Flour Tortillas

I cookedPuerco Pibil for the umpteenth time which I always have with white rice. I suddenly wanted the pork dish wrapped in flour tortillas. I made a small batch of tortillas using a recipe that doesn't have baking powder (not recommended). Rolling the dough into thin rounds was time consuming and the dough tends to shrink when transferring to the skillet. Then I remembered I have an electric tortilla maker I bought from eBay many years ago. It was for baking something else, not for making tortillas, but I have forgotten about it after storing it. Story of my life: Buy it, store it, and forget it!

I also have a manual tortilla press but I read somewhere that the electric tortilla maker eliminates the dough shrinkage problem. I think it does. I just wish it's bigger as it only makes small-ish 7-inch tortillas. I made another small batch following the recipe included. I used White Lily all-purpose flour, pork lard which I rendered myself, half water and half whole milk. The tortillas are delicious, soft, and perfect with puerco pibil. It's also great with just butter and jam.

with slow-baked puerco pibil

Homemade Flour Tortillas
16 ounces all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons fine sea or kosher salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
4 tablespoons solid lard or room-temperature butter
2¼ cups warm water or whole milk

• In the bowl of a standing mixer, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add lard. With flat beater attachment, mix on low for 1 minute until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in 2 cups water or milk and beat on low-medium until smooth and no longer sticky. Dough should be soft, silky, and shiny. Add extra milk or water, 1 tablespoon at a time, if dough seems tough and dry. 
• Divide dough into 12 to 14 pieces; cover with plastic while shaping. Shape each piece into a tight ball. Roll balls into thin 7-inch rounds; keep covered while shaping the rest of the dough.

• Heat a cast iron skillet on medium. Cook until the first bubble appears then immediately flip. Cook for 30 seconds [it will puff up] until golden in spots. Wrap in a kitchen towel while cooking the rest of the tortillas.
• Refrigerate leftover tortillas in a ziploc gallon bag; reheat in a preheated skillet on medium heat.

These are also great wraps for Peking duck, fish tacos, or pretty much any meat stew/bbq you like. Next time I'll wrap an omelet in these tortillas.