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I decided to make tortillas on Wednesday for three reasons: It was Cinco de Mayo, I hadn't posted anything in a while, and it was the last day of classes ever in my undergraduate career. 


I've been making tortillas for a little over a year now. My theoretical recipe is lifted from the Food Network site and has an approx. ratio of 3:1:1/3. It's easy to remember- 3 cups of flour, one cup water and 1/3 cup oil. You mix them all together, let the dough sit for 30 min, then roll and palm it as flat as you can. 


Whenever I've made tortillas before they always end up too thick and too chewy. So this time I decided to try a little something different. I used three different kinds of flours: blue corn meal, whole wheat, and an unbleached all-purpose. 
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I knew the coarse grind of the corn meal would help break up the gluten development of the other flours, which would help ease them into flatter tortillas. 
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The whole wheat was used for its coarse grain and health benefits. 
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To the three flours I added about one cup water, into which I dissolved some salt; this was not enough to evenly moisten them, so I added a few tablespoons of milk. 
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After the milk I added the oil. This time I used olive oil, which I have never tried before, usually I just use vegetable. 1/3 cup was a little too much oil this time, I think because of the milk addition, but it wasn't really a problem.
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After letting it sit I dumped it onto my Roll-Pat, began tearing chunks off of it and, using my extensive Play-Doh skills, managed to make about a dozen flat rounds. While doing this I had the skillet already heating on the stove, since these cook the best on immediate and high heat. If you're going to try this yourself, I recommend flattening a few before going back and cooking one, since giving each tortilla a little time to relax helps it stay nice and thin. The pan doesn't need to be oiled because of the oil already in the tortilla. They should unstick themselves after a few seconds, making it extremely easy to utilise any flipping skills you may possess. 
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These were definitely the best tortillas I have made to date, but they still have kinks I'll be spending the rest of my life working out. The blue corn definitely helped the overall texture and the olive oil added some flavour. 


If you're going to try and make these yourself, just know that they will not be anything like store bought tortillas. They are chewier, dense and in no way the uniform circles that machines produce. But they are a fun project and a versatile food. Not to mention the fact that from tortillas you get tortilla chips...and it is guacamole season. 


-Bizzle



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