Let me say upfront that I am not a fan of flour tortillas (or burritos in general). I prefer corn tortillas and tacos all the way. If the tortilla is half-half (found at Trader Joe’s and Costco), I’m okay with that.
Over the weekend, my husband Ed wanted something besides Spanish rice to go with the Chile Verde (pork) he planned to make. Something in a flour tortilla.
“Can you make them?”
Groan. Can I?
I enjoy baking, which includes making flour tortillas. I just wasn’t mentally ready to bust out the stand mixer, measuring cups and spoons, and rolling pin on a Saturday. Besides, I haven’t made any in over two years.
But I mentally prepared myself the day before, looking up a simple-enough recipe from The Café Sucre Farine’s food blog.
On my husband’s suggestion, I tried out the brand-new tortilla press made of cast-iron.
I was able to press out the tortillas with and without parchment. This tortilla press could be seasoned with oil, so nothing sticks. The ones with parchment rolled out more, though.
The recipe says to stack each individual, uncooked tortilla in between parchment, so as not to stick. They stuck anyway, especially when sitting next to a hot stove.
Better to make them one at a time, as many other, more traditionally Mexican recipes called for.
My flour tortillas turned out alright, just not big enough. I always think of flour tortillas as these humongous disks large enough to fill, roll up, and snack on while walking around doing an activity, like hiking in the woods or directing a construction crew to add a new driveway.
Even when Ed added a triple-folded square of tin foil on top of the parchment (to press out the dough more), the disks still didn’t quite get big enough. The recipe asks you to roll out the dough so thin it’s transluscent, btw.
Oh well…
The important thing is they cooked up in no time and tasted amazing with the Chile Verde.
We simply dipped the reheated (in the microwave with a damp paper towel) flour tortillas in the verde sauce, like bread in stew.
The other issue is…I never know when the tortillas are cooked through. They’re so thin, I’m sure it doesn’t take long. Besides, since I avoid eating flour tortillas, I am not that familiar with how they’re supposed to taste when they’re cooked. The ones I’ve eaten straight out of the package always seem doughy.
It’s a texture thang…
The next day, I decided to forego the tortilla press and roll out another batch of homemade flour tortillas by hand, which kind of did the trick — even though the shapes turned out somewhat wonky and definitely not round.
Some draped over the flat top during cooking.
However!
These definitely made for better burritos, so long as you didn’t go crazy with the fillings.
As an aside, if I do, on the rare occasion, order a burrito, I tend to go for the breakfast burrito with hash browns and bacon. My husband made the best ones the morning after.
The only problem with this particular recipe is that, sometimes, the dough doesn’t come together within one or two minutes. It’s very, very sticky. I wound up adding a lot more AP flour this time around to get the dough into a loose ball, then kneaded the stickiness out by hand — both times, actually.
Traditionally, you add hot water, then a little cold, so you can handle the dough when kneading. Lard or butter instead of olive oil. I watched a video of a Mexican lady who rolled hers out perfectly round and still thick (not thin, like Café Sucre calls for). Next time, I think I’ll try her recipe.
I made the second batch for my neighbor friends. I hope they like them. They’ve been so busy taking care of an ailing relative. The least I can do is drop off my bakes for them to snack on.
The flour tortillas were mostly for Christina, who’s a picky eater. She hates pork, turkey, seafood, goat cheese, anything remotely exotic, and tends to stick to Mexican food and some Italian and American.
I’m sure she can whip up a burrito to-go on her way to and from her dad’s rehab appointments.
That YouTube lady, Rachel cooks with love, also has a neat recipe for corn tortillas, which I’m making next Saturday — just to use the tortilla press properly.
I’ve always been afraid of making corn tortillas for fear the masa (corn) dough won’t come together. But she makes it look so easy.
She recommends you roll out flour tortillas and use the tortilla press for corn tortillas.
Everyone thinks Mexican/Latin food is easy to make. But it’s not. There’s a lot of hand’s-on work involved and cooking by feel, an art we’ve lost in these times of instant gratification and convenience appliances.
That’s why I will never attempt birria tacos, arepas, and pupusas, even though they’re my absolute favorite and so hard to find in Idaho.