Waist-ed Away in Tortilla-ville......

A few weeks ago I decided that I wanted to make four tortillas AT HOME. Surely, how hard could that be? Immediately I went and checked Pioneer Woman's archive and found a recipe that was rightly simple, yet contained ( gasp) LARD. Now, while it is true that I am from the South, and have no aversion to pork fat, I had never purchased lard. At least not in it's pure and un-adulterated form. When I went to the Walmart's for the weekly foraging session, I looked at the lard but couldn't bring myself to buy it. The stuff is cheap, but just the thought made me keep on trucking. The next week, however, I succumbed to it and bought some. It sat in the pantry for two weeks. Then the other night I decided to just jump the gap and make the things. They were delicious! But there was a texture issue -it was more like frybread or a gordita shell than it was a tortilla. When I think flour tortilla, I want it to be a little chewy and to bend without breaking. Not to knock Ree's recipe, I figured it was my technique.

So, back to the internet for another recipe. This time I found one with oil, and MILK. I made these this morning and again, the taste is perfect, but the texture
( while better than the first batch) still is not what I was looking for. They got eaten up with gusto, so no complaints, but still.....I strive for the perfection I know I can find.

Here's what I did:

Easy Tortillas

2 cups plain flour
2 tbsp masa ( you could leave this out, but I had some, so why not?)
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup whole milk ( in my case, 1/2 cup 2% and 1/4 cup half and half)

Mix the flour, masa, salt and baking powder in a bowl. Add vegetable oil and stir in til blended. Warm the milk in the microwave , but don't scald it like I did.
Pour in the milk and work until it forms a sticky, yet crumbly dough.
Knead the dough on a floured surface for 2 or 3 minutes, then plop it in a bowl to rest for maybe 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, take the dough ball out and slightly flatten it into a rectangle. With a big knife, cut it into 8 pieces. The gently roll each piece into a ball. Put balls on a plate ( not touching) and cover with towel to rest for 10 more minutes. Evidently they get tired and testy from being handled.)

Get out your iron griddle, or in my case, electric non-stick pancake griddle and get it going at medium high. ( 375 on my electric thingie)

Roll each ball into a roughly 6-8 inch circle. Mine turned out to be shaped like
South America, but that is just how it is here in Mississippi sometimes.
As you get them rolled out, plop the first on on the heated surface and while it is cooking, roll out the next one. In 30 seconds, flip it over and put on the next one. In thirty seconds, take the first one off, flip the second one over and add the third. Obviously, if the things don't look done, don't do it that fast, but mine only took about 30-45 seconds a side.

Serve with whatever you like. Today we had them with scrambled eggs and bacon, but I could sure see some butter and honey with cinnamon ( Sopapilla?) or some fried apples. Love y'all!