Set up your grinder in preparation, or if you don’t have a grinder, skip this step.
Pull out your bucket of grain, and pour into the grinder. Then, grind the wheat.
Set out your ingredients; this helps those of us who can tend to forget an ingredient. (Recipe below.)
Pour the flour into a bowl, cupful by cupful.
Dump the salt in.
Measure the oil (your choice of canola or olive oil, melted butter may also be used).
Pour the oil in, and cut it in with a pastry cutter until the mixture is in semi-fine crumbles.
Pour the water in. It’s often wise to not pour the entire amount in, since sometimes it can be too much, and you’ll need to add more flour. The dough should be sticky, but not gooey, and definitely not firm! You will use flour later when rolling them out.
Cover with a towel and let sit.
Grab a golf-size ball of dough (approximately 2-3 ounces), and place on a well-floured surface. (Important note: We use white flour for flouring the surface and handling the dough.) I was given a large pastry mat for Christmas, and it works well (I still flour it). You can also use a pastry cloth.
Begin rolling! We no longer use a tortilla press. We prefer the outcome of the hand-rolled tortillas, and really, they don’t take that long.
If you can find a helper, things will go even faster. For this time, we set up two fry pans plus a griddle. The tortillas are cooked on a dry fry pan. I don’t have an actual time for baking them, but it probably is anywhere from 45 seconds to a minute and a half per side, depending on the thickness of the tortilla and the heat of the fry pan. If they’re cooked too long, the tortillas will be dry. You want them just past the dough stage. Use a spatula to flip the tortillas.
Then, you find a younger brother or sister (or, in my case, a delightful niece), and let them help. Abby knows how to flour the mat and roll the tortillas out. Her first project was to make a little one for her to eat and enjoy.
Go, girl!
The tortilla might not be in a perfect, round shape, but the taste is just as good.
Notice the flour? I love you, Abby (and you too, Anna).
The tortilla bakers: Aunt Sarah, Aunt Anna, and Abby
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Maxwells’ Tortillas
- 10 cups flour
- 1 TB. plus 1 tsp. salt
- 1 and 1/3 cups oil
- 4 cups water
Combine the flour and a salt in a large bowl. Cut in the oil (or butter). Using a large spoon, add the water until the dough is soft and sticky. Let the dough sit on the counter anywhere from 1-3 hours. Then, portion the dough into golf-size balls or 2 ounce size (or, just figure out what size your family wants). Flour a surface such as a pastry mat or cloth. Heat fry pans. Cook each tortilla until lightly cooked. It could be anywhere from less than a minute to a minute and a half, depending on your heat settings and the thickness of the tortilla. You don’t want the tortilla to be doughy, but you don’t want it overcooked, otherwise, the tortilla will be tough.
Use a spatula to flip the tortillas. Place the cooked tortillas on a plate and cover with a towel. ENJOY! (Refrigerate tortillas after the first use. You can also freeze tortillas to make them last longer. When ready to use tortillas that have been refrigerated, you’ll want to warm them up in the microwave for a little bit to soften them.)
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Sarah
“And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God” (Luke 4:4).
. Anna cut all the onions up this afternoon, in preparation for shuttling them through the blender.
