Homemade, HEAVENLY tortillas!

I have to tell you about the most fabulous, delicious, warm and satisfying tortillas that we made from scratch for the first time last month. I was always bothered by the list of icky ingredients in many store-bought tortilla brands and would have to search long and hard for quality organic brands that had great taste. It wasn't always easy. As Texans, we are serious about our tortillas, and I had savored the deliciousness of homemade tortillas in the past. I knew we could do it too. So last month Aaron went online and searched for a flour tortilla recipe to complete his famous egg, black bean and chorizo breakfast tacos. Let me tell you, it was worlds different to have those tacos with fresh, hot, homemade tortillas. A transcendent experience. One we have repeated several times since then for ourselves and our guests. And everyone loves them!


Before I go any further, I have to give major props to The Pioneer Woman because Aaron got this fantastic recipe from her website. Please go to her site to find out how to make them! The best part about this whole process, besides the feast that followed, was that thanks to her we discovered that flour tortillas can be made easily at home using just 5 wholesome/natural ingredients. And those ingredients are:

1. Flour (I use organic/unbleached wheat or white); 2. baking powder (please look for a brand without aluminum!); 3. kosher salt (I use himalayan salt because it's full of magnesium and is actually good for the body); 4. lard or butter or veggie shortening for you vegans/vegetarians (we used bacon grease from our organic, humanely-raised bacon! We have also used butter, which is fine) and 5. hot water. That's it. 

We kept the same dough in the fridge and would make a batch every day while we had guests. Inexpensive, wholesome, and delish. I know some of you look at "lard" or "butter" and cringe. Most people assume that it's the fatty foods that take the biggest toll on our health, but I am much more concerned about over-processed, dead, chemical-laden, and genetically engineered food. While an overabundance isn't advised, at least our bodies recognize and metabolize fat. But the others--our bodies don't know what to do with them. Think about it: 100 years ago when people drank whole milk, ate fresh butter, and had bacon and eggs multiple times a week, there wasn't an obesity epidemic. Artery plaque was not showing up in children as it is now. In fact, hardly anyone was overweight. Since food became industrialized, companies every day explore cheaper ways to manufacture larger amounts of food, and ingredients grow fruther from their natural state. Most food is no longer good--even tortilla dough that really requires just 5 simple ingredients. It's not simple anymore. Observe...

This is the ingredients list I found on the website of a popular tortilla brand in the US:
Enriched Bleached Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron,Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Water, Vegetable Shortening (Interesterified Soybean Oil, Hydrogenated Soybean Oil and/or Palm Oil), Leavening (Sodium Bicarbonate, Sodium Aluminum Sulfate, Corn Starch, Monocalcium Phosphate, and/or Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Calcium Sulfate), Salt, and contains 2% or less of: Preservatives (Calcium Propionate, Sorbic Acid and/or Citric Acid), Dough Conditioners (Fumaric Acid, Sodium Metabisulfite and/or Mono- and Diglycerides). 

Yuck! Even the basic ingredients aren't so basic (bleached, enriched, etc). And they are overlayed with chemical preservatives, hydrogenated oils (trans fats), oils from genetically-modified foods (soy and corn), and cheap manufactured salt, most likely, which actually does impact the body negatively. The ingredients I put in red are those that are most concerning to me. But frankly, I am concerned about all of them. And all this when when what you really need is 5 simple ingredients: flour, baking powder, salt, butter/shortening, and water. I am telling you, give it a shot and you will never go back to store-bought. 

For all you corn tortilla lovers, making corn tortillas is even simpler than flour. My brother, quite the chef himself, showed us how to do it while he was in town from Santa Fe last summer. All you need is masa (organic of course so it's non-gmo!) and water. And they are fantastic. We used them for ancho pork tacos, and they weren't dry like some store-bought brands. In fact the consistency is more like flour tortillas. Soft, warm, and really scrumptious. Moist even!

That's all from me for now. I hope you will give these recipes a try. If you do, I would love to hear what you think! Enjoy! Love, the Tortilla-Lovin' Texan