Today's experiment was for homemade flour tortillas. I've been playing with the idea of making my own tortillas for a while now. I actually wanted to make tortillas as a precursor to making pita bread from scratch. They use basically the same ingredients, except pita bread requires yeast to make them more thick and bread-y.
The tortillas actually turned out pretty well. They were a bit thicker than I wanted but that can easily be remedied by rolling them out thinner. We had them with shredded rotisserie chicken, refried beans, cabbage, shredded cheese, and some of my homemade taco sauce. Yum!
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Made-from-scratch Flour Tortillas
Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour plus 1/4 cup flour for rolling
1 heaping tsp salt
6 tbsp softened butter
3/4 to 1 cup hot/warm water
Directions:
Mix butter into flour until fully incorporated. Dissolve salt into hot/warm water and slowly add to flour mixture until soft ball forms. Knead for two to three minutes. Roll dough into 2" thick log, cut into twelve equal pieces (for 6 to 8 inch tortillas), and roll into balls. Cover with plastic wrap or slightly damp towel and let rest for 20 minutes to one hour. On lightly floured surface, roll each dough ball into thin circles. Cook tortillas on pre-heated, ungreased griddle or non-stick pan for 30-60 seconds on each side or until bubbles form. Stack tortillas in dish towel to keep warm and pliable. Unused tortillas can be stored in a sealed plastic bag for two days at room temperature or up to one week refrigerated.
Creamy Homemade Taco Sauce
Ingredients:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
2-3 tbsp lime juice, to taste
1/4 tsp vinegar
1/4 tsp ground sumac*
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp dried dill weed
1/4 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
Directions:
Mix all ingredients together in one pint jar. Refrigerate for at least 30 mins before use for all flavors to blend together. Keeps up to one week in the refrigerator.
*Sumac is a spice made from ground sumac berries. It has a tart, berry-lemony taste and is traditionally used in Middle Eastern dishes. Sumac can be used as a substitute to lemon when the flavor, and not the acidity, of a lemon is needed.
