Sergio's Special Flour Tortillas

This simple recipe for delicious, hearty, wholesome tortillas is courtesy of Sergio and his family. Sergio has worked at Janie's Mill since the fall of 2018 when we first started stone-milling our local organic grains  Among his many talents are repairing torn mill screens and other equipment, and winning the Janie’s Mill 2019 Chili Cook-Off. In his spare time, he loves to watch Westerns and make these homemade flour tortillas with his wife Rubi, and their three children.

These homemade tortillas are fantastic for enchiladas, soft tacos, burritos, quesadillas, and simple wraps filled with leftovers! And when you make them yourself, you know there are no dough conditioners, preservatives, or other chemicals -- just Janie's Mill flour, water, salt, and the fat of your choice!

 Yield: 12 - 18 tortillas, depending on how big you make them

Ingredients

• 2 cups (250g) Janie's Mill Sifted Artisan Flour
• 2 cups (250g) Janie’s Mill Silky Smooth Pastry Flour 
• 4 tablespoons (57g) vegetable oil, lard, or shortening (room temperature)
• 1 1/4 cup (300g) warm water
• 1 tsp (6 g) fine sea salt

Prepare Your Dough
1) Mix flour and salt in a large bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer.

2) Mix in the vegetable oil until you don't have any big clumps. Add water and knead by hand or with a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment.  

3) Once the dough is elastic, make 2 inch dough balls (about 40g each) and flatten slightly. (Or simply squeeze out fist-size balls of roughly equal size, and flatten.) NOTE:  If the consistency of the dough is too sticky, add more flour.  

4) Cover the balls with a damp kitchen towel or plastic wrap, and let the dough rest for 30-45 minutes. This resting time lets the gluten relax so that it will be easy to roll out your tortillas.

4) Flour your work surface and roll out the tortillas with a rolling pin or with your hands. If the dough is shrinking back while you roll it out, let it rest for 10 minutes and try again. Stack tortillas, dusting each one with flour to avoid sticking.

Cook Your Tortillas
1) Heat up your comal, griddle, or cast iron skillet to medium high.

2) Place a tortilla on the griddle. When you start to see bubbles forming on top (about 20 seconds after placing it on the griddle), flip to the other side and cook for another 10-20 seconds. You may flip once again if a little more cooking is needed.
NOTE: Your comal/griddle should be hot enough so that when cooking, you will see light brown spots on the tortillas. If the spots are dark brown, turn down the heat. If the tortillas take over 30 seconds per side to cook, turn up the heat.   

3) Keep tortillas warm in a towel lined bowl or basket, or simply in a tea towel.

Flour Variations

Janie's Mill All-Purpose Flour also makes excellent tortillas.  If you don't have All-Purpose or Sifted Artisan on hand, you may choose any of these (or a combination):

• Medium to low protein flours: Spelt, Frederick White Wheat, Artisan Blend, and Black Emmer.

TIPS for making your homemade tortillas

• Roll the tortillas fairly thin — but not too thin (translucent), or they will burn.   And thick tortillas won't be tender.
• If you try rolling out your tortillas and the dough keeps shrinking back, let it rest for another 15-30 minutes until the gluten relaxes.
• If your tortillas feel stiff after cooking, you've probably cooked them too long or the heat was too high. Cook them only long enough to get some nice bubbles on the surface and a few light brown spots on the underside. Then flip them for another 15-20 seconds. You can flip them back and forth up to three times to get them just right.
• It's also important to allow your tortillas to steam each other. Stack them up directly after cooking and  keep them covered with a kitchen towel. This helps them steam each other and get nice and soft.
• A tortilla warmer is a nice accessory but you can also just use a pot with a cover that's slightly bigger than the tortillas. Place each tortilla in the pot after removing from the pan and cover with the lid. The steam from the just cooked tortillas will keep them all soft and pliable.
• Wipe out the pan in between tortillas with a damp paper towel if flour is starting to accumulate.
• These tortillas keep well in the refrigerator for 5-7 days. They will feel stiff though when they're cold. When you want to use one or two, just place them in a slightly damp paper towel and microwave for 10-20 seconds. They'll be nice and soft again.