I haven't been thrilled with my tortillas of late and decided to search for a flour tortilla instead of masa to see if I liked them better. I found one of Bayless' many recipes. I wanted to just try a little batch to see what they were like. I made a math mistake and scaled the fat wrong, but the experiment was fun.
I cut lard (20 g, should'be been 10 g) into white wheat flour (60 g) and salt (ca. 1 g) and to this added water (40 g). The 100 g of dough was divided, rounded and pushed into squat 4" diameter disks to rest. I pushed them into ca. 8" discs using a tortilla press and tossed 'em in the fridge (fatty dough sticks, it's easier to handle when slightly chilled) and fired up my gas grill with the cast iron grate.
I cooked them a minute or so each side. We probably should've let them sit a bit, but ate them both immediately. They were really good, but a tad doughy tasting. I may not have aged the dough sufficiently before cooking.
I think these were a success, but they raise a few of questions:
1. This is essentially the same recipe (only white, not wheat flour) as the Piadina of Emiglia-Romagna. Piadina were graciously served to us by dear friends some time ago and I'm not sure if they taste similar because it was long ago. I'll be consulting with them soon when I remake these.
2. Are they satisfactory tortillas? Again, I think they have to be repeated with unbleached white.
3. Are they good? Heck ya, no matter how they're used, they were good. I'm still not sure if this is the way I want to cradle my taco fillings though. Again, precooking resting is in order as is the use of white flour.
Here's a couple images of the pressed out tortillas and final cooked product:
Posts
