Sandrita's Homemade Tortillas Fantásticas

Hola my name is Sandra Corona. I'm from Yakima, Washington, and I am one of the Hispanic experts here at Spanish Online. Today I'd like to teach you how to prepare my mom's delicious recipe for flour tortillas. Mi querida madre, Imelda Lopez, was born in Camerón, Nuevo León, Mexico, and is now a proud Mexican American. Aside from her beautiful language & culture, she also gave me the gift of her many tasty Mexican recipes through the years. This one below is one of my favorites, uno de mis favoritos!

Ingredientes: (ingredients)

3 cups of flour
1/2 a cup of shortening (Crisco)
1 tablespoon of baking powder
1/2 tablespoon of salt (salt to taste)
1 to 1 1/2 cups of hot water

Instrumentos de la cocina: (cooking tools)

medium sized mixing bowl
rolling pin
measuring cups
measuring spoons
cutting board or flat surface to roll tortillas on
skillet or grill

In a mixing bowl (en una charola) combine all of the dry ingredients. Then add the shortening & knead it into these dry ingredients. Slowly add the hot water and continue to knead slowly until it forms a dough like consistency. Make sure not to add too much water - as this will result in your dough (masa) being too sticky. If your dough begins to get too sticky, just add a little more flour.

Let the dough stand for about 1/2 hour. Then you can make testales, or little balls of dough. These little balls of dough or testales should be about about 2 to 3 inches in diameter. Then you take the testales and roll them into tortilla like shapes with your rolling pin. Once you get the desired size, put them 1 at a time into your skillet and cook over a medium flame. You can use a spatula or your fingers to flip the tortilla over once it looks done. You'll know when they are overcooked, becase they will begin to burn! ¡Ay ya yay, tortillas quemadas son muy olorosas! (burnt tortillas are stinky!)

Un secreto de mi padre Damian...so that your tortillas cook evenly. Gently roll the rolling pin over the tortilla while it's on the grill. And that's it! Enjoy with butter, cheese, salsa, carnita, frijoles, or anything else that suits your fancy. ¡Que lo disfruten. A provecho! and please don't hesitate to give me feedback, as I hope to share more recipes with you in the future.