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The Great Tortilla Experiment: Part I
Flour Tortillas
If you don’t already know, MJ & I recently moved from San Antonio, TX to Baltimore, MD. Store bought tortillas here are sub-substandard. They have a nasty aftertaste that I suspect is from excessive use of preservatives. Tortillas in San Antonio do not stay on the shelf long enough to have need for more than a smidge of preservation.
Tortillas sold here in MD are stored mostly in the refrigerated section. In San Antonio, they’re shelved next to the bread. The tortilla section is actually equal to if not larger than the bread section.
I am attempting to get my friends still in TX to send us tortillas, but in the long run this method is going to be time consuming and more expensive than making them myself. I’ve tried making them myself before, and they have always been edible (if misshapen or overthick), so getting them from the store made more sense. Now I have little choice but the perfect the art of the tortilla. . .
I decided that I would start with an “expert,” so I started with google. That’s where all the experts are, eh?
The second hit was from a Texas cooking site so I decided to give them a try. I was wary because they referred to their recipe as a “chewy” recipe and the recipe seemed to lacking in the amount of fat I’m used to seeing. Just a mere two tablespoons of vegetable oil. Where’s the crisco, or the butter, or the lard?
The recipe was easy enough, but the resulting tortillas weren’t quite what I was looking for. They were still better than anything store bought on this coast. . .