Whole Wheat Tortillas

Thinking about Tony's whole wheat bread got me thinking of other things we used to make. One of my faves was whole wheat flour tortillas. I'd make these and heat up some frijoles and my daughter's day was made. She just loved "tias and holies!"

field of wheat

Whole Wheat Flour Tortillas

The good stuff therein:

3 cups unbleached organic white flour (ok, it's not 100% whole wheat, but it's better than not)
1 cup organic whole wheat flour
2 t salt
4 t baking powder
1/4 cup shortening (Crisco is fine. Or, if you are brave and want to make a real traditional tortilla, use lard)
1 1/2 cup lukewarm water

What comes next:

Mix the flours, salt, and baking powder in a medium sized bowl. Then add the shortening. You can start by cutting it in like you would baking powder biscuits, but it's really a lot more fun to mess around in it with your hands. Mix and knead the dough until it's smooth and sort of like pie dough.

Cover the mound of dough with a wet tea towel and let it sit quietly at rest for about a half an hour.

Divide the dough into 16 equal rounds - roll them all up into nice little balls.

On a floured surface, roll each ball to form a circle not very thick at all - maybe 1/8 of an inch.

You can stack these with wax paper between them and set them by the stove so they are all nice and handy.

Heat a skillet over medium heat. Dip a paper towel into some good oil like canola or vegetable and quickly wipe the skillet. Add one tortilla and cook for only 1-2 minutes on each side. Cook just until the brown spots start appearing.

Cook them all, stack in one of those nice tortilla warmers if you have one and then enjoy.

You will never have a more mindful burrito or taco experience.