Chef John's Flour Tortillas

Chef John's Flour Tortillas

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 cup vegetable shortening or lard

1/2 cup hot water

1/4 cup all-purpose flour for dusting

Whisk flour, salt, and baking powder together in a large bowl. Add vegetable shortening and work into flour mixture using a pastry cutter until it resembles coarse crumbs.               

Form a well in the middle of flour mixture and mix in hot water. Work flour and water mixture together with a fork and transfer to a cutting board.              

Knead until a smooth, soft dough is formed, about 3 minutes. Add more flour if dough is too sticky.               

Place more flour on cutting board, cover dough with bowl, and let rest for 15 minutes.             

Cut ball of dough into eight equal parts and cover until needed.

Roll out balls of dough either by hand or with a tortilla press.  I used a tortilla press.              

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Place flattened tortilla in skillet and cook until it begins to bubble, about 1 minute. Flip tortilla over and cook for an additional minute. Flip again and cook for 1 more minute. Repeat with remaining dough.  

These were really good...almost as good as the ones I had in San Antonio last year!  I highly recommend the video demonstration on allrecipes.com that accompanies this recipe.