When I moved to Oklahoma for my freshman year of college what I found myself missing the most was mexican food. "Well there is mexican food in Oklahoma", you might be thinking. Well, let me explain myself, I mean TEXAS mexican food! TX-mex, in my opinion is amazing. There is no TX-mex in Oklahoma, there just isn't. Some might say, "I prefer authentic", but let me tell you it feels a whole lot more authentic when I go in Pappasito's and can see the tortillas being freshly made. And let me add, their house salsa is spicy, unlike a very good restaurant here in OKC. So needless to say, tortillas make it or break it for me in the mexican food industry. Second to judge would be the salsa.
Where I am from, mexican restaurants MUST make their own tortillas or they simply will not be a successful company. And that's really not the case here in Oklahoma. People tell me about there favorite places and I go and order something with uncooked tortillas and they are pre packaged, taco bell worthy tortillas. Gross. Now, Ted's is very good and I love their tortillas. (And the fact that I occasionally babysit for Ted's family) But I miss Pappasito's!!!
OK, now that all of that is out of my system, I will talk to you about what I made for dinner tonight! Yes, that's right! I was so excited I had to tell you about it today! I made tortillas! I thought it would be so hard, and that I would need authentic tools, but I saw a recipe on PW's sight and knew I had to make them! I've been craving fresh tortillas for SO long! So I made them! And we had soft tacos for dinner!
They take some time but they are simple. Pretty much all you do is mix the dry ingredients, cut in your fat, add the hot water and stir. Kneed it a couple min and let it sit under a towel for an hour and then make your balls and let them sit 30 min. Then you make them! See it's so easy! I put the link to her page on the bottom... check it out!
I halved her recipe.
Here is what I needed:
Flour, baking powder, lard, salt, water, and my laptop (to follow her step by step pictures)
If you keep a well stocked pantry they are so cheap to make. The only thing I bought was the lard, but I had crisco I could have used. But it was like $1.25. So for real... cheep!
Now, she says to roll them into a ping pong ball shape, but that simply didn't do for me. I couldn't manage them so thin and don't like to eat them that thin! I ended up doubling these balls so they were about golf ball size. I like thick doughy tortillas, that are so amazing you want to eat them by themselves. I suggest golf ball size balls.
And here is the finished product. They were very good!
I think I'm going to continue to practice these. Not that often though cause they are so utterly fattening. I'd like to try different ingredients, and even using whole wheat four. Maybe use different fats to see what the outcomes are.
And a tip if you decide to make them yourself: dust the ball in flour before you roll it out. When I did this it came out better.
You should really try them!
Check out her page!
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/05/homemade-flour-tortillas/
Looks easy enough eh? I'll have to take note of this recipe.
ReplyDelete