Ingredients #

• 450g All-Purpose Flour
• 80g - 100g of Lard (Can also use butter or vegetable shortening)
• 5g salt
• 250ml warm water

Steps #

• place the flour in a mixing bowl, and add the lard. pinch the lard into the flour (as with pastry) until the mixture represents coarse sand. Spend some time on this step.
• add the salt to the water, mix to dissolve, then add slowly to the flour/lard mixture while stirring. Keep mixing until a shaggy dough forms. Turn out onto a counter and knead 4-5 minutes until a smooth, tight dough ball forms.
• wrap the dough ball in plastic wrap, and let rest for 30 minutes.
• weigh the dough, then cut into even pieces. 25g will make small tortillas; 35g seems good also; 75-80g will make burrito-sized wraps.
• form the pieces into balls, place in a dish, and cover with plastic wrap again. These should rest at least 20 minutes but can rest for a few hours on the counter or in a fridge.
• roll out the balls into flats. Take a ball, press it with your fingers into a round circle. Then using a rolling pin, roll out into a flat circle, working from the center out and rotating 90 degrees each time. use enough flour to make sure the dough does not stick to the rolling pin or the counter/board. Stack these in a container under a damp towel ready for frying.
• Heat a cast iron frying pan until it is “ripping hot” (An IR thermometer will read 500F or better). Setup a workstation with raw tortillas on one side, pan in the middle, and a tea towel to store the warm tortillas on the other.
• Fry each tortilla for 30 seconds on one side, until it bubbles up and some good brown/dark spots appear on the bottom. Flip and toast for another 10-15 second on the other side, then remove to the towel to keep warm. Do not overcook the tortillas as they will dry out and become brittle, instead of pliable for wrapping around food.

Tips #

• use a kitchen scale for all measurements
• knead well!!
• do not over cook or they will be brittle