Soft Flour Tortillas Without Shortening : Tortillas Sin Manteca Y Rexal

There is nothing better than standing in the kitchen and stealing from the fleshly made pile of warm tortillas before dinner. Traditional flour tortillas are a no rise dough made with vegetable shortening and baking powder. After my dad started having high cholesterol, we started making them with olive oil instead of shortening and eliminated the baking powder from the recipe. This recipe will give you about 20 soft warm tortillas that you won't feel guilty stealing from the just done pile!

• 4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup olive oil (regular or virgin, virgin has a stronger taste so it just depends on what you are aiming for)
• 1 1/3 to 1 1/2 cups of warm water
• extra flour to sprinkle your surface

Utensils

• rolling pin
• measuring cups and spoons
• big bowl
• sifter or strainer to sift
• clean towel
• flat surface for rolling out the dough
• nonstick skillet

Sift the flower into a large bowl. You can do this with a standard sifter or by putting it in a strainer and shaking it. Add the salt to the flower and mix with a spoon. Then add the olive oil and mix with the spoon again until it is well mixed.

Start with mixing in 1 1/3 cups of warm water at first. I like to mix it with the spoon and then knead it with my hands. Proceed to add more water by the tablespoon until your dough is smooth and doesn't crack. It might feel a little bit sticky when you first add more water, that is ok, it will get better as you knead it.

Separate into 1 1/2" balls by either breaking the dough or by squeezing the balls out between your thumb and index. Lay these out to rest for 30 minutes or more under a clean towel. The resting will make them easier to roll and the towel will prevent them from drying up.

Sprinkle some flower on your surface and on your rolling pin and roll out a circle. It helps to not press too hard and to rotate it often. If you are being called on by the circle police, you can use a pizza cutter to cut out the imperfections and get a rounder circle.

Directly after rolling out, place in a medium/high preheated skillet. Let it cook on one side 20-30 seconds. Bubbles should start to form and look semi-cooked. If dark brown patches start to form in this time span reduce the heat; similarly if it is taking longer than 30 sec then bring up the heat.

Turn the tortilla over and cook for another 30 seconds. The tortilla should be soft and flexible. If it breaks when it is folded, it means it is being cooked for too long. When done, place on a towel and cover or keep warm in a tortilla basket.

Keep leftovers in the fridge for up to 5 days (if they can last that long without being eaten!) and reheat them on the skillet. They will get softer when they are reheated, but again if left too long on the skillet they will become brittle.

enjoy!