TORTILLAS

TORTILLAS 

I love food that is versatile and tortillas are so versatile. They can be used for breakfast, lunch and dinner and if you are feeling adventurous dessert.  This is some that you can make a head of time and freeze, so it is great in case of a food emergency.  Another great thing about making tortillas is that you can use so many different types of liquids other than water or milk.  You can use coconut milk, soup broth or stock, all ranges of milk including whipping cream you can also use plain Greek yogurt.   You can also use different types of  flowers such as  Gram flour, Besan flour, Wheat flour or Bread four or any other flour you might want to try out.

Making home made Tortillas is a really amazing and so yummy, and the neat part is once you mastered it you can tailor your tortillas to complement what your eating.  Here are a few examples.  For Quesadilla tortillas I want them to be light in textured, so I add four table spoons of Gram flour to the regular flour.    For Fajita Tortillas I like nice and fluffy tortillas.  This is where you add yeast to the dough and let it rise for 1 hour, before making them or if I want to make special breakfast tortillas I use Fage Greek Yogurt which is really tasty and complements fruit added into the tortilla. 

Their are so many delicious ways to make Tortillas so let get started.  

INGREDIENTS: 

1. BASIC FLOUR TORTILLA RECIPE

2 Cups Flour
1 Teaspoon of Baking Powder mixed in.
7 fluid oz of water/milk. warmed on stove. 
1 or 2 Tablespoons olive oil added to warmed milk.  Optional.

METHOD OF PREPARATION

NOTE: THE METHOD BELOW IS USED FOR ALL THE TORTILLA RECIPES. THE ONLY EXCEPTION BEING WHEN YEAST IS ADDED AND RESTING TIME.

Have a rolling pin, a clean cutting board and flour for dredging flour ready. All so a pan for cooking tortillas.

1. Pour two cups of flour into a medium bowl and mix in 1 teaspoon of baking power.

2. Gently warm milk on stove and then add olive oil to it and mix it in.  


3.  Pour half of the milk/water mixture into the flour and while turning the bowl, cut in with a wooden spoon, add the rest of the milk and keep turning bowl and cutting in.  The dough should not be damp but not wet.

4.  Lightly sprinkle flour over dough and now pick up the edge and fold it over and push down with your knuckles. Turn bowl and repeat as you do this and add light dusting of flour until the dough stops sticking to your fingers.  However it is okay for the doughy to be tacky.

5. Rest dough 25 minutes.

6.  Next divided the dough into 8 or more walnut size balls.   Lightly flour them to keep them from sticking.

7. Turn the burner to low or med low and place your pan on it.  Let it warm up a little as you shape the tortillas.

 8.  Pick a ball up and squish it into a round using both your index fingers and thumbs.  Dredged the round in flour and then lay it out on the cutting board.  Use the rolling pin and flatten the disk pushing away from you and turning the disks as you make it bigger.  Sprinkle flour on the board as needed. When you have a  good size tortilla place it in the pan.

9. Give the pan a little shake to keep the tortilla from sticking. Watch the top of the tortilla and you should start to see little air pockets fill and raise up. Use a metal spatula to check the bottom of  the tortilla. As soon as you see light tan spots, flip your tortilla over and cook until more light tan spot appear.  When both sides have tan spots on both sides your tortilla is done.

10. Stack finished tortillas on plate and use right away or cool and put in the refrigerator  They will be ok for up to 3 days then you must freeze them. Or wrap in foil and freeze right away.

ADDITIONAL TORTILLAS RECIPES:

GRAM FLOUR TORTILLAS
  4 Tablespoons of Gram Flour add to flour to make exactly two cups.
  7 oz of milk/ water warmed
   1 teaspoons baking soda.
   1 to 2 table spoons olive oil optional. 
   Follow method above.
These are great for Quesadillas.

FLUFFY TORTILLAS
1 cup of Bread flour 
1 cup of All purpose flour
1 heaping teaspoon of yeast. Mix yeast in with baking soda.
1 teaspoon or baking soda
7 oz of milk warmed.
1 to 2 table spoons of olive oil optional.
Cover dough and rest for 1 hour.
Follow method above.
Great with Fajitas, and for burritos.

GREEK YOGURT BREAKFAST TORTILLAS.
2 cups Bread flour or All purpose flour.
6 oz of milk warmed.  
4 Tablespoons of plain Greek yogurt. Add you pour milk into flour.  
1 Teaspoon of baking soda.
1 to 2 Tablespoons olive oil optional. 
Follow method above.
Excellent with warmed fruit and honey.  

Here a few to tantalize your taste buds.  There is more to come  

Cheers.