Flour tortillas are traditionally made with lard. Although you can substitute with cooking oil, the taste will not be the same. We substitute when we’re having vegetarians for dinner, but we always make a few with lard and tuck them down the bottom of the pile.
- 3 cups flour
- 6 tbsp lard (pork or beef)
- 1 tsp salt
- 3/4 to 1 cup water
Using the palm of your hand, flatten each ball into a circle two inches across (this makes it easier to get a nice shape when you roll them out). Rest the dough, covered, for 10 minutes or until you are ready to proceed.
Place a disk of dough on a floured worktop and with a rolling pin, roll it out into a tortilla about 1/8 inch thick. It should be about six inches across when you are done.
Heat a skillet or frying pan over medium heat. When hot, add a tortilla and cook for one minute. The tortilla will puff up a little with air bubbles. When it is just starting to turn lightly brown in places, flip and cook for an additional 30 seconds on the other side.
Remove from heat and wrap in a cloth. Repeat with remaining tortillas, creating a stack under the towel as you go. While cooking, some flour dust from the cooking tortillas may start to build up in the pan. It helps to wipe this away with paper towel every few tortillas so that it doesn’t blacken and coat the cooking tortillas.
Tip
To produce attractive round tortillas, place your rolling pin across the center of the flattened tortilla dough and roll back and forth a few times. Rotate the tortilla about 45 degrees and roll again from the center. Keep rotating the tortilla in this fashion and you will make tortillas like a pro.