Homemade Flour Tortillas

These homemade flour tortillas are the easiest and tastiest tortillas you will ever eat in your kitchen. The hubby and I have tried to make our own from a family recipe for quite some time, and they just never came out right. We struggled with them being too crispy and falling apart, and experimented with different ratios of flour to shortening, yet nothing ever seemed to work.

So, I decided to give up on our old recipe and try a new one. Everything I have tried from Our Best Bites has been yummy and a success. So it only made sense to try the tortilla recipe from their cookbook. First attempt, they were perfect. Soft, pliable, flavorful, and even just as good the next day. We have made the shift over to the better and easier side of homemade flour tortillas!

Extra good news about this recipe, it is such a good base, that it can be adapted to your own personal tastes. Michael and I like to add a little whole wheat flour to most of our "breads" and we did that here also (see note at end of recipe). And I know this sounds cliché, but trust me when I say that you will NEVER go back to store-bought tortillas again. These are cheap, easy and fun to make, and so much better than those nasty processed tortillas from the grocery store. Consider your life changed!

And stay tuned for what went inside these tortillas for tonight's dinner! It was delish, trust me. The hubby actually scolded me for making it so tasty, but more on that later ;)

Homemade Flour Tortillas
(Adapted from Our Best Bites)

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup plus 2 tbs. shortening
3/4-1 cup hot water

Directions:

1. In the bowl of a heavy duty mixer, fitted with the dough hook, combine the flour and the salt. Add the shortening and combine until crumbly.
2. With the mixer running, slowly add 3/4 cup of hot water. Mix until the dough starts to come together, adding more water if necessary; the dough should be about the consistency of Play-Doh.
3. Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. While the pan is heating, divide the dough evenly into 8-10 balls. With a rolling pin and on a generously floured surface, roll the balls as thinly as possible into circles.
4. Place a raw tortilla onto the hot skillet and cook until large bubbles appear and the tortilla looks slightly oily, about a minute. Flip and cook another 30 seconds to a minute or until the tortilla is cooked through but not brown or burned. Repeat with remaining tortillas, keeping the cooked tortillas under a clean kitchen towel. Serve immediately.

Notes:
- I like to substitute 1 cup of whole wheat flour for 1 cup of the all-purpose flour. Makes the tortillas a bit healthier and adds a more complex flavor. 
- Here in Utah, where it is dry, I use the entire 1 cup of water. In more humid climates, I would suggest using less. 
-Store leftovers in plastic sealed bag in fridge.