Recipe Thread

[RICHARD]

Wow! Way to channel your ethnic heritage, dude! Care to post the recipe? And technique hints ...?

And don't forget dumb luck!

This is the recipe for one dozen FLOUR tortillas.

I use a flour called La Pina- I am not sure if it is available in all areas of the country, but if you do find it, it has a picture of a pineapple-the 'pina' on thr front.


I will go into a story right here about the old bags of flour. You could purchase large amounts in cotton bags, in the day. My mom told us that the bags were emptied, washed and underweaer was made from the fabric.
Honest!

Recipe!

3.5 cups of flour.
2 tbs of baking powder
1 tbs of salt-LOL I made them with kosher salt-does that make them Jewish tortillas?
.5 cups of lard
.75 or 1 cup of water.
-----------------
You really need the lard-i don't think it would work with regular oil!

Mx all dry ingredients in a bowl.
Take the lard and incorporate it into the dry with your finger tips until mixed.
Then add water and continue ti mix until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. The water is a more or less thing-you'll know how much you need.

KNEAD FOR 5 MINUTES!!!

Roll into a log and cut into 12 balls, place into the bowl, cover with a damp cloth and leave for 15 minutes.

---------------------------

Preheat a griddle or pan-medium heat- a nonstick one will do nicely-DO NOT GREASE OR SPRAY.

Dust your rolling surface with flour and place a dough ball on it.

Using a rolling pin, start in the middle of the ball and work you way our from the center. The thinner the tortilla the crispier and faster it will cook, the thicker ones are softer, and require more time to cook-you have to experiment with the time- About 40-55 seconds on each side.

After the initial flip you can press down on the tortilla with a folded cloth to 'set it down'- have another cloth folded in half and place the warm tortilla in the fold to keep warm-


Hand made tortillas, just like home made bread are to be eaten quickly. they do get hard if you leave them out, but a quick reheat on a gas flame or griddle will make them pliable again.




I did freeze some ready made dough to for later, I'll let everyone know how THAT turns out!

[RICHARD]

I pulled out the frozen dough and placed it into the fridge to semi-thaw it.
I took it out of the fridge and left it on the counter until pliable.

Dusted the board with flour and rolled those suckers out, cooked them per the recipe above.


Just as good as the fresh recipe.

Now, I just need to learn how to make a standing rib roast.....NOT!

[caseysmom]

I made homemade mac and cheese last night, never in my 47 years made it homeade before and it was so naughty and good.

I boiled the macaroni and in the meantime I melted butter in a pan and added flour and then added milk until I had the consistency of gravy. Then I mixed grated cheddar cheese and cream of mushroom soup and put it in a casserole dish, drained the macaroni and added that then added the white sauce, stirred it all up and baked it for 20 minutes...

[Scooter's Mom]

caseysmom, that sounds yummy.

I've never been able to make homemade mac n cheese that wasn't all stringy and gross.

[RICHARD]

I need some advice about fried noodles.

I was messing around and had some veggies and decided to make a stir fry.
I made the first batch with some chicken steamed rice that was left over from another meal

I fried the veggies and combined the rice and reheated the whole thing. It came out fairly well.

I thought I could go the same with some ramen noodles- I cooked the same kind of veggies, took them out of the pan and fried some noodles that I cooked and drained. Not bad.

Does anyone have any tips on how to prepare fried noodles?

Thanks!

[RICHARD]

LOL,

I eat tortillas by the dozen. I usually buy the store bought packages of 30 count.

Those cost about 4.50 a pack.

I think a package of flour cost me 3.29 and a can of baking powder 1.29

4.60 total. I got almost 4 dozen tortillas out of the bag. The cost will go lower
because I am looking at a 10-25 lb bag of flour, a storage container for the flour and more baking powder.

I had a thought about adding a handful of cheese to a batch to see how they come out. I have also seen wheat and and other tortillas with sundried tomatoes added to them. I haven't priced what a 'specialty' tortilla would cost, but I can bet that it would not be that hard to make up a batch with a few twists of my own.

-----------

All the batches I have made have been halved- one half goes into the fridge and later, I was able to pull out a few premade balls of dough, roll them out-the cold dough really doesn't need a floured surface, I just pull out the chopping board and my rolling pin, heat up a non stick skillet and I have hot tortillas in a few minutes-and I am snacking!

Nothing like a hot one with real butter melted on top.

I can really see myself making a batch a few times a week now!

-----------

One thing about rolling out your own tortillas is the geographical aspect of it.

I rolled out Australia the other day, North America and Iceland.

I have seen a torilla press at a local store, but isn't that cheating?

Plus, I am looking for a saint or religious figure on the surface of any that I cook....I will let you know when it happens!