Make Your Own Tortillas!

Several months ago I tried making my own tortillas in an effort to expand our food storage menu. They stank. Actually, the dough itself wasn't all that bad, but the flattening process took forever and yielded tortillas with roughly the same thickness as a thin pancake. Yeah, real great for burritos. What did this "flattening process" entail? Basically it meant me rolling each ball of dough for 2-3 minutes with my rolling pin in a vain attempt to reach the thickness of a real tortilla. Multiply that by twenty or so tortillas and it took a whole hour just to roll them out. And they were bad! Have I talked enough about how much I disliked this method?

After that experience I started shopping for a tortilla press. Since I didn't have a lot of knowledge of what to look for, I turned to online reviews. And I didn't really learn anything. So I ended up buying this one, which was the cheapest one I could find:
It's the Norpro Tortilladora and I bought it at Kitchen Kneads in West Jordan for somewhere around $15 (sorry I can't remember exactly how much). Amazon.com also sells it. It's so slick! I'm glad I didn't spend any more money than I did. The mechanism is very basic, but it smashes those tortillas down in just seconds. It's easy to use and easy to clean. My only beef is that it only makes 6-inch tortillas, which I found to be the case with most tortilla presses. I think traditionally only corn tortillas--which I hope to someday attempt--are pressed that way and they are usually a lot smaller.

I also wanted to mention this electric press, theVillaware V5955 Grand Wrap Tortilla and Flatbread Maker:
I've seen this one in action and it's pretty impressive. It actually works kinda like a waffle iron, flattening the tortillas and toasting them as well and it makes 10-inch tortillas. It is significantly more expensive than the manual ones and I read some reviews from people who had problems with theirs, so I decided to go with El Cheapo instead, but if I ever have money coming out of my ears it would be a fun splurge.

Now for the recipes. I've tried a few different whole wheat ones and they're all pretty similar, but if I had to choose one I like best it would be this one:

Wheat Tortillas

Ingredients:
4 c. whole wheat flour
2 c. all-purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 c. shortening
1/2 c. olive oil
2 c. warm water

Thoroughly mix dry ingredients. Cut in shortening. Stir in oil until mixture resembles sand. Add water and knead. Dough should be soft but clean the sides of the bowl. Pinch off balls 2-3 inches in diameter [or smaller if you're using a 6-inch press] and knead into a smooth ball. Place balls in a bowl. Cover and let rest for one hour. Flatten each ball and toast on a hot skillet. If you want to store them for later use, flatten each ball and cook slightly to prevent them from sticking to each other. Cool completely and store in large freezer bag. Will keep in fridge for 2 weeks. [This recipe made about three dozen 6-inch tortillas. I think from now on I'll just make a half batch.]


And for those of you who are not hard-core whole wheat flour users,

Flour Tortillas

Ingredients:
6 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1-1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. shortening
1-2/3 c. warm water

Mix dry ingredients. Cut in shortening. Add water and knead. Pinch off balls 2-3 inches in diameter. Knead each one in smooth ball. Place balls in bowl. Cover and let rest for one hour. Flatten each ball and toast on hot griddle. Tortillas can be cooked later by refrigerating them after they have been flattened and cooked slightly. Store in large freezer bag.

Wheat Grinder

I don't remember eating much whole wheat bread as a kid. In fact, for most of my life I've been pretty afraid of whole wheat. But I can't imagine how I could store 1200 lbs. of grain and be able to rotate it before it goes bad without storing any wheat. Wheat basically has an indefinite shelf life (30+ years) so you really don't even have to worry about rotating it if you use it even just occasionally.

I did a little research into wheat grinders and found this one, the same one that they have on display at the cannery, at www.blendtec.com. I bought mine at their warehouse in Provo because I was already in the area and didn't want to pay for shipping. If you mention that you saw it at the cannery or enter the promotional code KZ12182 on the website, they give you a $40 discount.

How do I like it? I love it! There are several different coarseness settings, but I always leave mine on the finest. The flour is so fine! I think I could almost substitute it entirely for white flour without my family even noticing. It grinds the wheat very quickly, probably about 3 cups of wheat in a minute. The motor unit can be inverted and stored inside of the cannister, so it stores even more compact than it already is. It is pretty loud, but it gets the job done so fast that that isn't usually a problem. It gives me so much satisfaction to know that my family is now eating healthy whole grains. I've tried a bunch of good whole wheat recipes which I hopefully will be posting sometime in the near future.