The Tortilla

We bet that you didn’t know March is the designated month to celebrate flour. But, it’s true! Aaand, what is made of flour? Just a little hint: you love it and we use it every single day! That’s right, it’s tortillas!

Okay, so it’s probably not a big surprise to find out that tortillas come from Mexico. Before we get into flour tortillas we need to look at maize nearly 12,000 years ago. According to Mayan legend, the first tortillas were invented by a peasant in ancient times to feed his king. Soon, the flattened cakes of dried maize were adapted into Aztec culture and in 1519 when Cortés arrived with his Spanish soldiers he commented on the corn tortillas in a letter to King Charles V of Spain.

Over time, corn tortillas evolved into a wheat tortilla made with unleavened, water-based dough that was pressed and cooked like corn tortillas.
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Today, tortillas are the staple of many cultures and can be found worldwide. In America, tortillas are so popular that they rank only behind sliced bread for the most sold packaged bread. And that doesn’t count the chips. Mmmm, tortilla chips. I can hear Rudy cracking open a bag now.

From the manual tortilla maker to equipment which can produce over 60,000 tortillas an hour, anyone can make their own tortillas. And you guessed it, we have a recipe for you!

Flour Tortilla Recipe

Ingredients:

• 4 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 2 tablespoons of lard
• 1 ½ cups water

Directions:

1. Mix flour, salt and baking powder in a mixing bowl.
2. Cut lard into the flour mixture until it the mixture resembles cornmeal.
3. Add water until a dough is formed.
4. Layout dough on a floured surface and knead until it is smooth and elastic.
5. Divide into 24 pieces and roll each piece into a ball.
6. Preheat a skillet to medium-high heat.
7. With a tortilla press or a floured rolling pin flatten each dough ball into a thin and round tortilla.
8. Place each flattened tortilla into the skillet until it begins to bubble and turn a nice golden color. Flip and do the same to the other side.
9. Store the cooked tortillas in a tortilla warmer or eat right out of the pan. 

​These tortillas are soft, chewy and delicious. Try them in any of your favorite wrapped meals, but we of course like to flatten them thin enough, so they make great Toastillas! For us, the thinner the better, but it’s hard to pass up a tortilla as chewy as these. In fact, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle some sea salt and were afraid these little cakes won’t even make it to your toaster.