Tortillas

We used to have a tortilleria (a Mexican store that specialized in homemade tortillas) right down the street from my house.  When it went out of business I was SO sad.  The tortillas were fantastic - they were like a corn/flour mix and you got a pound for $1.50, which was about 30 of the small tortillas.

In absence of the fresh tortillas that I used to get warm on my way home from work, I am going to attempt to make my own tortillas!  My mom was in town for the weekend, so she was really the mastermind here.

The store brand: Mission Flaxseed and Blue Corn Blend

The Recipe:
3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil (or shortening)
1 cup warm water

- Mix the flour, salt, and vegetable oil together until crumbly.

 
- Add water and knead on floured board until smooth and elastic (about 5 minutes).
- Cover with plastic and let stand for 30 minutes to 2 hours.
- Divide into 12 equal balls and roll out to ~8" circle.

- Cook on hot griddle (no oil) about 1 minute on each side until lightly browned.

And the result?  They were delicious.  We let them rise for just 30 minutes while I cut up the taco toppings and they were perfect.  They were so good fresh, that nobody wanted to touch the store bought version!  Though the store bought was pretty good also.  The next morning we made breakfast burritos, and the shells were still awesome.

What about the cost?  Making your own tortillas is incredibly affordable.  It's almost 4x as much to buy them!  Easy choice on cost.

	Size	Cost	Cost/Shell
Mission	10 Ct	$2.69	$0.27
Homemade	12 Ct	$0.84	$0.07

 

The homemade version costs a lot less, tastes better, but is quite a bit of work.  Nutrition depends on the type of flour you are using I suppose, but you do save the preservatives with the homemade.

Bake or Buy?  BAKE!