutes or something.  And that worked okay.  The finished tortillas were pale and not very bendy--wrapping up a taco took some creativity--but they tasted amazing, so we rejoiced.

But then.  Sometimes a girl just likes to try stuff, I guess.  I wanted to see what would happen if I fried these suckers up.  I broke out my skillet and OH EM GEE.  The results were totally life changing.

Because the fried tortillas?  Have a wonderful smokey flavor, are easy to fold, and actually have some color.  Plus, these things are sturdy.  Now THAT is a tortilla.

This is the only one in the batch that turned out roundish.
Thus, it gets its picture taken so I look all awesome.

And okay, tortillas aren't really crackers.  Or are they?  Honestly, it's a fine line.  I figure since this technique was new to me this month, it totally counts.  Plus!  It's my blog and I'm prone to doing whatever I want.

So!  Here's the recipe:

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup shortening
3/4 cup warm water

Mix all that up in your poser KitchenAid for like six minutes, then let the dough rest for about 20 because it's exhausting being a raw tortilla.

Heat up a cast iron skillet and swirl around some veggie oil for good measure. Divide dough into eight to 12 pieces, you know, depending. Roll into circle-ish discs, toss one in the pan, wait a minute and then flip it over and wait another minute.  When it's cooked, remove it, because letting it just sit there burning in the pan is silly.  Start all over again with another disc of dough.

I won't lie, standing over the skillet is a pain. But it is so worth it.  These tortillas are a thing of beauty.

Ask my girls if you don't believe me.

P.S. I like to make a double batch while I'm at it.  They store up very nicely in the refrigerator, and they store up very nicely in the freezer, so really, why not just go for broke?