Bread Challenge Week 23
Tortillas are one of those things that are so easily bought in the grocery store that I think most people don’t realize how easy they are to make. I was one of them. Making something so flat and perfectly round intimidated me. After making whole wheat rotis recently, I knew tortillas were within my grasp.
Tortillas are made up of a handful of normal household ingredients, well normal if you keep lard in your house all the time. I kid I kid. Tortillas don’t necessarily require lard, they require a fat and that fat can be any number of things including cooking oil, shortening, or even butter. I settled on Lo Mexicano’s Basic Flour Tortilla Recipe. It took me about 5 minutes to mix the ingredients and give the dough a quick knead. after letting the dough rest for about an hour I easily divided the dough into 16 small balls and from there it took about 20 minutes to roll out the balls and cook the tortillas. That is pretty quick if you ask me. A tortilla press would probably shave some time off, but my rolling pin and I did just fine.
My little tortillas we a perfect size, about 6 inches in diameter. We made some soft-shell breakfast tostadas using out fresh tortillas and everyone was very happy with the outcome. The tortillas had a nice soft and chewy texture, but unlike some store bought tortillas that require you to rip and pull and tear bites off with your mouth because they are so chewy these fresh tortillas had just the right amount of chewiness. I cooked my tortillas in my two cast iron skillets.
The recipe I followed was really great and even included several variations along with a lot of background information about flour tortillas. I highly recommend reading it over if you are thinking of making tortillas, I felt like I had a much better understanding and was much more prepared to make tortillas for the first time after reading it.
I think tortillas in general are pretty versatile so of course I think this recipe makes a versatile bread. We ate our soft shelled breakfast tostadas, and Maddy had a turkey, lettuce, tomato and goat cheese wrap for lunch this week as well. I think these are the perfect size for tacos or fajitas for our family as well. Next time I make them I plan to play around with the flour a little bit and work my way towards whole wheat tortillas. Maybe even some flavored tortillas. See I have no tortilla fear now.
Flavor: 4
Hands on time: 4
Total time: 4
Recipe: 5
versatility: 4
make it again: 4
Catherine: 1
Luke: 1
Maddy: 1
Total Score: 28
(what is this Bread Challenge and how are recipes scored?) Previous
Bread Challenge reviews and scores:
Honey Wheat Hamburger Buns – Week 22
Garlic Studded Baguette – Week 21
Quinoa Bread – Week 20
Asiago Herb and Garlic Bread – Week 19
Cranberry Pecan Rye Bread – Week 18
Rotis – Whole Wheat Unleavened Bread- Week 17
Farmhouse White Loaf – Week 16
Honey Whole Wheat Slow Cooker Bread – Week 15
The Easiest Loaf of Bread You’ll Ever Bake – Week 14
Hot Cross Buns – Week 13
100% Whole Wheat Bread – Week 12
Thin Wheat Crackers – Week 11
Irish Soda Bread – Week 10
Double Blueberry Muffins – Week 9
Oatmeal Batter Bread – Week 8
Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls – Week 7
Cheesy Pretzels – Week 6
Light Rye Bread – Week 5
Country-Style Whole-Wheat Pita – Week 4
Carrot Raisin Quick Bread – Week 3
Potato Bread – Week 2
Focaccia – Week 1
