Recipe: Famous Flour Tortillas

Famous Flour Tortillas

Makes 16 8-inch tortillas

Famous Flour Tortillas Twice a day we mix up gigantic batches of tortilla dough, divide it into thousands of little balls, and feed them one at a time to El Machino. Here's a slightly scaled-down version.

6 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable shortening, cut into small pieces
2-1/2 cups warn water

Place the flour in the bowl of a mixer and add the baking powder and salt, stirring to mix well. Add the shortening. Turn the mixer on low and slowly pour in the water. Mix on low for 90 seconds or until well mixed.

Scrape the dough out of the bowl onto a floured surface. Divide the dough into 2 equal portions. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside to rest at room temperature for 20 minutes. Divide each half into 8 equal portions. You will now have 16 dough balls. Lightly flour your work surface. With a floured rolling pin, roll each ball into an 8-inch round. Stack the rounds on a baking sheet with plastic wrap between each tortilla. Let the tortillas rest for 10 minutes.

Heat a griddle or large cast-iron skillet over medium heat, and lightly coat with vegetable oil cooking spray. Cook the tortillas on the griddle or in the skillet for 1 minute on each side, or until light brown spots form on the surface.

Fresh Mex Tip #7—Tortillas

Once you've rolled the dough into balls, don't skip the resting stage. It helps the dough "relax" so you can roll it out more easily.
Rotating the dough circle as you roll it out will help it spread out into a nice even circle.
If you're using an electric griddle, set it to 375 degrees F.
To keep fresh tortillas warm, wrap them in a kitchen towel or stack them in a tortilla server with a lid.
To make fresh "sopaipillas" (Southwest-style fried pastries), roll out tortilla dough rounds as directed, and deep fry them in vegetable oil heated to 350 degrees F. Drain on paper towels, sprinkle with ground cinnamon and sugar, and serve with honey.

Buy the Book!

Chevys & Rio Bravo™
Fresh Mex® Cookbook
By Chevys Inc.™
Ten Speed Press, May 2000
Cloth, $14.95
128 pages, full color
ISBN: 1-58008-191-6
Recipe reprinted by permission.