Flour Tortillas

Last night, I had some carne asada to cook up, along with some caramelized onions and peppers. Only problem - I was out of tortillas, both corn and flour! I didn't have any masa so I couldn't make corn tortillas, but I had flour and an Alton Brown recipe. I have very strong memories of my sisters and I making homemade flour tortillas when I was young. Most of the time, they were good, but I remember them being a little on the thick side. I wanted to make mine thin, but thick enough to hold the meat, onions and peppers. This recipe was simple and easy. I didn't have lard on hand (I don't usually keep any in the house), but normally I would use shortening, alas, I was out of that, too! So, I used butter. It worked well, but I will definitely try these with shortening next time for a bit of a different texture. I doubled the below recipe and made 16 tortillas.

Flour Tortillas (via Alton Brown)
Ingredients:
9 ounces all-purpose flour, plus 1/4 cup for kneading and rolling
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 cup lard, shortening or butter
1/2 cup cool water

1. Combine 9 ounces flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse 2 to 3 times.

2. Add the lard to the flour mixture in 4 to 5 chunks and pulse 10 to 15 times until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. With the processor running, add the water in a steady stream just until a ball of dough begins to form, approximately 30 seconds.

3. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup of flour on a clean surface. Remove the dough from the bowl of the processor and knead until well incorporated and less sticky. Wrap the dough ball in plastic wrap and let it rest at room temperature for 1 hour.

4. Evenly divide the dough into 8 pieces and form them into round balls. Roll each ball into 7-inch rounds with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface. Keep all of the dough balls covered with a tea towel.

Roll thin

5. Heat an electric nonstick griddle to 375 degrees F.

6. Put the tortillas, 2 to 3 at a time, onto the griddle and cook until light golden, about 4 minutes per side. Can be held for up to 2 hours, at room temperature, wrapped in a barely damp tea towel. Repeat with the remaining tortillas. Microwave for 1 minute in the damp tea towel to reheat.