Tortillas

I love, love, love tortillas.  Plain, nothing on them tortillas.  I get a little sick to my stomach just thinking about the kind you get in the store, though.  The texture is just awful and the ingredient list is scary.  No bueno.  So I've been making my own for years.  Recently though, I decided my old recipe wasn't quite doing it for me anymore and I discovered the holy grail of tortillas in the comments section of some blog where some other lady had posted a tortilla recipe.  Kind of round about, but worth it!  Here it is, plus some tips from my many failures and successes in the tortilleria:

6 C. flour ( more or less...most often, less)
1.5 tsp. salt
4 T. butter, cut into pieces
1 C. milk
1 C. water

1) Whisk together the salt and 2 C. flour in the mixing bowl of a stand mixer.
2)  Add the butter pieces on top.
3) In a small sauce pan, heat the milk and water until just below the boiling point (stir so you don't scorch it).
4) Pour the liquid into the flour mixture and stir until smooth and well blended.
5) Add two more cups of flour.  Again, blend well.
6) Begin adding the remaining flour one half cup at a time.  You may need to switch to your kneading hook at this point (or whatever you do with a Bosch...).  You are done adding flour when the dough has began pulling away from the sides and the bowl remains clean while kneading after the dough has been scraped down.  Your total kneading time should be about five minutes.
7) Form the dough into a smooth ball, cover, and let rest for 20 minutes (so the water all absorbs fully and the gluten has a chance to relax).
8) Cut the dough into 16 equal parts for fajita sized tortillas, fewer for larger tortillas. Cover the balls and again allow the dough to rest for about 20 minutes.
9) On a lightly floured surface, roll your balls out one by one.  You want them to be so thin that you can see the texture or color pattern in your work-surface beneath them.
10) Preheat your skillet or electric griddle (which is what I prefer to use) to about 400 degrees.  You want it to be so hot that it cooks the tortillas quickly and puffs them up instead of drying them out.
11) Cook each side for about a minute, or until it has developed nice brown spots and the dough appears fully cooked.  The dough should bubble and puff as it cooks.
12) As you cook the tortillas, stack them on a plate and cover the stack with tinfoil and a dish towel.  The key is to keep them warm.  A tortilla warmer works too, but I don't have one :)

Much like in bread baking, method trumps recipe in importance.  Accordingly, here are some method quirks I've discovered via research and painful experience:

• Kneading is crucial.  Do not under-knead these unless you want them to be dense and somewhat brittle.  Kneading develops the gluten, which is essential in giving your tortillas stretch and chewiness.  
• The rest periods are crucial.  You can skip them, but not if you want your tortillas to be springy and bendy and divine.  The gluten has to have a chance to relax or rolling them out thin enough just doesn't happen.
• Cutting the dough into sections to shape into balls is pretty important too.  You never want to tear bread or tortilla dough as a prime goal is to keep the invisible gluten strands long and aligned and tearing isn't conducive to that.  
• Sub whole wheat for up to half of the flour, but do so knowing you'll alter the flavor and texture accordingly.
• Make sure your cooking surface is sufficiently hot.  Quick cooking is essential to preserving moistness and flexibility.
• These are great to freeze and keep on hand.  A quick turn in the microwave brings them right back to awesome.
• You may well be able to use coconut oil in these and possibly some other milk to make them vegan. I don't know, as I'm too cheap to buy the stuff that doesn't taste like coconut and I don't worry about using dairy anyway.  I do know that the little bit of extra fat content from the milk is part of why these turn out so flexible and and hold it so well.  

I know this all sounds a bit fussy, but there really isn't a great deal of effort to making great tortillas.  You do have to pay attention to detail.  Practice is also pretty important for consistent results.  One last thing...my tortillas always look somewhat like amoebas...if yours do too, no one here is judging!